Author Topic: Would YOU have hired this bike?  (Read 4527 times)

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Would YOU have hired this bike?
« on: 28 July, 2009, 10:12:29 pm »
The campsite I've been staying at in France for the last week or so had a bike hire facility, with a motley collection of rides in various states of rustiness chained up outside the campsite shop to choose from. There was only one that really caught my eye - I quite fancied having a go but there's no way on earth I could have persuaded my wife to accept the role of stoker...



Closer investigation revealed that thanks to some French technical wizardry, the stoker pedals "forwards":




d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #1 on: 28 July, 2009, 10:13:40 pm »
I don't think we'd have been able to resist having a go, but I wouldn't want to go far.
Getting there...

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #2 on: 28 July, 2009, 10:17:03 pm »
Quite. I wanted to have a go in spite of thinking it looked positively life-threatening.

Does anyone have Drew Buck's phone number? I couldn't help wondering if he'd be interested in hiring it for the next PBP (the campsite is at Quimper, handily close to Brest, so it would definitely be feasible for the return leg at least).

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #3 on: 28 July, 2009, 10:25:55 pm »
... even though the chain IS a bit slack!

Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #4 on: 28 July, 2009, 10:29:33 pm »
Probably  ::-)

However Mrs WJ won't even ride on the back of a conventional tandem (we do have one).

I have riden on the back of a recumbent 'push-me-pull-you' tandem - Great fun!  :D

If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is...

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #5 on: 28 July, 2009, 10:31:12 pm »
That looks....exciting :-\
Getting there...

Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #6 on: 28 July, 2009, 11:10:49 pm »
There's a video on you tube somewhere of a tandem where  riders face each other.  Highly efficient because the stoker's rear aspect acts a fairing for the captain (if you see what i mean)

Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #7 on: 29 July, 2009, 11:41:43 am »
Puritans. Once in wedlock you can hire the "conventional" tandem.
Quote from: Marbeaux
Have given this a great deal of thought and decided not to contribute to any further Threads for the time being.
POTD. (decade) :thumbsup:

Hilldodger

Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #8 on: 29 July, 2009, 02:11:02 pm »
Hire it? We'll be making one ;D

Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #9 on: 29 July, 2009, 02:50:42 pm »
There's a video on you tube somewhere of a tandem where  riders face each other.  Highly efficient because the stoker's rear aspect acts a fairing for the captain (if you see what i mean)

If that's the one I remember from some years back, it won a few TT's until they managed to change the rules and ban it. ;D


I remember seeing some one using a Janus recumbent tandem at a BHPC meet, and the stoker was taking photographs of the other cycles on the velodrome's banking, as they overtook them.  With that sort of bicycle, the stoker is much better positioned for taking photographs of the front of people, rather than the back which is often the case when you take photos from a bike.  I always seem to take lots of photos of my back, the sky, and the road, when trying to take a photo of someone behind me!
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #10 on: 29 July, 2009, 04:47:15 pm »
I saw a father and daughter on one of these, doing the BHF L2B a few years ago!
Abnormal for Norfolk

alan

Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #11 on: 31 July, 2009, 02:32:52 pm »
That looks....exciting :-\

irresistable  8)

Arno

  • Arno
Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #12 on: 18 August, 2009, 11:18:09 pm »
M5 recumbents's version....








clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #13 on: 19 August, 2009, 09:58:15 am »
Interesting chainlines.
Getting there...

gordon taylor

Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #14 on: 19 August, 2009, 12:35:41 pm »
A couple did a trans-America run on a back to back tandem a few years ago. I think there was an article in Velovision magazine but I can't find it now.


Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #15 on: 19 August, 2009, 12:46:06 pm »
Was that the back-to-back Trice?

I think they did PBP as well!
If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is...

frankly frankie

  • I kid you not
    • Fuchsiaphile
Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #16 on: 19 August, 2009, 01:15:11 pm »
This did LEL last time around
when you're dead you're done, so let the good times roll

Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #17 on: 19 August, 2009, 01:17:24 pm »
That's them  :D

Mike & Linda I think?

Met them at York rally and other events a few years ago.
If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is...

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Would YOU have hired this bike?
« Reply #18 on: 19 August, 2009, 07:42:31 pm »
How much wind-up and scrub do you get with independent two-wheel drive?  If one rider is putting in more power than the other, it must be very hard on the tyres.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.