California artists Mark Grieve and Ilana Spector recently constructed this incredible towering obelisk made entirely out of bikes on a street corner in Santa Rosa. Dubbed Cyclisk, the monument is an ode to bike culture constructed from 340 bicycles and one tricycle.
The 10,000 pound, 65 foot-tall behemoth was, strangely enough, built with help from Nissan. Apparently, Santa Rosa’s “1% for art” law requires major construction projects to donate money to public art projects. Nissan is building a dealership in the city, so it chose to contribute cash to the $37,000 piece of artwork.
Regardless of the project’s background, we’re happy to see old bike parts being put to good use. As Spector noted in a statement, “Collecting unusable parts from the debris piles of nonprofit community bike projects has proven to be a win-win; community bike DIY places are thrilled unusable parts are not becoming land fill and the City is psyched the sculpture will solidify Santa Rosa as bike-friendly.”
