"Don't tell me it's slow out here," he tells us. "You're in a fuckin' rickshaw. You know what little girls like more than anything? Getting pedaled to a concert. Maybe the only thing they like more is getting their nails done."

He doesn't like for his drivers to smoke while their on the bikes, and he wants them to look clean-cut, approachable. He tries to make sure they follow all the traffic rules too, though some guys will shortcut by riding on the sidewalk or going half a block the wrong way down a one-way street.

"I give a lot of people chances," he said. During the summer, a lot of foreign students staying in Houston come to work for him. And he hears, through his employees, about the exploits of other drivers. One, he tells me, is a registered sex offender. Another packs heat while he's working.

"You're pedaling a rickshaw in an entertainment district. Why do you need a gun?" Lubke thinks he has an answer. He tells me about an employee he fired because the man kept showing up without his uniform.

"They say 'fuck you, I don't wanna work for you anymore.' So he goes and buys a trailer for $200 bucks and now he has no rules."

We pull into a pay parking lot where a quartet of bike cabs are waiting to offer rides to the Toyota Center. Sure enough, Lubke is right about the drivers' looks. We watch as five girls all cram themselves into a Space City cab that normally seats three, instead of splitting up and riding in one of the rickety-looking trailer-cabs.

Lubke believes that a low overhead leads other drivers to resort to shady business deals in order to supplement their tips. If a driver looks like a thug and their bike looks unsafe, they're obviously not going to get very many passengers.

Lubke says some drivers threaten passengers for higher tips, take advantage of drunk passengers by charging a fare in addition to a tip, and sell drugs on the side. One business manager for another company tries to sabotage every ad deal Space City gets by sending anonymous letters to the advertisers.

One of Lubke's drivers used to work for a rival company. Last week, he was riding his own bike home to the Third Ward, and he was attacked by a man carrying a cane, who broke his jaw. The driver told Rocks Off the attacker was another pedicab company's driver.

Lubke rattles off a list of names of drivers who've been arrested for various offenses, some of them happened while the guys were on the job. Lubke says he's friends with the cops and that is how he knows.

ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL?

Lubke and Stowers are worried about The Woodlands. The Jimmy Buffett concert was their third event there, and the competition has gotten wind of it. The Woodlands Board asked Space City Bike Cabs to work events in the Town Center so people wouldn't park at the mall. And Space City has other service deals that are exclusive - the Nutcracker Market, Texans games and a few he asked us not to mention in print.

"We make so much money that during the week we give the bikes out for free so the guys can supplement their income."

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is a different story.

"One-third of all of Houston goes to the Rodeo," Lubke said, "So I figured if people have a good experience with us there, they'll ride with us again. Losing the Rodeo, for my company, is huge."

A few years after Space City started working the Rodeo, their competitors started moving in on the event too. When the shifty characters and derelict bikes appeared, the Rodeo lumped the whole flock, including Space City, together.

"The Rodeo wanted no bikes. They said, "Fuck it." I can't afford for people not to have a positive experience, or the business will fail."

Lubke says the NFL doesn't even want pedicabs at the Super Bowl anymore. Which is why he's gone to the Houston City Council to try to get some regulations, like those in Arlington, in place to protect what he sees as legitimate pedicab businesses. His two main requests are that the City put an insurance policy in place and put a vehicle type in place, effectively banning those home-built trailers.

And Lubke is also trying to appeal to the other bike cab companies. He says it's the only way pedicabs will survive in the town that loves to drive. It's worked in other cities. Austin, for example, has a pedicab alliance, and like Arlington, there is a city code regulating their practices.

"If these guys just cleaned up their image and we all worked as a group, this thing would all work out," he said.