Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Anyone care to guess what this 'Vintage 1913 Raleigh Gents Bicycle' was purpose-built for?  For sale on ebay

It’s had parts replaced over the years

The bike has been altered to carry out a trade of some description .. see the left hand
Pedal and stay…
 

[Cudzoziemiec]

Curious. I thought maybe the bulge on the chainstay was to put your foot and scoot-start, but there's one on the seatstay too. Maybe they're actually loops for lifting the bike. Was it for some sort of circus performance?

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Maybe it originally had a second rim on the rear wheel for a belt-drive power take-off when the rear wheel was lifted off the ground with a sturdy double-sided kickstand. Knife sharpeners were equipped like this.
https://www.dailytravelphotos.com/images/2009/091127_delhi_india_bicycle_knife_sharpener_salesman_MG_7506.jpg

[Flite]

Would it give clearance to attach an old-style sidecar?

[Paul]

Would it give clearance to attach an old-style sidecar?

That was my guess too.

[Socks]

I don't think it is anything to do with a sidecar.  We had a Watsonian sidecar on the tandem when our daughter was a sprog.  The sidecar frame fitted to standard rear triangle, with enough of a gap to clear the left hand crank and pedal.  So the extra width of that bent crank would be problematic.

[JennyB]

For carrying a ladder?

[yorkie]

Looking at some pictures of early motorcycles, I found this photo (among others) which has exactly the same frame shapes to accommodate a belt drive to the rear wheel. Early cyclemotors had a similar setup to accommodate a belt drive, with the engine located either in the main triangle of the bicycle or attached above the rear wheel behind the saddle.

See:

http://onlinebicyclemuseum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/1902_Motorcycling_02-copy3.jpg

https://nationalmcmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/1912-indian-belt-drive-single_17.jpg

[Cudzoziemiec]

On Friday I saw what is probably the most unusual pedal cycle I've ever seen.
Firstly, a recumbent.
Secondly, a trike.
Thirdly, a delta layout rather than the more common tadpole.
Fourthly, and this is where it gets interesting, front wheel drive.
Fifthly, a fixie.
Sixthly, not just a fixie but pedals fixed directly to the front hub, penny farthing style. But with a much smaller wheel, so a gear of about 26".
Seventhly, just for completeness, the world's largest headlight (looked like a spotlight from a rally car) mounted on top of a small wooden box.

[Cudzoziemiec]

On Friday I saw what is probably the most unusual pedal cycle I've ever seen.
Firstly, a recumbent.
Secondly, a trike.
Thirdly, a delta layout rather than the more common tadpole.
Fourthly, and this is where it gets interesting, front wheel drive.
Fifthly, a fixie.
Sixthly, not just a fixie but pedals fixed directly to the front hub, penny farthing style. But with a much smaller wheel, so a gear of about 26".
Seventhly, just for completeness, the world's largest headlight (looked like a spotlight from a rally car) mounted on top of a small wooden box.

I saw it again yesterday, in the same place, and can now add an eight feature.
Eighthly, and we seem to be entering "just because we can" with this one, it has rear wheel steering. The front wheel is fixed in all senses (other than rotationally – I presume!). The steering is "leveraged" so that when you turn the under-seat bars to the left, the rear wheels turn to the right and you turn left.

That it's parked on the street in the same place a few days before New Year and on NYD makes me wonder who it belongs to. A local resident would be the obvious guess, but I've never seen it there before. So maybe a nearby employee who went out with colleagues on a New Year's lash and is going to ride it home, presumably, today. The two nearest businesses are Alpkit, who I'm sure have facilities for staff to keep bikes in, and a mistake agent... Could also be someone visiting nearby for Christmas-New Year, of course.

[The Family Cyclist]

Cycling to work today and passed a guy on what looked like a decent commuter bike. Looked at frame and was a univega which haven't heard of for a few years

[spesh]

Cycling to work today and passed a guy on what looked like a decent commuter bike. Looked at frame and was a univega which haven't heard of for a few years

Ooh, that's a blast from the past... late 90s/early 00s IIRC.

[JonBuoy]

On Friday I saw what is probably the most unusual pedal cycle I've ever seen.
Firstly, a recumbent.
Secondly, a trike.
Thirdly, a delta layout rather than the more common tadpole.
Fourthly, and this is where it gets interesting, front wheel drive.
Fifthly, a fixie.
Sixthly, not just a fixie but pedals fixed directly to the front hub, penny farthing style. But with a much smaller wheel, so a gear of about 26".
Seventhly, just for completeness, the world's largest headlight (looked like a spotlight from a rally car) mounted on top of a small wooden box.

I saw it again yesterday, in the same place, and can now add an eight feature.
Eighthly, and we seem to be entering "just because we can" with this one, it has rear wheel steering. The front wheel is fixed in all senses (other than rotationally – I presume!). The steering is "leveraged" so that when you turn the under-seat bars to the left, the rear wheels turn to the right and you turn left.

