ALBANY, N.Y. -- It's hard to miss Andy Lopez when he's atop this aptly dubbed tall bike. In fact he says, not many people do.
“Kids point. And a lot of dropped jaws and a lot of wows and awes,” Lopez said.
“I would love to try to ride one of those. It would definitely be an experience,” Terrell Starr said.
“I think they're really cool looking. I've never seen anything like that,” Lynn Westfall said.
While you may spot similar spectacles on You Tube, there are only a couple of these curious contraptions here in the Capital Region.
“It's kind of based, at least in Albany, between the same people, you know,” Lopez said.
You couldn't have asked for better weather this Labor Day and while many people enjoyed the unofficial end of summer cooking out with family and friends, Ken Jubie was hanging out in Washington Park and met up with people riding big bikes you have to see to believe.
And riders suffering from bike envy can't buy a new ride. These attention grabbing, street legal bikes are built by welding old bike frames together, creating eye catching cruisers their riders hope will spread the word about the Troy Bike Rescue.
“It's essentially a volunteer run bike co-op. There's one in Troy and there's one in Albany. Pretty much anyone can come in and either volunteer or have someone help you out with your bike if there's something wrong with it. Or you could donate bikes,” said Andrew Franciosa.
Well, the guys say learning how to ride these bikes is just like learning how to ride any other bike. But I'm not so sure. And you know what they say, there's only one way to find out.
You simply convince a brave skateboarder to try what you were too chicken to attempt yourself. And after a little team work to get on, you can clearly see that Ryan Adams is in complete control.
“Really scary,” Adams said. “Just ‘cause I'm so high up. And it just feels like you're going to fall over.”
But the experienced riders will tell you staying on the tall bike is all about speed and commitment.
“Momentum is really what keeps you up,” Lopez said. “You can kind of dip pretty low. Centripetal force. It's just about speed.”
And believe it or not, they say tall bikes are actually safer because riders can see over cars, helping them avoid problems while they're turning heads.