Bowie vs. Prince ride.
(Photos © J. Maus)
I can remember a time when bike-mounted sound systems were a novelty. When someone rolled up with tunes blaring they’d be met with oohs, aaahs, and a crowd of smiling onlookers. The smiles are still there, but the novelty has warn off a bit as bike sound systems have become much more common.
While riding around Sunday Parkways and all the parades and mobile dance party rides of Pedalpalooza it was obvious that, although they’ve become more popular, the systems are far from standardized. There are about as many set-ups as there are people using them and they range in sophistication and size.
Prom/Dropout Bike Club ride.
East Portland resident Brian Smith has been rolling with a sound system for four years and he’s helped many people set up systems of their own. Smith says the trick is balancing how loud you want it to be with the weight. I asked him to describe his set-ups:
“My first one was 300 watts into two 6×9’s and a 12″ sub, and a 80Ahr big marine battery. I currently just have 400 watt amp into 2 6×9’s and 10 sub, with extra 100 watt channel wiring for adding on if I feel like hauling it.”
Smith has taken bike sound systems to a new level with a mobile rock show he puts together with his friends from Dropout Bike Club called the “Monsters of Rock by Bike.” Smith gets together with musicians, links up several bike-mounted sound systems, and the result is a mobile, bike-powered, live music dance party. He’s also been known to set up an FM transmitter and is still trying to perfect the mobile pirate radio station concept.
I went through my photo archives and found a few examples of local set ups. Check them out and start planning your own. Once you’ve added tunes to your ride, your life will never be the same!
as seen at Sunday Parkways North Portland.
