‘STOOPIDTALL’ bike rules L.A.’s CicLAvia

The STOOPIDTALL view.
(Photo: Richie Trimble)


There are many signs that a bona fide bicycling culture has emerged in Los Angeles. From the vibrant street culture that produced the Wolfpack Hustle, a group that made national headlines for beating an airplane across the city — to a Mayor whose own injury while pedaling has put bike safety issues front and center.

And now there is STOOPIDTALL, a towering tall bike that made waves during Sunday’s CicLAvia event (similar to our Sunday Parkways). The bike is simply amazing and so is the video its pilot, Richie Trimble, created and uploaded to YouTube (it’s got over 8,000 views since yesterday).

Unless you’ve ever ridden a bike 16 or so feet off the ground, the video will probably make you queasy (but you can’t not look!):

I love everything about this; from what it says about L.A.’s culture to amazing views Trimble captured of the streets full of people riding bikes. (Did you see the part when Trimble had to duck under a freeway overpass? Or when he yelled “Higher!” at a man with a hose who was spraying riders?)

(Photo: Richie Trimble)

If you’re curious, Trimble shares all the details about how he made it in the description of the video on YouTube and there’s loads more information on this Reddit post.

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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Todd Hudson
Todd Hudson
10 years ago

Good grief! I wonder if he can trackstand at intersections!

Dan
Dan
10 years ago

Wow, if he doesn’t need a helmet maybe I don’t either….

Marid
Marid
10 years ago
Reply to  Dan

If he falls he’ll hit the unyielding ground at about 25 mph. I’ll wager that if he lands on his head he’s messed up, helmet or no.

GlowBoy
GlowBoy
10 years ago

Of course you don’t know you need a helmet until it comes time to use it.

My favorite moments (e.g., at 2:30 and 2:55) were when the guy was looking WAAAAAAYYY down on other riders … who were riding tallbikes. Unreal.

K'Tesh
K'Tesh
10 years ago

OK Portland, the gauntlet has been thrown down… Who’s going to build a 21′ high insanelystoopidtallbike?

q`Tzal
q`Tzal
10 years ago
Reply to  K'Tesh

Tall bike yes, >21′ no.
How about a bike that is tall but wide. I’m thinking of that Chinese bus/tram thing where traffic could drive under it.
Imagine being able to “share” the lane with autos simultaneously!

longgone
longgone
10 years ago
Reply to  q`Tzal

Sacre`bleu ! Itz zee Eiffel Tohwarh on wheelz ! Magnifique !

mark kenseth
mark kenseth
10 years ago

Awesome. I would make it a tricycle as a safety measure.

dan
dan
10 years ago
Reply to  mark kenseth

That sounded much safer to me, but then if you think about it, how wide would the wheelbase of a 21′ trike need to be to make it stable? Wouldn’t you need the wheels to be separated by a substantial fraction of the height? So maybe q’Tzal is on the right track.

Top Scientist
Top Scientist
10 years ago

Love the way he cuts between the cars stopped at the intersection! Shows how stable a bike is.

jeremy
jeremy
10 years ago

that is AWESOME!!!!

Neil S.
10 years ago

OMG!!! 12ft to the pedals and 14ft to the seat lol. The opening shot of him just climbing up the thing kills me. Pure crazy.

Andy
10 years ago

Frickin’ terrifying and awesome, all at the same time!

dan
dan
10 years ago

Must be hard to ride… wouldn’t his watermelon-sized brass balls (can I say that here?) get in the way as he pedals?

I think this is the best bike hack I’ve ever seen.

Editz
Editz
10 years ago

Not to bag on this guy’s work, but how is this any different from people running around in jacked up SUV’s with giant muddin’ tires? I think we’ve all looked askance at those things a time or two as all that’s wrong with car culture.

