It looked like the Eiffel Tower going for a walk.

September 8, 2008 5:28 AM

Last year, Michael Mooney attempted to break the world record for riding the tallest bike. Instead he broke his knee. This year he tried again. Like any good biker, he got up and tried again (1:33 for the good stuff). He may not have broken the record, but he sure is awesome.
posted by rikschell (16 comments total)

Maybe this is my acrophobia acting up, but during that first video all I could think was "don't stop don't stop don't stop don't stop OR YOU'LL TIP OVER!!!"

(Actually, that wasn't all I could think. I could also think "I hope he doesn't cause an accident.)
posted by DU at 5:53 AM on September 8, 2008

Wait a minute. Am I interpreting that last video correctly? He starts pedaling at the bottom and then climbs the bike while it is moving?!?
posted by DU at 5:58 AM on September 8, 2008

Attention whore.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 5:59 AM on September 8, 2008

all I could think was "don't stop don't stop don't stop don't stop OR YOU'LL TIP OVER!!!"

All I could think was all I could think was "don't start don't start don't start don't start OR YOU'LL TIP OVER!!!"
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 6:08 AM on September 8, 2008

I suspect The Devil was involved somehow...
posted by MrGuilt at 6:16 AM on September 8, 2008

Only in Asheville.
posted by greta simone at 6:37 AM on September 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

Red lights? What red lights?
posted by pracowity at 7:14 AM on September 8, 2008

Damn hippies, always getting in the way of my world's tallest SUV.
posted by bondcliff at 7:54 AM on September 8, 2008

One of my housemates has a really tall bike, but I've never seen a tall bike THAT tall. How does it stay up at all? Could the gyroscopic forces coming from the wheels be having any measurable effect on the balance of that huge thing, without being extremely huge themselves?
posted by tehloki at 7:55 AM on September 8, 2008

I watched him try last year (flickr self link) and the whole thing freaked me out completely, so this year I stayed up the street drinking beer and watching girls on stilts walk by instead. They didn't fall down.
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:12 AM on September 8, 2008

Could the gyroscopic forces coming from the wheels be having any measurable effect on the balance of that huge thing, without being extremely huge themselves?

Having read a little on the subject (I wanted to design a bike once), the gyroscopic effects of the wheels have little to do with a bike's stability. You can add flywheels spinning in the opposite direction and still ride OK. The primary stability mechanism is the caster angle of the head tube, which causes the front wheel to turn with a shift in balance.

Of course neither effect matters if the bike isn't moving, which is why I am amazed by the video of this guy climbing up without support.
posted by Popular Ethics at 8:25 AM on September 8, 2008

Is it just me, or is it utterly insane to be riding something like that amongst mixed traffic?
posted by sevenyearlurk at 8:32 AM on September 8, 2008

Last year, anyway, the bike was secured to a tall scaffolding which itself was secured to a high concrete wall (it circles a parking lot below; this is Asheville, so everything is hilly and kind of terraced.) He climbed up the scaffolding to get on the bike from the top and he himself was secured with a harness to a crane that overlooked the whole venture. Then they unhooked the bike as he started pedaling, not as he was climbing up. The parking lot was cleared of people so that if the bike fell nobody would be killed. The set up this year looked very much the same as last year.
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:36 AM on September 8, 2008

Traffic in Asheville is pretty gentle, and he did have people riding ahead of him to clear the way. That said, yeah, it's still pretty insane. But what gets me is how maneuverable that 12-foot bike is. Did you see the way he worked around that bus? While managing not to conk his head on the traffic lights? While this guy might not be right in the head, I can't help but applaud heartily.
posted by rikschell at 8:43 AM on September 8, 2008

Wait a minute. Am I interpreting that last video correctly? He starts pedaling at the bottom and then climbs the bike while it is moving?!?

I think the first few seconds of that video are in reverse. He's actually jumping off the bike.
posted by Brittanie at 9:11 AM on September 8, 2008

That makes me want a Green Man IPA...you could hear people yell "MOONEY!" as he rode by Jack O The Wood.
*sigh*
posted by schyler523 at 2:02 PM on September 8, 2008