Ghost Bikes: Turned into scrap

Anyone living near Bucktown/Wicker Park or Lincoln Park will recognize the scrap trucks.  These are pick up trucks loaded to overflowing with anything metal that their drivers can find.  The reputation of these guys (well-deserved) is already pretty bad.  I've heard reports that they'll go so far as to tear gutters off the sides of houses.  These drivers port their finds over to Finkl & Sons for easy cash.

While walking my dog yesterday morning, I saw the lowest of the low.  A scrap metal truck passed me by.  Perched on top was a ghost bike. 

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Permalink Reply by Marco Rayos on July 29, 2010 at 6:26am
Yeah I've never heard of any scrappers messing with ghost bikes to be honest, however it's possible and I too would be willing to help replace it as well.
Permalink Reply by Len Krietz on July 29, 2010 at 9:12am
Just some clarification, Finkl & Sons doesn't buy street scrap. General Iron and the other scrap yards along the river do.
Permalink Reply by millenial removing Bernie tattoo on July 29, 2010 at 9:28am
Because I'm sure these scappers are well-versed in fringe bike culture and know what a ghost bike is other than an apparently abandoned bike.
Permalink Reply by millenial removing Bernie tattoo on July 29, 2010 at 12:27pm
I stopped and checked the one ghost bike around me that I know of, at Lincoln north of Irving Park, and it had no sign or handlebars.
Permalink Reply by Bicycle Poet on July 29, 2010 at 12:39pm
While biking north Tuesday night on Ravenswood, my friend and I noticed what appeared to be a Ghost Bike graveyard permanently installed into a greenspace on the north-west corner of Ravenswood and: I'm not sure of the E-W cross street, but it was definitely a main corridor street and between Addison and Foster. If someone regularly takes this stretch of Ravenswood and carries a camera, it would be nice to get a photo of it. My brief web-search prior to posting this revealed no story or pic on the web.

A Ghost Bike graveyard such as the one I saw would seem to be resistant to scrapers. Of course, it also requires greater effort to receive appropriate permissions to break ground.

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