Skwirl
Skwirl
10 years ago
Reply to  Editz

There were several points in the video where he had to rely on other people’s attention (bikes, cars, peds, kite flyers) to prevent a crash. That fails Bike Ninja 101: Ride like you’re invisible, dress like the Vegas strip.

Great project, but plan your route and keep dangerous novelty bikes out of the path of children and animals. Every morning I *walk* my normal bike through one small park that sometimes has toddlers playing.

It’s utterly frustrating to read about and witness tallbikes wiping out on low clearance during Pedalpooza rides.

I mean, it’s hard to picture a bike that’s more dangerous to bystanders than an inattentive SUV but the machismo of a lot of bike culture does sometimes parallel in spirit the careless parts of mainstream culture.

Miss Forpe Stubb
10 years ago
Reply to  Editz

people are people… but bikes are NOT cars

GeraldF
GeraldF
10 years ago

It’s actually a good thing he wasn’t wearing a helmet. If he had a helmet on I bet he would have hit his head going under the underpass.

Adam
Adam
10 years ago

Wow, that is terrifying! It looks like there is safety in pretty much nothing except momentum!

James
James
10 years ago

He must have had to build it that tall in order to keep those enormous brass balls from getting caught in the chain.

KRhea
KRhea
10 years ago

Forget the bike, where’d the dude get those hip David Lee Roth blue leopard pants!

Gabriel Amadeus Tiller
Gabriel Amadeus Tiller
10 years ago

Richie is also the super-talented fellow that filmed and edited the best Minibike Winter video ever: http://vimeo.com/9715534

mike
mike
10 years ago

By rule, guys shouldn’t wear leggings.

J_R
J_R
10 years ago

He doesn’t need a helmet; he needs a parachute! There’s no way I’d get on it even if it were tethered to a lamp post. I scared me just to watch.

nicole
nicole
10 years ago

this is great!

James Mason
10 years ago

When we get enough of these bikes we can race on the track….imagine going into a turn at Alpenrose on a 16-foot bike!

Rickey
Rickey
10 years ago

Good thing he didn’t wear a helmet; imagine the message that would give to aspiring but novice stoopidtallbikers! It would probably discourage them from riding stoopidtallbikes because it sends the message that stoopidtallbikes are dangerous. Wouldn’t want that, I’m sure.

Opus the Poet
10 years ago

Forget height to the seat, how tall were the handlebars? The BikingInLA article on the bike said the rider’s knuckles cleared the underside of that overpass by less than 2″!

Brent
Brent
10 years ago

I respect the man’s ability — and I don’t mean to sound like a curmudgeon — but the fact that he took this bicycle to CicLAvia should be seen as irresponsible, even reckless. I’m all for his continued experiments with ever-taller bikes on his own time, at his own risk, in other places. But please, I would strongly prefer that he not put me and my loved ones at risk during a family event.

The machine was essentially untested, as I believe he finished building it a day or two before. He then rode it in the middle of unpredictable (and ultimately, unprecedented) crowds that included many young children. He seems to have calibrated the height to fit beneath the freeway bridges he encountered, but even that seems as much a fortuitous accident as planned. On his ride home he had a serious mechanical, when a broken chain left him scrambling to grab a nearby light pole. He then fell off the bike and sprained his ankle. It was by all accounts a remarkable ride — and one that I hope will remain unmatched and unrepeated in CicLAvia history.

Indy
Indy
10 years ago
Reply to  Brent

I have young kids, and I would be honored to show them this, and yes, put their safety at risk. Maybe don’t fear things? Kids are tough. For a kid to see this guys’ vision is well worth the risk. Worth the wonder in their eyes (and mine) alone.

The video was awesome due to some hair-raising things that happened in the video I was not expecting. Man when he picked up speed I bet his heart was beating at 200+ bpm…

niko
niko
10 years ago

B-e-a-utiful.

Al from PA
Al from PA
10 years ago

The irony is that the equal wheel-sized bike started out as a “safety bicycle”– how times have changed.