The Barometer Online

Issue date: 3/9/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Andrew Burton

Mike Hershberger, an OSU senior, turns heads on campus when he passes by on his taller-than-normal bike. For this reason, he has been nicknamed Tall Bike Guy. For the full recorded interview follow, this link.

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Why a tall bike?

Well ... I went to Heston College before I came to Oregon State - my friend Chuck back there had one and he let me ride it, so I decided I had to build one for myself too.



So you actually build the bikes?

Yeah.

What's that process like?

You find old bike frames that people don't want anymore or you go buy them. There are a few ways to put them together; welding's probably the best way, you have to slap another frame minus the wheels on top and weld it. Figure out your chain, and you're good to go.

Did you have a lot of experience in that first welding?

No - that was actually - the double was the first bike I ever really customized, I guess you could call it, and I never welded before so I basically just bolted the bike together. Later on another ME friend of mine let me borrow his welder and it turned out pretty ugly but I think it's going to hold.

Can you describe the tall bike? How tall is it?

It's going to have a standard wheel base as far as length, as a regular system men's frame on the bottom. The bottom bike is pretty much the same as any bike you see around, minus the handle bars and the seat and then you take another - mine's a women's bike on top of that - without the wheels of course, and essentially the forks on the top bike hook to where the handle bars are on the bottom bike, the seat sits about - probably a little over five feet off the ground, maybe five foot six inches or so and then you ride the top bike.

Is it hard to get on and off the tall bike?

Well I've have plenty of practice. I think when I first started riding it was a little hard I wasn't sure what to do, like as far as you gotta make sure you keep moving otherwise you fall over. I guess you could say it's pretty hard - I get on from the left so that's what I'm used to but I probably couldn't get on from the right side if I tried right now.

Is it dangerous at all? What if you have to stop quickly or something like that?

Yeah, sure. Take the dangers of riding a regular bike and then put yourself up another three feet off the ground ... it's not like you can lay my bike over if you need to go down. I mean you're probably going to break a bone if you fall off. Of course people cut me off all the time, most of them probably talking on their cell phones and don't realize it. But yeah it's definitely more dangerous than a regular bike.

Do you wear a helmet? Have you thought about that?

I don't. With the triple decker I usually do, or did in the past, I usually don't with the double, it's probably not the best decision but it's easy.

Last spring you received a substantial number of votes for ASOSU president - write-in votes - are you running, do you plan to run for president of the student government this year?

Uh, no. I used to joke around with a buddy of mine at the bike shop that he would help me run or he would be vice president, but no I hadn't planned on it.

Were you surprised when you heard you got votes?

Yeah, during the time of voting I think the Barometer was joking about writing in "Tall Bike Guy," but I thought you guys were always just joking and I wouldn't get any votes. But I think it's kind of funny.

The Barometer has also sort of referred to you as a campus celebrity or a campus personality, do you think there's any legitimacy to that? And what is it like to be more well known than the average student because of your tall bike?

I meet a lot of people, I kind of like that, meeting new people. When I built the bike I hadn't planned on being famous, or whatever you want to call it. I guess it kind of just happened. The pastor at our church, used to joke about "hey we got tall bike guy at our group and football players." I like meeting people, that's what it comes down to.

The daily newspaper from the University of Oklahoma had a front page story about people using tall bikes for jousting matches, what do you think of that?

You know I've actually looked for other people on the Internet with tall bikes, and I had seen that before, people jousting, and I think that's kind of nuts, but if that's what you like to do, go for it.

Do you think tall bike riding is a trend on college campuses, or a growing trend?

You know, I don't know the answer to that. I think there's a guy, I don't know if he's still down at U of O, that has a double-decker bike too. I knew him through a friend of a friend, but I think he's the only guy down there that has one. If I had to guess, I wouldn't say it's necessarily growing but I wouldn't say it's declining either.

If the guy at U of O agreed, could you see some sort of tall bike Civil War jousting match?

(Laughs) Yeah, I could probably see that.

Maybe The Barometer could sponsor the event.

Sure, sure.

So you talked a little bit about your background - could you tell us a little more?

I went to Heston College in Kansas for two years. Most people haven't heard of it; it's a small private liberal arts college through the Mennonite church, so I went there and did their pre-engineering program, got my associate of science degree then transferred here for the rest of my mechanical engineering degree.

Do you have any plans for the future involving tall bikes? Do you want to manufacture them, anything like that?

Not necessarily tall bikes. I have ideas floating around in my head of bikes I'd like to build, but I guess right now I don't have the time to put into it. But I'm going to be doing an internship this summer so hopefully I'll have some time to think about it some more.

Do you ride anything else beside the tall bike?

I like motorcycles, so I ride those in the summertime. I buy them wrecked, fix them up and ride them and sell them.

How do people react on campus when you're riding the bike around? People must look ... do people shout out and say 'hello' or do they want to stop you and talk?

All that you just mentioned. I get a lot of that, whether it's friends that I know saying 'hi,' or people saying 'whoa look at that bike' ... yeah. People whisper a lot of things they don't think I can hear but I actually can, its not bad.

What kind of things, like, 'look at that'?

Like 'I wonder how he gets on that thing,' or people say, 'how do you get on that,' and I don't know if they really want me to stop and show them or if it's just like, 'oh I wonder how he does that.'

Are you a senior? Junior?

Uh yeah, so this is my fifth year of college, so by credits I'm a senior, but I'll be back all next year too.

What do you do on campus or with your free time, besides riding the tall bike?

Yeah, I kind of mentioned it before. I do quite a bit out at Northwest Hills Church, with their college group; its called 242, they meet once a week. I run sound out there, I play base guitar in the worship band, I'm part of one of their life groups again this term, I'm actually leading a life group. I play a lot of volleyball - it's a sport I really like - I go to the PAC class twice a week and then play on my own a couple times too. I mentioned motorcycle restoration, I do a lot of that - just personal projects related to engineering, I do quite a bit of that too.

Is engineering a career field you want to go into and is there anything specific you want to do?

Well I'm doing mechanical engineering I know you can do a lot of directions with that degree and then I guess I'm doing an internship this summer in Albany with Control Systems which is one of my interests right now. So, I figure I can give that a test drive for six months and see if that's something I want to pursue, but yeah, I think I'll stick with engineering, it's one of my passions.

Oregon, I guess Portland particularly, and maybe Corvallis to an extent too, is known for having a unique bike culture - do you have any thoughts on that issue? Is it something you've thought about?

It's not really something I've thought about a lot. I know I've heard people - I don't know where those guys in the newspaper are from, oh Oklahoma - but I know there's other guys in Portland with bikes like mine. I see people around campus with bikes they've done things to, whether it's just handlebars or riding a little kid's bike. I enjoy the creativity of it most of all. Riding something you can't just go to the store and buy necessarily.

Anything else you'd like to add?

I'm glad I am in good standing with you guys. I really like being at OSU, I kind of had a rough time when I transferred. Overall it's been a really good growing experience. Overall, really great people and a lot of good friends. I'll miss it when I am done here.

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