Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - a bit unstable

Hi all.
Back in the day (late 1980s/early 1990s) when I was bicycling twenty or thirty miles a day three hundred days a year (and playing guitar at the same time!), I was about 140 to 160 pounds. Those days are long gone. I've been 190+ for the past ten years now, but I hope to bring it down some by eating healthier and riding my bicycle a LOT this summer (while playing guitar at the same time, of course).

About three years ago when I started riding again after a break of some years, I definitely noticed that the center of gravity of the bicycle/rider/guitar system had shifted upward due to my increased mass. This made riding with no hands while playing guitar a bit dicier than before, but the advantage of tens of thousands of miles experience compensates for it. I've gotten used to the shifted c.g. in the past year or so where I don't even notice it anymore, but it was a shock back in 2005.

Cheers

I'm gonna need to see some pictures of this.

Try juggling and riding. Now that's really scary

I'm gonna need to see some pictures of this.


Check out my web site, called The Bicycling Guitarist (http://www.TheBicyclingGuitarist.net/).

Woa...

I am a bassist but I would never throw my vintage Fender on a bike....hats off if ya can do it.

I play upright mostly these days (Jazz player) so that would be even harder....YIKEs...

Nice video! I gotta ask.........How many guitars have you damaged in all those miles?...

I've ridden all those miles on the same bicycle, but I am on my third guitar. None were damaged by me by riding with them tens of thousands of miles. My first guitar was a Hofner copy of a Fender Mustang, sort of like a Strat with two single coil pickups instead of three. It fell apart from being taken with me everywhere (literally), not from being ridden with. The second guitar was a Strat copy that was accidentally damaged when I was auditioning a drummer back in 1989 or so, then I finished the job Who-style by smashing it to pieces while continuing to play. The drummer was scared and never came back, lol.

I have had the same guitar since 1990 or so, a 1979 Silver Anniversary Fender Stratocaster. It currently has about ten thousand miles on it. This Strat was scarred in the summer of 1993 by an encounter with some punks who assaulted me when I was riding and playing while watching the Perseids meteor shower in the middle of the night. I didn't let them get the guitar, but it was damaged. The back wheel of my Schwinn was also wrecked.

VERY COOL and a fantasy I've enjoyed many times.

Re: handling, if you're attached to the 10-speed, you'll get used to it. But if you're willing to change bikes, consider a beach-cruiser-type like this:
http://cdn.overstock.com/images/products/L10728339.jpg

The longer wheelbase, slacker angles and heavier wheels lead to great stability, plus a cruiser just has style that an old 10-speed lacks.

Either way, keep on rockin.

.

Do you play Bicycle by Queen?

Thats cool. Maybe I'll try it with the Dobro.

Hmmm. Do I bookmark your website under Bikes or Music? :D Great site!

Just make sure ypou stay out of the Vehicular cycelist threads :)