Cycle-du-soleil: Man rides motorcycle standing on seat, playing guitar

The man standing on the seat of a motorcycle while playing guitar, known as Myingyan King, in Myanmar. Screenshot via Facebook.
The man standing on the seat of a motorcycle while playing guitar, known as Myingyan King, in Myanmar. Screenshot via Facebook.

Seven minutes. No helmet. Sure, we cringed a bit, but tell us you’re not at least a wee bit in awe of this foolhardy — and 100% illegal — act of derring-do. What’s that? Oh nothing much, just a man standing on the seat of a motorbike and playing a guitar as it hurtles down a dusty road in Mandalay.

At least we think this happened in Mandalay. The video, which was uploaded to Facebook yesterday and has been shared more than 13,000 times already, is titled “Myingyan King,” ostensibly after the Myingyan district of Myanmar’s central region. 

In the video, the flip-flop and longyi-wearing acrobat seems entirely at ease, chatting and joking with his friends and strumming his guitar as giant trucks and motorcycles whiz past. Occasionally, he shoots a glance back at the road to check for passing vehicles — you know, for safety. (Warning: the audio is pretty awful.) 

We still don’t know how he managed to maintain a steady speed through the 7-minute long stunt, or how he maneuvered the motorcycle on the winding road. Yes, it changed lanes.

Finally, after what feels like forever, the man sits back down shortly before the video ends. 

While some commenters sarcastically joked that the feat was “not a big deal” and that “anyone could pull it off,” others made more pragmatic comments about the obvious safety concerns.

“Bravo! But don’t do that to yourself!,” one user commented. 

“Safety first before your skill,” another said. 

At least a few expressed doubt as to the video’s authenticity, pointing out moments when the wheels seem to freeze or simply just roll too slowly, but a keen-eyed Facebook user noted the effect of a camera’s shutter speed can have on the video’s frames per second, which can create the illusion of stillness in helicopter blades and in this case motorcycle wheels.

So what do you think? Any chance this guy has us all hoodwinked, or have we simply discovered next season’s winner of Myanmar’s Got Talent?

Read more stories from around Yangon at Coconuts.co/Yangon.

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