BAM has fancy new bike racks, designed by David Byrne!

David Byrne is a pioneering musician, Brooklyn resident, author, bicycling advocate and all-around nice guy who loves doing cool stuff for his community (see his awesome 2009 free show at Prospect Park, at which he gave away a bike, then biked to the after party at High Dive). So to further his rad factor, BAM today finished installing new bright blue bike racks that Byrne designed, replacing the boring, utilitarian racks that were there before. The racks spell out “pink crown” on the left of the entrance and “micro lip” on the right, in special “David Byrne Bike Rack alphabet” that was created for the project (whatever that means).

UPDATE 5:25pm: A BAM rep tells us those words were chosen by Byrne, simply for their appearance. There isn’t an exact estimate of how many bikes can fit, but the racks replaced a single standard rack, so the new ones will “definitely” be able to accommodate more bikes.

What’s more, you might get to help design the next round of bike racks. BAM says it will reach out via social media to solicit suggestions for additional letters and words to be used for the “ever-evolving installation.”

In a press release, Byrne says: “I get to BAM fairly often, and the existing racks are often full, so it’s great that there will now be more. When designing these bike racks, I wondered how I could make something that was modular, yet variable—a design that wouldn’t always look the same and could vary depending on season and placement. I realized that a few very basic shapes—a semi circle, a line, and a V shape—would allow one to make a good percentage of the letters of our alphabet. With help and advice from Dero Bike Racks, we figured out how these components could be easily and quickly swapped out to spell different words. For example, the letters could spell out the productions at BAM or any random message for that matter.”

Pretty sweet, right? Unless you have bike racks designed by Brian Eno, it’s your move, Portland.