Last night celebrated the creativity of die-hard bike nuts with a
performance by ten remarkable machines.
The 400 lbs. pedal-powered tank was the piece that everyone wanted to
pedal. Two steel framed office side chairs were welded side-by-side on
a fabricated steel frame. A fixed gear drive train drove two 12"
pulleys that pulled the steel conveyor belts over a series of rollers
The steel tracks propelled the machine. Turns are accomplished by one
rider pedalling backwards while the other keeps cranking ahead. It's
about 10' long.
My favourite was a tall bike with an auxiliary wheel mounted above the
rear wheel. A cut out inverted steel barrel was mounted over the lower
back wheel and the auxiliary wheel had hard rubber balls attached with
short pieces of cable. These struck the drum as the bike was pedalled.
What a racket! I'd love to hear and see fifty of these things riding
in formation.
Another amazing machine was the steel bathtub trike. The rider sits in
the tub and powers it with a rowing action. What is most amazing is
its builder was unaware rowing bikes already exist. He claims to have
never seen nor heard of the concept.
Another trike mounted a sewing machine on the front. Pedalling powered
the trike and the sewing machine. It's hard to steer and sew a
straight line at the same time but it was pretty and it functioned
perfectly except for the toe overlap on tight turns.
The prettiest machine was a tall chainless bike that derived its
locomotion by pedalling a 26" unicycle that drives a 24" idler wheel
that drives the 16" rear wheel. The front tire is even smaller and the
steerer tube is about 5' long. He calls it a four-penny-farthing.
There were people up from Portland and a few of the Dead Babies from
Seattle. Storm Brewing, live music and DJs kept the party rolling
until well past two. Photos will likely be posted by Monday.
--
zk