Author Topic: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen  (Read 638014 times)

nicknack

  • Hornblower
Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #225 on: 08 October, 2009, 10:18:04 am »
I spotted this one today
VANMOOF bicycles - Redesign of one of the iconic backbones of Dutch culture

Looking on their site it have solar powered light.

Would that be legal here? It only has a rear coaster brake.
There's no vibrations, but wait.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #226 on: 08 October, 2009, 10:29:31 am »
Spotted an interesting bike yesterday.  I've seen a couple of commuting bikes with drop bars & discs, and thought that was a pretty good combination.  But I think they were both hybrid conversions, or Roadrats.

The one last night was a Marin Toscana.  Checking it out on the Marin website shows a v-brake model.  But I wonder if this might be the way forward for commuters.

Historical note:  The first hybrids were such as the original Orbit Frontier, which was basically a rigid forked (there were no other types) MTB with randonneur bars.

Kona Dew Drop also has discs and drop bars, very cheap too at the moment from Wiggle.
I'm rather taken by the possibilities of hub gears, discs and a dynamo hub - a modded Alfine hubbed MTB would be a fantastic commuter.

Ah yes.  I sat next to a Dew Drop at the lights yesterday.  Quite nicely set up.

My ideal commuter would be pretty much as you describe, though I might prefer Rohloff or SRAM iMotion9 to an Alfine.

Getting there...

Re: Interesting or unusual bikes you have spotted recently
« Reply #227 on: 08 October, 2009, 10:44:40 am »
Spotted an interesting bike yesterday.  I've seen a couple of commuting bikes with drop bars & discs, and thought that was a pretty good combination.  But I think they were both hybrid conversions, or Roadrats.

The one last night was a Marin Toscana.  Checking it out on the Marin website shows a v-brake model.  But I wonder if this might be the way forward for commuters.

Historical note:  The first hybrids were such as the original Orbit Frontier, which was basically a rigid forked (there were no other types) MTB with randonneur bars.

Kona Dew Drop also has discs and drop bars, very cheap too at the moment from Wiggle.
I'm rather taken by the possibilities of hub gears, discs and a dynamo hub - a modded Alfine hubbed MTB would be a fantastic commuter.

To-date, the nearest off-the-peg bike I've seen to that is...

*Whispers*

...the Carrera Subway 8 from Halfords. Roller-braked Nexus, rather than Disk-braked Alfine, but pretty close.  :thumbsup:

Kona Dew Drop also has discs and drop bars, very cheap too at the moment from Wiggle.
I'm rather taken by the possibilities of hub gears, discs and a dynamo hub - a modded Alfine hubbed MTB would be a fantastic commuter.
Life is too important to be taken seriously.

Re: Interesting or unusual bikes you have spotted recently
« Reply #228 on: 08 October, 2009, 11:48:08 am »
Kona Dew Drop also has discs and drop bars, very cheap too at the moment from Wiggle.

...but only in stupidly small sizes, which is probably good otherwise I'd be very tempted!

I'm rather taken by the possibilities of hub gears, discs and a dynamo hub - a modded Alfine hubbed MTB would be a fantastic commuter.

That's exactly my thinking, and whilst I can see where Clarion is coming as regards the hub, I think the Alfine may be an acceptable compromise as regards keeping the cost down.  My commuters end up getting rather shagged through heavy use in foul weather, spending £800+ on the hub alone is probably a bit excessive! (Actually probably £1000+ for a disc compatible one. :o)

The Carrera Subway 8 has straight handlebars, and I think I'd prefer to go back to drops for my next commuter.  I need to find someone selling a plausibly acceptable steel frame.  Singular are a possibility, although they're mostly out of stock at the moment.
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Interesting or unusual bikes you have spotted recently
« Reply #229 on: 08 October, 2009, 02:08:58 pm »
Kona Dew Drop also has discs and drop bars, very cheap too at the moment from Wiggle.

...but only in stupidly small sizes, which is probably good otherwise I'd be very tempted!

I'm rather taken by the possibilities of hub gears, discs and a dynamo hub - a modded Alfine hubbed MTB would be a fantastic commuter.

That's exactly my thinking, and whilst I can see where Clarion is coming as regards the hub, I think the Alfine may be an acceptable compromise as regards keeping the cost down.  My commuters end up getting rather shagged through heavy use in foul weather, spending £800+ on the hub alone is probably a bit excessive! (Actually probably £1000+ for a disc compatible one. :o)

The Carrera Subway 8 has straight handlebars, and I think I'd prefer to go back to drops for my next commuter.  I need to find someone selling a plausibly acceptable steel frame.  Singular are a possibility, although they're mostly out of stock at the moment.

The Ridgeback Nemesis looks to be pretty close to that perfect spec. It even comes with decent tyres.
Specialised do a Globe with an 8-speed hub.

Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #230 on: 13 October, 2009, 02:19:48 pm »
This morning I saw 2 Trikidoos at different points near Clapham Common. One was escorting 2 children on bikes and had no passengers :).
Quote from: Kim
^ This woman knows what she's talking about.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #231 on: 17 October, 2009, 04:22:22 pm »
Being pushed up Callas Hill (or Callous Hill, as iddu calls it) out of the village: a touring bike with a spare wheel* on each side of the rear rack!  The rider - or pusher - looked like an old CTC type. 


