Walking into the Philly Bike Expo hall, I was greeted with the tail end of this contraption. It defies description really, and no one was on hand to explain it. That’s art for you – best left to be interpreted by the observer, it’s meaning to be decided by the beholder. For me, it’s something inspired by pirate ships that want to traipse far into the wilderness and need a perch from which to hunt…
The helm consists of a bowling pin steering wheel that controls the rear wheel.
A drum brake in the middle of the front axle is operated by a brake left just below the “driver’s side” front seat.
We’re hoping there’s some foam or other filler between the rubber and the rim, otherwise this’d be one harsh ride!
As weird as this contraption is, the ingenuity and build features are pretty awesome to behold.
Less crazy but also rarely seen here in the states is the Pashley Pronto. It’s a common city bike in Europe (so they say), but not something they’ve brought to the U.S. in any numbers yet.
In my happy-go-snappy state of capturing random things, I completely missed seeing whose booth this was in, but the wood cargo container was worth a look. It’s from Babboe, a cargo/bakfiets bicycle brand in the Netherlands that makes quite a few different sizes and styles.
The Franklin Institute brought out a collection of historical bicycle catalogs, distributor price books, pins, photos and more. Some were sort of like trading cards for hometown heroes and track stars of yore.
Even back in the 1800’s folks were touting the health benefits of cycling!
Small flags were made to commemorate and possibly promote local races. If you’re in the Philadelphia area, check out the museum to see the full collection (along with plenty of non-cycling stuff, too).
Via Bicycle is a local Philly shop and they brought out this Victory bicycle with a very cool front leaf spring style linkage suspension. Note the brake lever’s connecting rod running down to a pivot…
…that pulls two thinner rods that end up pushing a brake pad against the rear tire.
How’s this sliding bottom bracket mount for a chain tensioner?
