Matt Baume over at the SF Weekly recently caught up with the owner of the mysterious tiger bike (complete with an electric wagging tail) and he had this to say:

​”It came from some inner thing, like, 'I just want to do this,'” [bike creator Dan Seneres] explained when we caught up with him by phone. He got the idea one day, inspired by the art car movement. There's just too much homogenity in the bike scene, Dan said, eschewing cliques like mountain bikers, fixie guys, and “road bike people with their spandex.”

“You don't see a lot of art bikes,” he said, so he set out to create his own. That was five years ago, and it's been going strong ever since.

The article goes own to say that beneath the fur exists a labyrinth of wires and cables that connects a small iPod radio.  But what about the accusation that the bike scene is homogenous?  Sure, decorated bikes pop up around Burning Man only to find their way to backs of garages everywhere by October, but there certainly is a lot of creativity and thought that go into people's bikes.  Anyone who has ever worked at a bike shop can tell you people spend hours agonizing over every little detail of a custom bike.  Maybe the bike scene is more like the low-rider scene?  Artful without being covered grade-school craft supplies?

Even so, I wouldn't complain if this dude moved down from Reno to The City:

(full interview at SF Weekly — first photo by nuzz, second photo by Lauren Randolph)