*although with no tyres or tubes fitted, so either he was delivering them somewhere or he has more spoke failures than p*nct*r*s...
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #232 on: 18 October, 2009, 08:26:59 pm »
I spotted a very upright Mission load trike in Elephant & Castle.  Large rear low loadbed.
Getting there...

Oaky

  • ACME Fire Safety Officer
  • Audax Club Mid-Essex
    • MEMWNS Map
Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #233 on: 19 October, 2009, 08:42:42 pm »
Spotted a fairly well loaded Thorn, with a trailer (of the one-wheel, Bob Yak type) riding along Fenchurch Street at lunchtime today.
You are in a maze of twisty flat droves, all alike.

85.4 miles from Marsh Gibbon

Audax Club Mid-Essex Fire Safety Officer
http://acme.bike

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #234 on: 19 October, 2009, 09:05:23 pm »
I saw a classic LWB recumbent - probably a Peer Gynt - in Herne Hill near Brockwell Park.
Getting there...

Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #235 on: 26 October, 2009, 10:19:40 pm »
Saw a Pashley Governor at lunchtime today.

The riding position looks every bit as ungainly as I thought it would.

LaidBack

Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #236 on: 27 October, 2009, 06:26:04 pm »


Really a box with a bike attached. Oddly enough it works. Of course no use on bike paths but luckily we have roads in the city for this sort of thing ;)

Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #237 on: 01 November, 2009, 11:43:58 am »
A tandem heading North at Tooting Bec last night at 12.45 AM :D! They looked as though they had got started early for the Sunday run. It was a little surreal, I nearly crossed the road to see what sort it was and ask where they were going, but I thought they might think I was strange :-X.
Quote from: Kim
^ This woman knows what she's talking about.

Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #238 on: 01 November, 2009, 12:31:42 pm »
This last month one of these has been appearing in the bike shed at work

http://www.pashley.co.uk/products/tube-rider-pintail.html

Don't know if it's unusual enough for this thread but it's the first one I've seen.
“There is no point in using the word 'impossible' to describe something that has clearly happened.”
― Douglas Adams

Gus

  • Loosing weight stone by stone
    • We will return
Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #239 on: 01 November, 2009, 12:37:28 pm »

I saw and tried An Itera yesterday, it was the most flexible and horrible bike I've ever ridden .

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #240 on: 01 November, 2009, 12:42:21 pm »
There's two of those for sale in a shop near my work.  I haven't bothered making an offer ;D
Getting there...

Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #241 on: 01 November, 2009, 01:13:46 pm »
I saw and tried An Itera yesterday, it was the most flexible and horrible bike I've ever ridden .

Interesting to see that they were popular in the West Indies for their relative rust proofness.
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #242 on: 20 November, 2009, 10:17:00 pm »
I saw a Strida today near Borough High Street.

I say 'saw', but I heard it first.

And I say near Borough High Street, but I sincerely hope he didn't try to ride that graunchy abomination up there...
Getting there...

ian

Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #243 on: 21 November, 2009, 12:21:05 pm »
Marvellous family-carrying Christiania bike locked up outside the local pool. Always makes me smile, in a place where nearly everyone else rolls up and deposits their kids out of increasingly large 4x4s. It's Bromley, ffs, not the Rockies.

Zipperhead

  • The cyclist formerly known as Big Helga
Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #244 on: 26 November, 2009, 09:48:53 pm »
I saw a lovely gold Brian Rourke today, gorgeous old campag on it. It looked like it had originally been built up that way, rather than rebuilt with old stuff.

Lovely lugs with heart shaped cutouts, but very long points on them. The only other ones I've seen like it are on my Bob Jackson.
Won't somebody think of the hamsters!

Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #245 on: 12 December, 2009, 09:35:35 pm »
Today, King's Road - a mint Eddie Merckx, just like this, except with a black Brooks Swallow.



As depicted in http://markfunkyhoward.blogspot.com/2009/11/fixie-confusion.html

Very very nice indeed.


Torslanda

  • Professional Gobshite
  • Just a tart for retro kit . . .
    • John's Bikes
Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #246 on: 13 December, 2009, 12:43:57 am »
Never really looked before but my LBS has a couple of Pashley tandems -  one with Maguras and flat bars - and in the corner a dusty lugged Mercian in bronze with Weinmann sidepulls and perforated levers.

Last Saturday in Chester a very purposeful and 'European' looking adult trike with electric assist and 406 wheels all round.
VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

Steve GT

  • Crediamo in te, bici!
Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #247 on: 15 December, 2009, 08:12:30 am »
A shaft driven bike by Danish bicycle makers Viva.


This model seems to have been a special edition. Only 120 were made and this one was a little plaque stating that it was the 115th made.

Gus

  • Loosing weight stone by stone
    • We will return
Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #248 on: 21 December, 2009, 07:27:11 pm »
A shaft driven bike by Danish bicycle makers Viva.


This model seems to have been a special edition. Only 120 were made and this one was a little plaque stating that it was the 115th made.


That picture is shot at my working place  ???

Steve GT

  • Crediamo in te, bici!
Re: Interesting and Unusual Bikes You've Seen
« Reply #249 on: 23 December, 2009, 02:52:39 pm »
A shaft driven bike by Danish bicycle makers Viva.


This model seems to have been a special edition. Only 120 were made and this one was a little plaque stating that it was the 115th made.


That picture is shot at my working place  ???

It's the 'A' train that runs between Køge and Copenhagen.. The Pompino's bottom backet is kaput, So I had to use the train / Bus to get to work and back.