Snowstorm throws a spoke in the wheel of New York’s planned naked bike ride

A HEAVY snowstorm in New York yesterday thwarted plans for a topless bike ride through the ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Williamsburg.

The “Freedom Ride” was planned as a protest against the removal of bike lanes in the neighbourhood to spare the blushes of Hasidic Jews who “can’t handle the sight of scantily clad women on wheels”, said bike messenger Heather Loop, organiser of the action.

Protesting cyclists brave a blizzard in attempt to reclaim their bike lanes

Instead of pedalling topless, some of the protesters pinned plastic boobs to their jackets.

The bikers’ tactics, according to this report, did not amuse some faithful Hasids leaving synagogue services with their families on the Sabbath. They rushed home.

New York Mayor Bloomberg had removed the bike path because members of the Satmar branch of Judaism “don’t want to see women in shorts,” said Baruch Herzfeld, who runs a bike-sharing program in a community where Jewish women wear hefty skirts and long-sleeved blouses and men wear heavy coats and hats, even in summer. He added:

The rabbis want to keep their people in the 18th century, and they don’t want the world to intrude into their enclave.

Leo Moskowitz, a Williamsburg resident with five children, insists the main issue is safety.

Kids can be knocked over because school buses are not allowed to stop in the bike lane – it’s dangerous.

But Moskowitz acknowledges he feels “very uncomfortable” seeing women bare their legs in public.

Still, the riders made their point, obeying traffic signals as police watched.

Hat Tip: Michael Cohen