Friday, August 17, 2007

Yes, but can I hang it above the fireplace.

I like to think of bikes as works of art. Some more than others as you can see in these two examples. The best part is you can ride these works of art. Doesn't matter the cycling genre you choose. A bike is fun and getting on one as well as looking at one brings a lot of memories to mind. Good ones, I hope. I really enjoy all types of bicycles. Some are just wacky and most people would ask, why? Why not? Why look at painting? Why buy toast with the image of the Virgin Mary? Because I dig it! Ya dig?

This wooden tandem was built by a German engineer. He used several plys of beech wood for the frame. The rest of the bike has fairly standard components. The leather seats are a nice touch. Very retro. Check out the rest of the pictures. You can see the amount of detail in the wood working. Plus you can actually ride this bike. I'd take it for a spin with my best gal on back. Tooling around having fun on a wooden bike. What could be better?





Now this here is a Frenchman on his creation. A replica of a 1800s Monocycle. Looks like learning to ride it might be a bit of a challenge. The thing I thought was really impressive about this one is the precision with which all the pieces were made. It is a very SteamPunk (think Wild Wild West) contraption. It looks like brass and copper have been incorporated in to his build. Another very high level of craftsmanship. In metal this time.
I would say much higher than my work. But hey I'm getting better all the time.
Jump to the article.

John put these in the comments but I had to paste them up here. Too cool. In wood.
Lovely Lowrider
And a very cool concept bike.

Get some inspiration to roll your
own. So to speak.
One of my favorite sites.

2 comments:

John Eaton said...

Check out this: http://www.lowriderbike.com/bike_features/01sumlrb_custom_wooden_bicycle_woody/ and this http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/design-concept/jano-a-bicycle-built-of-wood-268061.php

There's some vid of the Jano Prototype (made from sheets of plywood) somewhere on YouTube being ridden.

Your pal John

John Eaton said...

Also that monocycle brings a South Park episode to mind - Mr Garrison's invention - rich!

-- John