Wired: Gallery: Mutant Mods and Anarchy at Bike Kill

: Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.comNEW YORK -- In a sport dominated by carbon fiber and spandex, Bike Kill is a big, fat stick in the spokes. Imagine the Tour de France taking place in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, then add plenty of broken glass, beer, blood and vomit.

It begins as a celebration of punk rock, DIY and mutant bike creations, like the tall bikes championed by the Black Label Bicycle Club. But after a Beerelay Race, the Six-Pack Attack, a food fight and dodging foam skulls in the gauntlet, the event deteriorates into anarchy.

Black Label has hosted the Bike Kill event for the last six years on a dead-end street in the heart of Brooklyn. This year's event was possibly the most heinous ever. Click through the gallery to peep the mods and mayhem.

Left:

A festival-goer rides one of the mutant bikes. It’s not the fastest steed in the stable but it utilizes an intuitive technology. Whether it’s bikes, boots or both, it’s getting there that counts.

: Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.comA mini tall-bike leans against the wall waiting for the next brave rider. Black Label builders use whatever scrapped parts they can find for their two-wheeled concoctions. Here, they've welded a vintage step-through road bike frame to a children’s bike.: Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.comWhile surf bikes are popular, helmets are not. This bike features a flat board for riders to surf while another pedals. It’s also great for picking up pizzas.

: Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.comBike Kill always occurs around Halloween and sometimes the bikes need costumes, too — like this Top Gun tandem complete with "Danger Zone" cassette tape.

: Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.comAlthough Bike Kill is about creation, there is always a fair amount of destruction. This BK attendee decided an impromptu bike toss was in order. Last year, visitors flipped a car and bashed in the windows with skateboards and BMX bikes. : Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.comThis is one of the more elaborate cycle creations. If both riders pedal forward, the contraption spins in circles. If one rider pedals backwards it's propelled forward. There’s always room for bystanders to hitch a ride if they don’t mind being upside down half the time.

: Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.comYou'll hear the barrel tandem bike before you see it. It’s the loudest bike in the Bike Kill arsenal with empty barrels rolling across the asphalt. Sure, it’s not fast, but it is intimidating.: Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.comWith a couple garbage bags of day-old bread as ammo, a full-fledged food fight breaks out, with pitas being tossed like ninja stars. A bag of flour is used as a smoke shield.

After a few hours of light rain, the discarded food created a slick sludge that added to the dangers of actually riding a bike at Bike Kill.

: Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.comSomehow Bike Kill always manages to secure a permit from the city. But they don’t do much beyond that and no bathrooms were available. The beer store around the corner actually ran out of beer.

: Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.comA favorite Bike Kill event is Dirty Mattress, in which a rider pedals a passenger as fast as he can on a surf bike, which is tethered to a pole. When the bike reaches the end of its rope, the passenger is flung headfirst into a very dirty mattress to the delight of onlookers.

: Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.comThe front half of this pedal-powered chopper is made of tubing with tiny holes. A butane tank mounted to the frame provides fuel for the flame that passes through the tube. Visibility is a very important tenant of bicycle safety.

: Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.comThis beast of a bike is motor-powered and sports a butane-powered flamethrower on the front. It has one small tube for the pilot flame and a larger second tube with a regulator that controls the size of the torch. Just another reminder for cars to respect their two-wheeled compatriots.