GR translation: or is held in staring postures

[Mike Jing]

V482.13-28, P490.17-32   It was always easy for men to come and tell
her who to be. Other girls of her generation grew up asking, “Who am
I?” For them it was a question full of pain and struggle. For Gretel
it was hardly even a question. She had more identities than she knew
what to do with. Some of these Gretels have been only the sketchiest
of surfaces—others are deeper. Many have incredible gifts,
antigravity, dreams of prophecy . . . comatic images surround their
faces, glowing in the air: the light itself is actually crying tears,
weeping in this stylized way, as she is borne along through the
mechanical cities, the meteorite walls draped in midair, every hollow
and socket empty as a bone, and the failing shadow that shines black
all around it . . . or is held in staring postures, long gowns, fringe
and alchemical symbol, veils flowing from leather skullcaps padded
concentric as a bike-racer’s helmet, with crackling-tower and obsidian
helix, with drive belts and rollers, with strange airship passages
that thread underneath arches, solemnly, past louvers and giant fins
in the city mist. . . .

Does "staring" mean "conspicuous" here? And does "bike" here mean "motorcycle"?
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l