With gas prices at a record high and environmental awareness growing, bike use is on the rise in the city. Since 2000, the number of riders has increased 75 percent, according to the city Department of Transportation.

Some new businesses are popping up to help meet the demand. Meet the self-proclaimed “Drug Dealer of Bikes” – a bus driver whose side business is also in transportation. Meanwhile, the folks at Recycle a Bicycle in the East Village are taking donated bikes, fixing and selling them – with profits going toward the group’s education programs.

“The trickster, the jester, there’s a long history of getting the attention of the king with the wise fool,” 38-year-old Ben Sheppard said.

He was leading the group just south of Houston Street through mid-morning traffic on Feb. 15: about half a dozen red-nosed fellow cycling enthusiasts dressed in colorful costumes, complete with curly wigs and tiny traffic cones atop their heads.

“Clowns instead of earnest politicians,” Sheppard declared enthusiastically while he waited for the light to go green again.

Read More