That it's parked on the street in the same place a few days before New Year and on NYD makes me wonder who it belongs to. A local resident would be the obvious guess, but I've never seen it there before. So maybe a nearby employee who went out with colleagues on a New Year's lash and is going to ride it home, presumably, today. The two nearest businesses are Alpkit, who I'm sure have facilities for staff to keep bikes in, and a mistake agent... Could also be someone visiting nearby for Christmas-New Year, of course.

As it is fixed I guess the rider could turn it into a 'more normal' rear wheel drive, front steering recumbent tadpole trike with the cunning use of a mirror to see where they are going.

[Mr Larrington]

On Friday I saw what is probably the most unusual pedal cycle I've ever seen.
Firstly, a recumbent.
Secondly, a trike.
Thirdly, a delta layout rather than the more common tadpole.
Fourthly, and this is where it gets interesting, front wheel drive.
Fifthly, a fixie.
Sixthly, not just a fixie but pedals fixed directly to the front hub, penny farthing style. But with a much smaller wheel, so a gear of about 26".
Seventhly, just for completeness, the world's largest headlight (looked like a spotlight from a rally car) mounted on top of a small wooden box.

I saw it again yesterday, in the same place, and can now add an eight feature.
Eighthly, and we seem to be entering "just because we can" with this one, it has rear wheel steering. The front wheel is fixed in all senses (other than rotationally – I presume!). The steering is "leveraged" so that when you turn the under-seat bars to the left, the rear wheels turn to the right and you turn left.

That it's parked on the street in the same place a few days before New Year and on NYD makes me wonder who it belongs to. A local resident would be the obvious guess, but I've never seen it there before. So maybe a nearby employee who went out with colleagues on a New Year's lash and is going to ride it home, presumably, today. The two nearest businesses are Alpkit, who I'm sure have facilities for staff to keep bikes in, and a mistake agent... Could also be someone visiting nearby for Christmas-New Year, of course.

As it is fixed I guess the rider could turn it into a 'more normal' rear wheel drive, front steering recumbent tadpole trike with the cunning use of a mirror to see where they are going.

That only works if you block out everything from your vision except what you see in the mirror.  Otherwise your head-branez get confused and you crash and it hurts.  Damjan Zabovnik used such a system to great effect in his Eivie series of streamliners; the late Gardner Martin's experimental unfaired trike was pretty much unrideable in an empty car park.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Indeed. My hed-branez are in a whirl just imagining it.

[perpetual dan]

A trike at commuter time this morning. Going faster than the bus I was in, but I think the rear tyres were colour coded like RCA stereo connectors.

Sent from my SM-S911B using Tapatalk

[Wobbly John]

Cycling to work today and passed a guy on what looked like a decent commuter bike. Looked at frame and was a univega which haven't heard of for a few years

I still use a 1997 504 Univega MTB most weeks as a trailer hauling bike, and also have one with slick tyres as a tourer,  a 506 1996 model bought new in ‘97. My daughter still has the 502 model bought at the same time.

[Pingu]

In a neighbour's garden.


IMG_6874_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

[Adam]

Last Sunday, cycling with the local CTC group heading out of Chichester, we passed someone on an Ordinary bike.  As in a Penny-Farthing.  Not sure I'd be going that fast on such a contraption knowing the potholes around here.  But he got a Chapeau from me.

[sam]

Last Sunday, cycling with the local CTC group heading out of Chichester, we passed someone on an Ordinary bike.  As in a Penny-Farthing.  Not sure I'd be going that fast on such a contraption knowing the potholes around here.  But he got a Chapeau from me.

Wouldn't the large front wheel be something of a prophylactic against potholes? Happy to be corrected by someone who has ridden one.

[Afasoas]

Out on last nights dog walk I saw an e-cargo bike ridden by a young woman with an infant stowed in some sort of carrier on the back. With what looked like yellow fairy lights strategically suspended on either side of it.

Surprised and pleased in equal measure to see one of those around these parts.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

A casual dealer I know has an old delivery bike for sale He told me he knows it is pre-1893 because it has a cotter pin holding the bottom bracket bearing in place.  Wish I’d taken a picture now. Repainted unfortunately.

[Efrogwr]

The other day I saw an old fashioned cargo trike, the ice cream vendor style. The handling looked to be a bit dodgy...

[Cudzoziemiec]

Yesterday, a motorized pedal cycle. A small petrol engine bolted to the downtube and driving either the cranks or back wheel (it went past behind me from a side road so I didn't get a good look). Not sure why someone would go for this rather than an electric conversion, but hey.

[Kim]

Yesterday, a motorized pedal cycle. A small petrol engine bolted to the downtube and driving either the cranks or back wheel (it went past behind me from a side road so I didn't get a good look). Not sure why someone would go for this rather than an electric conversion, but hey.

If it's one of those conversion kits from china, it drives the back wheel via a sprocket that clamps to the left side of the hub (disc brake mount, possibly).  They're cheaper than a decent sized battery.