Piano Bike

Seen in San Francisco during this past weekend’s street closin’ party Sunday Streets, an upright piano bike. Not only did this guy play while peddling, but he was also a damn good musician. He said it took several years to perfect the bike which, while you might not be able to tell from the photo, was nicely crafted. Not sure about the steering but it seemed to be by pushing the keyboard itself. This may have influenced the choice of a ragtimey repertoire. Also kinda funny to have a musical performance affected by potholes.

It seems that this is an old vaudeville stunt.

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5 Comments

  1. Very cool and weird both. I’m surprised that was seen in San Francisco- it seems so much more Portland speed.

  2. Sweet project. Especially if your city has a walkable street where you can go slow. I’d be worried about hills in SF. 😉

    Re choice of music – Ragtime tunes still sound ok on a slightly-out-of-tune piano & moving a piano generally makes it go out of tune (there’s no locking mechanism on the tensioning pins except friction).

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