He wanted to be able to take his piano out and play -- so he put it on his bike.
If you've been biking around the city this past year, you've probably seen him hammering out some ragtime as he pedals along in a 10-gallon cowboy hat. This weekend he was out at Sunday Streets in the Mission.
He goes by the name Gary St. Frankenstein, a nod to the 64-key, 350-pound St. Frankenstein piano he mounted on the front of his black bike. A sign-maker by day, he's worked as a cabinet maker and a guitar repairman though nothing really prepared him for the pianobike project.
It took about two years to make. He deconstructed and reconstructed the piano, figuring out just how to balance it on two little wheels on the front of the bike.
How do you steer with a piano for handlebars? Gary said he works it into the tunes he writes. He's got a foot break and a parking break. And don't forget the tip jar.
He's out at most every Sunday Streets -- where the city shuts down the streets to cars and lets San Francisco's cyclists roam free. And you can find him out at the Embarcadero on the weekends.
Times Square has its Naked Cowboy, Gary said, so why can't San Francisco have it's own ragtime-playing-bike-riding cowboy?
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