LOS CHILANGOS
Mexico City 2017-2020
They have tattooed faces, shaved heads, wear black clothes and may look terrifying at first sight. But despite their harsh look, they are kind and nice men and women, who simply share a common passion: Bicycles and Lowrider culture. Every Sunday, members of the Lowbike Chilangos Club bike together in Mexico City. Chilango in Mexican refers to a resident of Mexico City. Many of the club's members grew up in neighbourhoods like Tepito or they come from the city of Ecatepec, north of the metropolis. In these neighborhoods, gang violence and crime are part of daily life, and there, laws are different. There is a high rate of homicide, feminicide and all kinds of trafficking. The Chilangos Low Bike Club Mexico exists since 2014, it was founded by Fernando, Devanny, Suaveman, and others, to promote lowrider culture in an environment apart from drugs and gang violence. Nowadays there are more than a hundred members in the Club. It is a real club with real members. When a new member joins the club, they give him a shirt and a necklace with the name of the club on it. They spend a lot of money to build and paint their own bikes, but also to buy parts in the USA. The bikes are very small or elongated and low to the ground level they are shiny, they also love to add paintings, a lot of them use the Mexican flag or the Aztec calendar. They love “pimping” them and everyone adds their own style. They want the Lowriders culture to be accessible to all, and to break the stereotypes of people living in dangerous neighborhoods. They want to flee gang violence but keep a culture they consider their own, but that is sometimes associated with crime and gangs, they want people to see that there are two different things.
