Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen

[Torslanda]

Last night, there was a woman on a cool Hetchins in Wallington.

Charlotte doesn't usually get lost, does she? 

[Wendy]

Saw a Google bike yesterday at work!!

[Bledlow]

A few days ago, a bloke on an immaculate but impractical fixie in the bus lane on Kings Road, Reading. The (bare metal) bars were so narrow he could barely fit his hands on them, & he looked a bit wobbly.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

On Saturday I was on t'bus from Dublin airport into Dublin when I say this very strange contraption proceeding into the city centre.  The rider was obviously highly skilled and dealt with the traffic with complete confidence.  Having arrived in the city we saw him several times after that.

On the frame it said that it was a 'Sideways bike' and from the wikipedia article, the rider we saw was also its inventor.  The version we saw was the small wheeled one. Sadly I wasn't able to take a picture.

The sideways bike is different in many ways from a conventional diamond-framed bicycle. The rider controls direction by steering with both front and back handlebars. This means that the bicycle can maneuver manoeuvre effectively in congested conditions, weaving in and out of cars and performing tight turns. It also means that the rider can move the bike sideways, as the name suggests, such that the movement is perpendicular to the direction in which the frame points. Although this is possible, it is very difficult, as it is necessary for the rider to have extremely good balance and coordination.

[Wendy]

I've met the chap, and had a go on his bike.  It was fun!

[Clandy]

Here's his Youtube channel:


      YouTube
            - Kanal von sidewaysbike
   

[Wobbly John]

I've met the chap, and had a go on his bike.  It was fun!

Me too. He had a go on the Wobblebike too.

...and while I'm here: Spotted this morning: a commuter on a Sinclair A-bike. I wonder how he coped with the hill down to the station?  

[her_welshness]

I saw one chap in his army trousers cycling his 'Mad Max' labelled bike (on the A202 this morning). It had black spikey bits sticking out from all sides of the frame, with what looked like 3 plasticated boxes that had been glued together and which acted as his panniers, and painted in red and black scrawls. Myself and other cyclists were all  Anybody else spotted him before?

[clarion]

Not normally many bikes around near work, so I was surprised to see four within 50m of work this lunchtime.

'Champion' 5-speed with cottered chainset, and frame lugs like plumbing joints.
Raleigh Pioneer
'Oklahoma' 'Dutch' bike with vast sweeping bars and a double top tube
Blue 70s sports bike alongside the Oklahoma.

[clarion]

They're all still there.  Perhaps related to the community arts project in one of the shop units.

The Oklahoma is actually an Azor, on closer inspection, and has a Fortnum & Mason hamper as a front basket.

What I thought was a Pioneer was actually a Raleigh Mirage in that unusual pale green & white colourscheme

There's a 70s? brown Raleigh roadster of some kind there as well today.

[andrew_s]

An occupant of the bike lockup at work, with the most eccentric bar end positioning.
(the other side is the same)

[TimO]

That's a bit weird, it must make it difficult and/or uncomfortable to use the shifter.

(...and more worryingly, the same could be said of the brake lever).

[woollypigs]

So it wasn't my eyes playing up when I saw it. Honestly there can only be one person doing this. So please do tell me that this was in London you found this.

[spesh]

Chain's a bit slack.

With a derailleur?!

It can happen with sticking freehub pawls - freewheel or backpedal slightly, and the jockey wheel cage gets pulled forwards, resulting in slackness.

Alternatively, the jockey wheel cage spring is FUBAR, but my money's on the former problem. Those DynaTechs were around some 18 years ago, if not longer, and it looks like nothing's been replaced on the one pictured above.

Never seen a yellow one before - I always thought the ones with blue lugs and rear triangle looked the nicest.

[Ian H]

A well-used Stan Pike in Dorchester during the Dorset Coast last week. He was a West Dorset frame builder who died young.

[clarion]

Sutton CC have a lovely Stan Pike track bike that Superstoker rode to good effect.  It's kept at Herne Hill, but I'd never heard of him before.

[Ian H]

Sutton CC have a lovely Stan Pike track bike that Superstoker rode to good effect.  It's kept at Herne Hill, but I'd never heard of him before.

He worked from a lock-up in Crewkerne. As I recall he was in his 40s when he died. Son took over, but hated it and shut up shop.

[andrew_s]

So it wasn't my eyes playing up when I saw it. Honestly there can only be one person doing this. So please do tell me that this was in London you found this.

It is in Gloucester. A dark green Claud Butler.
I'd be surprised if it had travelled to London, so there must be two.

[Marco Stefano]

What looked like a real old ordinary (i.e. not a mock-up) on top of a disused garage or motor factors on the main road south out of March, Cambs. I think it needs rescuing. I'd post a picture if I could, but I can't...

[Wobbly John]

What looked like a real old ordinary (i.e. not a mock-up) on top of a disused garage or motor factors on the main road south out of March, Cambs. I think it needs rescuing. I'd post a picture if I could, but I can't...

I'll have to ride over there tomorrow and investigate.  

I think there used to be one that hung over a cycle shop in March as a shop sign, but i'm pretty sure it was just a mock-up.

March does have a strong VCC so I expect the bike you saw is already known about.

[Bledlow]

A Strida. Central Reading, shortly after 7 pm.

[clarion]

Saw a LWB recumbent on Monday.  Looked like a Peer Gynt.

[Torslanda]

Today, at CenterParcs, a Kona Cinder Cone of uncertain heritage, probably mid90s, locked to an Orange G2(?) a bike I've never heard of and, yesterday, two Bromptons of which #1 son asked if they were 'as good as our folders' 

Never mind, he's only 9, he's got a lot to learn . . .

[Sigurd Mudtracker]

At the weekend saw a youff riding a 36" Ordinary of the modern variety.  He wasn't making much progress with his 36" fixed wheel, and I did wonder if a Schlumpf unicycle gear would improve matters.  I know that there used to be "dwarf" ordinaries with two chain drives each side to increase the gearing of a small front wheel.

[Torslanda]

Spotted another one today, Schwinn Cruiser in powder blue, springer forks and coaster brake. Ideal for CenterParcs really.

Also a badass chopper bike, like a beach cruiser but stretched and lowered. 96 (count 'em!) spoke wheels with steel rims, almost a recumbent feet forward pedalling position, huge chrome pullback bars, sprung saddle and springer forks. Chrome and black. Useless but cool.