Urban dirt biking: Riding the line between culture and crime

At the head of a pack of half a dozen roaring dirt bikers darting down Baltimore’s busy Reisterstown Road, a man known as “Neighborhood Hero” sees an opening in traffic and pulls into a clear lane. He pops a wheelie at 20 mph and waves at onlookers before pulling his front wheel even higher into the air – leaning so far back that he trails a gloved hand behind him on the ground, wet with light rain. Dropping the front wheel to the pavement, he triumphantly rockets forward into traffic.

Neighborhood Hero, astride his unlicensed, four-stroke Yamaha, rides a blurry, complicated line between cultural expression and criminal behavior. He’s part of the “bike life” culture, comprised mostly of young people of color riding off-road dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) illegally on major roads and back alleys – sometimes