Appreciation: How Tall Bikes Will Save the World

The Zenga brothers of eastern Canada have created dozens of really tall tall bikes, including one comprised of five frames welded on top of one another, the riding of which, Benny Zenga told me, was “terrifying and utterly exhilarating,” but the sweet spot for one of their mad designs comes when a bike’s handlebars are about as far off the ground as an average North American male can reach his arms above his head, which means that a rider riding one of these creations would be about, oh, eight feet above the deck. Not even a Zenga brother feels comfortable up there. But that is precisely the point.

The Zengas really are brothers—there are eight of them (plus one sister)—and together they make up an art collective, film studio, and coalition of evangelists for weirdness in the pursuit of freedom. It all started back when Benny was young and cracked the frame of his beloved BMX bike. He thought the bike was toast, but