Extreme Batty Bikers is a whimsical bats and bikes sculpture for the Kory Laos Memorial Freestyle BMX Park, Tucson, Arizona. The bats and bike series of sculptures were commissioned to serve as placemakers along "The Loop" pedestrian/bicycle path around the city of Tucson, to identify places where bats roosted under adjacent bridges over nearby rivers or washes. These sculptures helped newcomer spectators find these locations, so they could observe the bats as they flew out to feed at dusk, and returned at dawn to their roosts. This sculpture is the third in a bat/bike series, the first – Batty Biker (riding a recumbent bike) - is located on the Pantano Wash Loop bike path just north of Broadway Boulevard; the second – Batty Biker Family (a bat couple riding a tandem bike, with a baby bat and teddy bear on a 3rd wheel towed behind) is located in Rillito River Park on N. Campbell Avenue.

Extreme Batty Bikers is designed to highlight the role of the BMX Park, while also featuring the role of bats in the greater Tucson area (the bridge over the Rillito River at N. Camino De La Tierra, 0.4 miles to the west has a roosting colony of bats). Extreme Batty Bikers is a combination of two BMX-riding bats, where the upper one is doing a back flip, while the lower one is doing what’s called a “suicide no-hander”. This sculpture is the most monumental in height of the bat series – its maximum height is approximately 22 feet – and is designed to be seen from both the local area as well as from across the Rillito River on W. River Road. The sculpture is mounted on a lower support post of a 6” diameter schedule 40 pipe. The lowest part of the sculpture, the bottom bike’s rear wheel is 11’ from grade. The BMX bikes are at full scale. The upper pipe is 3” ID schedule 40 pipe, designed to visually minimize the connection between the two bats, so the upper Extreme Batty Biker looks more dynamic as it “floats” upside down in the air. The section of 3” pipe between the two bats has a sleeve of sky-blue ¼” acrylic tube, to minimize the pipe’s visibility and increase the illusion that the upper bat is floating in mid-air, and that the two bats are not connected. Both bats’ wing spans are ~ 11-12’.

The entire sculpture is fabricated of mild carbon steel including 16 gauge tube for the bikes’ wheels, frames, and internal attachment supports, large agricultural chain, and for the bats’ bodies and wings steel rod, perforated and sheet metal. Finish is the same as the other bat sculptures: sandblasted and oxidized.