After three years of design and fabrication, a climbable bicycle sculpture is now open in Roeland Park’s R Park.
The Mighty Bike, a 12-foot sculpture designed for children (and adults) to play on, officially opened to the public in mid-June.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, community members came up with the concept for The Mighty Bike: A climbable art sculpture that imagines a flying bicycle, styled as a 1960s model.
That idea solidified in 2023, when Roeland Park residents raised enough funds and the Roeland Park City Council included the then $170,000 sculpture in its budget.
Since then, The Mighty Bike has hit delays related to the construction of the sculpture and the safety of its use along the way — and is now at a total cost of $370,000.
After addressing those safety concerns, the climbable sculpture officially opened to the public a couple of weeks ago.
Nathan Brungardt, the city’s parks and recreation superintendent, said he’s grateful for the community and the city council’s support over the years that helped get this unique project completed.
“It is truly a one-of-a-kind playground and a one-of-a-kind piece of art,” Brungardt said. “You’re not gonna find another one around like it.”
A crossroads of RP’s love for public art, parks
Brungardt said this project started out as a pre-pandemic idea from residents, before unique playgrounds at more affordable cost levels became the norm in the metro area.
The Mighty Bike exemplifies Roeland Park’s love for public art and its public parks, Brungardt said.
“We’re really happy to have it open,” Brungardt said. “Roeland Park has a lot of projects that are one of a kind and we’re really excited to have this in our portfolio.”
Since The Mighty Bike opened to the public, Brungardt said the city has received nothing but positive feedback.
Some residents are glad that the traffic garden is fully re-opened, and others enjoy the vibrancy The Mighty Bike offers, Brungardt said.
Councilmember Matthew Lero, prior to sitting on the city council, joined the parks and trees committee because of The Mighty Bike project.
As someone who has been involved with the project from the beginning, Lero said he’s happy to hear from residents who have asked over the years about the 12-foot climbable sculpture’s opening.
“Every time I drive by, I get excited to see it,” Lero said. “I’ve been thinking about it so long and looking at drawings and looking at photos of the various details of it, and to see it as a thing and people are enjoying it, I mean, it makes my day.”
Lero said The Mighty Bike reinforces the city’s support of different modes of transportation, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists.
For Lero, The Mighty Bike is a product of a true team effort between the artist, staff and elected officials, the fabricators, structural engineers, safety consultants and residents who donated to the project.
On July 22, the city plans to host a ribbon cutting ceremony for the climbable sculpture featuring a bicycle parade at the traffic garden, a food vendor and a flower craft, Brungardt said.
The city spent several months addressing safety concerns
Brungardt said the city installed the sculpture in October 2025, but kept it closed to the public after a safety consultant — hired by the city at the start of this project — found issues that needed to be addressed before children could use it.
For playground safety, pucks the size of a 2-year-old child’s torso and a larger puck the size of a 2-year-old’s head are used to see whether a child can safely fit through different parts of a structure, Brungardt said.
If the torso puck fits, then the head puck must also fit in order to avoid entrapment, Brungardt said.
With the Mighty Bike, there were six spots that failed that test, Brungardt said, delaying its opening for several more months.
The Mighty Bike anchors the traffic garden at R Park, which teaches children how to ride their bicycles using the rules of the road.
Brungardt said children riding bicycles and wearing helmets should remove headgear before playing on The Mighty Bike, but there is likely going to be some who keep their helmets on.
“We know that there’s gonna be a lot of kids who play on this bike who are coming from their bicycles, so we wanted to make sure that there was no way for a kid wearing a helmet to get their helmet caught in that bike,” Brungardt said.
Ultimately, the city opted to place panels in certain areas of the sculpture to ensure the safety of climbers on the Mighty Bike, Brungardt said.
There is also a second layer of netting and panels near the basket of The Mighty Bike, though that particular area did not fail the safety test, he said.
The construction of the bike caused initial delays
After the idea became solidified in 2023, the artist and the city projected completion and installation of the climbable sculpture — to anchor the city’s traffic garden at R Park — that same summer.
In 2025, the city council approved an increase to the budget of the project two years after it was planned to be installed.
At that time, city officials told the Post that the custom-built features of the bike sculpture itself proved difficult to find a contractor to build The Mighty Bike.
The city had hoped to have the climbable structure installed and open for public use in summer 2025.
Still, the sculpture itself was not installed until October 2025.
Jennifer Jones-Lacy, the assistant city administrator, told the Post via email on Tuesday that the total cost of the sculpture is now $370,000.
Of that amount, Jones-Lacy said that $171,865 is from private donations and another $3,613 is from a grant for the fall surface around The Mighty Bike.
The remaining $194,522 is from the city’s special infrastructure fund, which comes directly from the city’s half-cent dedicated sales tax, Jones-Lacy said.
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