'River-Banksy' rides again: More bikes appear along Whanganui's awa

More bikes are appearing beside the Whanganui River, this one just below Taylor St as well as a fifth bike on the South Mole. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui's answer to anonymous street artist Banksy has struck again.

The city's most mysterious public art installation has expanded over the last few weeks, with two more bikes being placed along the banks of the river.

Originally a single push-bike was placed on top of Whanganui's South Mole.

Horizons Regional Council spokeswoman Kate Ritani estimated the first bike appeared around a year ago, with three more bikes being added to the Mole over the next year.

Over the past few weeks a fifth bike has been placed on the Mole, and another has appeared underneath the Anzac Parade river walkway near the Red Lion Inn.

The Anzac Parade bike has one notable difference to the bikes on the mole - it appears to be wrapped in plastic.

Shoppers at Whanganui's weekly Saturday riverside markets will have a good view of the bike from across the river, and Whanganui River Markets' Annette Main estimated the bike had been placed there fairly recently.

Horizons Regional Council engineer Dougal Ross said Horizons had still heard nothing from the community about who had installed them or for what reason.

However, Ross said while Horizons currently had no plans to either preserve or remove the bikes, he was keen for them to remain, as he found them artistic.

Currently, Horizons is overseeing repairs to the Whanganui North Mole as part of Te Pūwaha port revitalisation project.

Once repairs to the North Mole are completed, the same repairs are planned for the South Mole.

Ross said if the repairs required the bikes to be taken down, he would look into reinstalling them once repairs were completed.