For decades, competitive cyclists in New York City have made a weekly pilgrimage to one of the city’s most unusual and historic race venues: Floyd Bennett Field. Tucked into the southeastern edge of Brooklyn and surrounded by open sky and marshland, the former airfield feels like a place suspended in time.

Originally constructed in the late 1920s, Floyd Bennett Field was New York City’s first municipal airport. It quickly became a hub for aviation pioneers, pilots like Amelia Earhart and Wiley Post took off from its runways in pursuit of world records.

During World War II, the airfield was repurposed as a naval air station, playing a key role in military operations. Today, it lives on as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, its wide expanses and historic hangars now open to the public, and until recently, to racers.

Since the 1980s, the field has been home to a gritty, grassroots Tuesday night racing series. The course: a 2.5-mile trapezoid loop formed by uneven slabs of aging concrete. 

The setting: wide-open, wind-battered, and exposed to the elements. Cracks, potholes, and weeds punctuate the surface. Winds tear across the tarmac with force. Sudden thunderstorms are not uncommon.

It’s a uniquely punishing venue, chaperoned by on-site EMTs, and marked by a kind of raw intensity that’s become legend in New York cycling culture.

But today, the tradition is on pause.

In recent years, a series of administrative and political hurdles have disrupted racing at Floyd Bennett Field. First, the private company responsible for issuing permits attempted to raise fees tenfold, threatening the continuation of the series. After long negotiations, race organizers successfully reached an agreement, only to be faced with another setback. A temporary migrant camp was erected on the site in late 2023, leading to further complications. While that facility has since closed, racing has yet to resume. Despite repeated attempts, the community has been unable to secure a new permit.

Photo Courtesy: Marco Quezada

This is more than just a local inconvenience, it's a loss of cultural and athletic significance. Floyd Bennett Field represents one of the last accessible, race-safe venues for New York City cyclists. Without it, the city’s grassroots racing scene is left without one of its cherished venues.

Photo Courtesy: Marco Quezada

If you care about the future of grassroots bike racing in New York, we urge you to sign the petition to help reinstate racing at Floyd Bennett Field.

Photo Courtesy: Marco Quezada

It’s this spirit of speed, resilience, and community that inspired the RNRNYC™ REVERB Collection.

Crafted with aerodynamic performance in mind, REVERB blends high-speed functionality with visual defiance: holographic insignias echo the glint of twilight off tarmac, while the race-tight silhouette mirrors the no-compromise mentality of those who toe the line at Floyd Bennett each week. It’s a collection forged in the image of its muse: unforgiving, fast, and unafraid.

REVERB is more than a kit. It’s an homage to the daredevils of the road and sky, the dreamers of speed, and the racers who put everything on the line for a shot at glory in a forgotten corner of the city that never sleeps.

Discover the REVERB Collection online and at select global retail partners. 10% of net sales of the REVERB Collection during the month of July 2025 will be donated to promoting this petition on Change.org.

Click here to sign the petition advocating for the sustainable reinstatement of bike racing at Floyd Bennett Field.