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Grand piano towing cyclist falls foul of San Francisco's steep hillsGrand piano (via Facebook)

Grand piano towing cyclist falls foul of San Francisco's steep hills

“My brakes aren’t designed for San Francisco grades”
by Alex Bowden
Fri, Mar 08, 2019 18:04
4

A pianist from Germany who tows his grand piano around by bike has suffered a spectacular (and doubtless noisy) crash in San Francisco. Davide Martello’s brakes were no match for the city’s steep roads, but he has since repaired the piano and performed last night.

In 2015, Martello towed his piano to the Bataclan Theatre in Paris to perform the John Lennon song Imagine in the wake of the terrorist attack.

More recently, he has been travelling and performing in the United States.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Klavierkunst - Davide Martello (@klavierkunst_) on

 

Unfortunately, things did not go well in San Francisco earlier this week.

Writing on Facebook, Martello said: “I’m very sorry San Francisco but your roads were too steep and I busted my piano really bad. I will keep you posted as soon everything is fixed. If someone in the area of San Francisco wants to help me out I would be very thankful. I was very lucky not to be injured or injure others... I only scratched an Uber car.”

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Klavierkunst - Davide Martello (@klavierkunst_) on

 

He continued: “There was a German man who helped me out to get everything back inside my trailer. And I am very thankful that I’m still alive. Everything happened on Bay Street, the first hill I did it with no problems but the second one was deadly!

“Thank God I jumped right off my bike when I realized that I couldn’t handle it anymore and the speed got out of control. My brakes aren’t designed for San Francisco grades.”

However, Classic FM reports that he was first given a substitute piano by a shop in the city and he has since said that his own piano has since been repaired.

piano
San Francisco
Davide Martello
Alex Bowden

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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4 comments

Avatar
RoubaixCube | 5 years ago
1 like

His rear tyre looks a little flat.

 

I guess his track pump didnt quite hit those notes.

Avatar
burtthebike | 5 years ago
2 likes

Hits rather a discordant note, but perhaps he needs to fix the brake pedal on the piano; obviously nothing wrong with the accelerator pedal.  Presumably the piano had a soft landing.

Avatar
ROADEAGL | 5 years ago
1 like

Well, his heart is certainly in the right place. A SF bricklayer might find him a few bricks shy of a load, though. Yes, lucky he's alive.

Avatar
ktache | 5 years ago
7 likes

I think for san fransisco he probably needs a slave braking system for the impressive trailer.  

Good luck to the man.

I cannot see a motor, he hauled that thing up hills. 

"... I only scratched an Uber car.” Nice.

The bataclan thing caused me to shed a tear.

 

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