Product: Musical Instrument: String
Bicycle Harp   (+4)  [vote for, against]
harp on wheels

Harps are heavy and awkward to move around, but if they were built into the frame of a bicycle in the open area between the front and rear wheel, you could cycle around and always bring your harp with you.

To play your Bicycle Harp, you simply flip off the front wheel, remove the saddle that becomes a stand alone seat, then up-end the bike to enable the cyclist to convert to playing musician mode.

As an added bonus feature, the wind travelling through the strings as you cycle along emits a constant low volume spooky sound.
-- xenzag, Nov 04 2021

Large heavy Harp https://www.salviharps.com/harp/aurora/
[xenzag, Nov 04 2021]

Tricycle harp http://dclxvi.org/c...ons/homage/babydee/
[pocmloc, Nov 04 2021]

This has been done. I saw a YouTube decades ago.
-- pocmloc, Nov 04 2021


I just had a look. I do see a flimsy attempt at this, but not the fitting of wheels etc to a heavy instrument like I have in mind.
-- xenzag, Nov 04 2021


No - the wheels themselves should be like harps, with each spoke tensioned to give a different note when plucked. As an additional benefit, having a small lever on the handlebars which 'strums' the wheel would also obviate the need for a bicycle bell
-- hippo, Nov 04 2021


I had considered using wheels but that would be more of a Bicycle Banjo. [which is still a useful item] This idea was to solve the problem of moving around one of these big harps (see link)
-- xenzag, Nov 04 2021


Wheels has also been done, I saw a photo decades ago of a harpist who did a bicycle tour (I think in Orkney) with a tiny harp strapped to his backpack, one of the photos was him sitting and "pretending" to play a bicycle wheel as if it were a harp.

There is also a professional harpist playing one of the full size harps who used to have it mounted on a tricycle, and cycle round the streets performing.

I.e. my conclusion is that combination bicycles/harps have been done in many (if not every) conceivable way, though granted this is a pretty niche area so it's not widely know to exist. but neither is it an original idea.
-- pocmloc, Nov 04 2021


Also [hippo] some bicycle wheel builders pluck the spokes and listen to the pitch to help them tension the spokes appropriately. And a frame mounted plucker that strikes the spokes as you cycle was well baked by me and my friends about 100 years ago.
-- pocmloc, Nov 04 2021


Wellif it's known to exist already I'll delete it. I never saw a large harp converted to become a bicycle, but I'll take your word for it.
-- xenzag, Nov 04 2021


//the wind travelling through the strings as you cycle along emits a constant low volume spooky sound// - This would be good - an Aeolian harp bicycle
-- hippo, Nov 04 2021


Aeolian harp version would be cool. (My old bike used to be an Aeolian flute, if the speed & wind were just right.)
-- neutrinos_shadow, Nov 04 2021



random, halfbakery