This site is a static archive. Visit the current IWW website at iww.org ▸
Skip to main content

Interview with IWW Bike Messenger Ben Fietz

1.why did you decide to messenger?

I guess I decided to messenger for the same reason as most. I was living in New Orleans at the time, and was about to lose my job. One day I was hanging out downtown trying to figure out what to do with myself. A bike messenger cut through an intersection, and I thought to myself “that looks like a pretty cool job.” I went down to the only company that was hiring, and started working the next day.

2.when did you start? has the time been on/off or straight?


I started messengering in New Orleans in the spring of 2003. The only time that I have ever taken off was the whole month of September in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit and the city flooded. I moved up to Chicago because the house I lived in had been destroyed, and it looked like I would be out of a job for a while. I started working in Chicago in October of 2005. So I guess that’s going on six years, and at last count I have worked for nine different messenger companies.

3.what bike did you start on? what do you ride today?

I started on an old Schwinn LeTour road bike. I have a couple of bikes that I use for work now. Most of the time I ride a Capricorn track bike. I had the frame custom made in Wisconsin by Brad Wilson, and then I built the wheels and put it all together myself. It’s filthy, but it is a really sweet bike.

Read the rest of the interview here...http://www.dispatch101.net/2009/01/interviewv7.html