Drum roller

Long-time Harley rider Don Aubut saw a motorcycle mounted with percussion instruments—drums and cymbals and the like—at a bike show in Montreal, and the Moncton, New Brunswick, resident decided to build one himself. He enlisted the help of Luc LeBlanc, a custom bike builder and owner of Kent County Custom in nearby Shediac, and Andy Davis, a drummer in Moncton, to mount a full-size electronic drum kit to his 1977 FLH.

The bike’s headlight and running boards were removed, and special brackets were built to hold the five Roland TD-9 percussion pads. The pads are connected to an electronic sound module to create hundreds of possible sounds, including regular drums, steel drums, cymbals, pops, crashes and even voices, which are eventually pushed out through an amp or PA system. The pedals are located on either side of the bike so that the drummer can sit in the normal riding position and play with both hands and feet, just like with a regular drum kit.

Aubut told a Canadian newspaper that he wants to rent it out as a show for concerts, bike shows and other special events, envisioning that one could ride it right up on the stage, put it on a rack, flip out the drums, plug it into the PA system and play a drum solo. He claims that it takes only a few minutes to set up.

The whole idea sounds intriguing to us and could create quite a spectacle, but there’s only one catch—Aubut isn’t a drummer. So he’s looking for a talented motorcycle-riding artist to lay sticks on skin.