Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen

[Cudzoziemiec]

I love the Dutch. It's the gaffer tape and brand new Schwalbes that I liked.

It's not there at the moment!
(Currently enjoying a coffee in Wassenaar)

Splendid observational skills. Best coffee I had there was in the first ice cream van on the beach. Delicious!

What I really like is the knitting around the frame tubes.

[Mr Larrington]

P9020181 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

Like a VeloSolex, only not one.

[clarion]

I saw a chap with his Chopper in his hand at London Bridge this morning.

[Zipperhead]

I saw a chap with his Chopper in his hand at London Bridge this morning.

But did he have a bicycle?

[Andrij]

c. 1920

[Mr Larrington]

My grate frend Mr Woolrich made something similar out of half a Bickerton many years ago.

[Dman01]

My grate frend Mr Woolrich made something similar out of half a Bickerton many years ago.

That sounds amazing - are there any photos?

[Zipperhead]

My grate frend Mr Woolrich made something similar out of half a Bickerton many years ago.

Intentionally?

[Mr Larrington]

My grate frend Mr Woolrich made something similar out of half a Bickerton many years ago.

That sounds amazing - are there any photos?

I can probably rustle up a really crap B&W one tonight (local time, it's 06:45 here ATM) but if I've got anything better it'll be:

• an old-skool print, and
• at home

where I won't be for about three of your Earth weeks.

My grate frend Mr Woolrich made something similar out of half a Bickerton many years ago.

Intentionally?

Why, yes!  Following the success of Mr Woolrich's Velocino (as such machines are sometime known) my grate frend the late Hairy McSteve also built one with a monocoque wooden frame while the offering of monocoque maven Mike Burrows was built from a BMX frame and had a fixed gear.  I bike-sat Mr Woolrich's example for a while when he was moving house or something and found it very handy for nipping to the shops and so forth, though you did get a certain number of comments from the Cheerful Cockney Urchins when riding it up the Leytonstone High Road.

[Mr Larrington]

Google, TimO and yacf to the rescue:



Being ridden by a younger, slimmer and rather less hairy Mr Larrington.

[hatler]

Neat. How does the steering work on that ?  Are the handlebars operating like a tiller ?

[Wobbly John]

Didn't Mr Woolrich's Velocino fit inside the fairing of his recumbent?

I have a photo somewhere of the Bickertoncino being inspected by a certain Sir C Sinclair...

It also inspired me to make one from a RSW that was cluttering up the workshop, as detailed on the XnTRICK Cycles website.

[TimO]

Google, TimO and yacf to the rescue:
...

Reading the earlier post, I was thinking : ''Didn't I take a photo of that, and scan it in a couple of years ago ...''.

[Mr Larrington]

Neat. How does the steering work on that ?  Are the handlebars operating like a tiller ?

Pretty much, so lock is a bit limited depending on the mightiness of the rider's thighs.

Today's offering:


P9070007 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

Santa Monica's answer to the Boris Bike - complete with shaft drive.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I suppose shaft drive makes sense on a bike that will see abuse, neglect and minimal maintenance. And of course it has a proud American tradition.

http://www.roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com/roosevelt/

[Dave_C]

Taken a couple of years ago in Mahon, Menorca.

[TimO]

...


Being ridden by a younger, slimmer and rather less hairy Mr Larrington.

A German chap tried to Crowdfund a similar thing, although I don't think he managed to get enough interest.  It's using an S2C, which is probably a good idea in that sort of design.  Lacking a brake on the front wheel, it's probably not street legal in the UK.



http://www.halbrad.com/

Halbrad on YouTube

[Cudzoziemiec]

This was one of the non-standard cycles that came round during the half-time interval of the Bristol stage of Tour of Britain (the stage was in two parts: a TT in the morning, a circuit race in the afternoon). There were others, far more unusual, which seemed to be pedal-powered farm machinery: huge wheels about 2m high with a rider sitting in the middle and straining like an ox to keep the thing moving.

[Cudzoziemiec]

A curious method of locking a bike:



It's not that clear on the photo but the cable appears to be electrical cable, the outer covering is coming off at the top and you can just make out metal filaments all held together with, of course, cable ties. Somehow bodged into some kind of connecting thing at the top and wedged between tyre and mudguard. Very odd.

[Mr Larrington]

So there we were, doing the cat-herding thing that is rounding up all the machines and people for a group photo when our party was gatecrashed by Uncle Sam:


P9170322 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

Actually Nikita Vatin, a Florida-domiciled Russian and assistant to the Tetiva team from that Moscow, that they have now.  Natch one of our gang decided to have a go:


P9170331 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

Aurélien Bonneteau, rider with the IUT Annecy team.  The height of the unicycle may be estimated from the height of Auré, which is about 6'6".

[Kim]

This IHPVA thing's just a cover for a tall people convention, isn't it?

[Wobbly John]

I wonder if Mr Larrington can remember when a giraffe-unicyclist turned up to a BHPC event at Herne Hill velodrome and was persuaded to do a 1km (or was it one lap?) sprint! 

[Mr Larrington]

This IHPVA thing's just a cover for a tall people convention, isn't it?

Not entirely.  See for e.g. this lot:



Team Policumbent rider Andrea Gallo is 4th from right.



Fastest three chaps.

OK, so Yasmin Tredell is 6'1"

[matthew]

Yesterday lunchtime I saw a very special bike.

I think it started out as a fairly standard lady's or child back tandem. ie no top tube for the stoker. However it had then been heavily modified.

The rear carrier had been adapted to mount the stokers wheel chair behind the stoker.
the stokers saddle had been changed to allow her feet to rest in high foot plates and was more like a chair with a waist belt. The stokers bottom bracket having been repurposed as the pivot point for a very sturdy, cable operated by the pilot centre stand.
The pilots saddle had been moved forward from it's seat post to accommodate the stokers hand cycle cranks with a chain following the seat post down to the pilots cranks.

I could have spent half an hour looking and chatting with the owner and still not seen all the little tweeks and modifications he had made to make it work.

[tatanab]

^^^^ I know them, rather I have met them several times.  Hounslow club as I remember.  She puts in some real power with those hand cranks and is a real character.  Inspirational the pair of them.