On our Easter walk through Portland’s Montavilla district, just as we turned the corner, I caught this fellow pushing this very custom tall bike into the main street through the business district. I thought maybe he was just pushing it somewhere…but no. He was was getting a needed rolling start to get in the saddle for a Sunday bike ride. Which takes some doing.
If I had had a moment’s notice, I would have switched my phone to video, but this was happening fast, so I just kept snapping. he’s got a long way to go to get up there.
The bike frame has pegs sticking out from the side so it can be climbed like a ladder.
He’s just over half way there!
In the saddle, finally.
And he’s looking back for a reason; at that intersection he turned left, so he wanted to see if there was any traffic coming. Fortunately not, as getting off undoubtedly is as slow and cumbersome as getting on.
We seem to have a fair number of these types of contraptions around here as well, they all come out of hiding for New Belgium’s Tour de Fat every year here in Fort Collins. Always a sight to see someone perched so high up, at least they can see over the SUV’s but the major focus while up there has gotta be all about timing the traffic lights correctly!
One of my BIL’s college buddies works for New Belgium. They actually have a guy whose job consists of cobbling up weird bikes. He has a loft above the tasting room which is a full on bike shop, with all the tools and gadgets you can imagine. Supposedly, he rigged one up with the front tire actually being the dually wheels off a semi truck. One of the brewers was peddling around on one with a geared cam off the rear tire so that the seat would oscillate up and down like he was riding a carousel horse! Must be a helluva job!
Wow cycling done the hard way, I’ll stick to my regular height bike I reckon, but the view from up there must be great for CC spotting.
That’s just dumb. He clearly wants some attention.
There’s a couple of those around here too. As a moderate cyclist myself I think they should be called Darwin bikes. I have no patience for the idiots that ride them around traffic, pedestrians, and other cyclists.
maybe some creativity and lateral thinking is worth your inconvenience
No. If someone is going to be an idiot, I don’t care, provided they do it in the appropriate place. These things are a hazard to everyone around them.
Every time I’ve been in an accident with vehicle vs bike it’s been on a regular “safety” bike. As someone who drives a car and rides a bike, whether it be a normal one or a weird tall one, I can honestly say I feel safer on a tall bike. I’m two times a visible, I can see over cars and down blocks of streets to avoid hazards, and what’s more it that people actually pay attention, notice, slow down, and give me extra room because of my tall bike. Not once have I been a hazard to anyone, be it a pedestrian or another bicyclist. Your closed mindedness is really very much unfounded, and I can guarantee that I have more fun on my tall bike than you ever do on your regular safety bike because you’re too busy getting mad about things that have no contingency on yourself and just flat out don’t matter.
Wouldn’t that be more correctly characterized as vertical thinking?
Darwin bikes, agreed. And, no helmet, but I’m not sure it would make much difference.
That’s more than weird unless he is young and made of rubber. Getting on might be hard (harder than I want) but getting off or riding under some trees could become catastrophic.
Yep, that’s the sort of thing one does when he’s young and still thinks he’s going to live forever.
It just looks like an ankle breaker to me.
The dude in question is actually in his 40s. And having more fun than people half his age.
Just so ~
You are pointing out the fear of non conformists here .
I’m old and still having more fun than most 20 year olds….
-Nate
The guy in the pics here is 42. I know cause he’s my brother. lol No young Buck. Built himself.
Years ago these were all over the place for a little while. They were the type that had 2 frames on top of each other with a long chain to the bottom bike’s pedal gear. I guess eventually the riders either got smarter or incapacitated as they soon disappeared. I always thought they used a ladder or a wall to get on, amazing pictures. These bikes are designed for the new law Portland is considering. Make it legal for bikes (and motorcycles) to run stop lights/signs. But if they crash they are at fault. Only Portland would consider something like this.
Years ago these were all over the place for a little while. They were the type that had 2 frames on top of each other with a long chain to the bottom bike’s pedal gear.
Yup, I remember them from the early 60s. Saw one fool pedaling a home brew contraption just as you describe down Telegraph Rd in Dearborn. Telegraph is a main drag, 4 lanes each way, running at 45mph. Unlike Paul’s area today, there were no bike lanes on Telegraph then. The fool was riding on the right side of a traffic lane.
The local sports anchor on channel 4 here has an intro clip that he uses for film about people like the guy on the bike “hey hey look at me, over here, look at me”
In the early 1960’s in New England Cities these were popular too for a few years , they’d use two regular bike frames ,one inverted .
I always wondered how they’d stop and start again in traffic .
A Machinist friend of mine in Los Angeles got into Vintage ‘ High Wheeler ‘ bicycles for a few years and let me try one in his Suburban Cul De Sac ~ interesting to ride (no brakes to speak of) but I too though them death traps and had no interest in riding one in any sort of traffic .
Just one more thing kids (?) try out to be ‘ different ‘ I should think .
-Nate
The law you refer to requires two-wheeled users to wait at the light for a full cycle without being given a green (due to not being picked up by the sensors) before proceeding safely. Read past the headline.
Holy moley is all I can say and yippie for variety of life is my last comment.
I have clearly made the jump from “Wow, I wanna do that” to “Damnfool’s gonna kill himself.”
At least he didn’t ask Paul to “Hey, watch this!” or “Hey, hold my beer for a moment”…so that means he is probably able to actually ride it.
What I’m curious about is how the height is determined. I mean, is it really necessary to be so high above the ground? Seems like five feet (instead of ten) would be plenty, and still have the desired ‘weird’ effect (and be quite a bit safer).
Still, definitely falls into the category of famous last words being, “Hey, y’all, watch this!”.
All the disadvantages of a penny-farthing with none of the mechanical elegance.
forever my favorite bahahaha!
As the saying goes , ” Keep Portland weird “. I wonder what it’s like to make a sudden stop without falling off that thing .
An unexpected sudden stop requires sliding down that long handlebar like a fireman’s pole. It’s been done a few times
Hello, this is not my work, I’m just passing the images along:
Slideshow-Funny,odd,interesting bike stuff 2002-2012
As a kid in small-town Ontario I saw a few similar bikes and thought they were cool. As a cyclist in modern-day downtown Toronto…not so much.
As much as I’ve seen these things around Bellingham, I’ve never seen one have to stop or take any evasive action. How does that work? Then again, bicyclists act like they have carte blanc and pretty much disregard laws at will.
… Oh yeah, and recumbent bikes. They sell them at Kulshan Bike.
?? Are recumbent bicycles bad ?? .
As I have a shattered spine & neck , they look painful or at least uncomfortable at best to me but the ones I see occasionally seem to be ridden slowly not all crazy like some bicyclists do .
-Nate
What could possibly go wrong?
In the alternative inhabited by Management, this would be ideal for surveying power lines alongside the railroads of the prairies
It’s worse than Darwin. Think of what happens when a kid walks into the street without watching. A normal biker has a fair chance of avoiding the kid, even if he crashes himself. This biker can’t steer suddenly, and if he does, the whole contraption plus his own weight will come down ON the kid, with lots of leverage. His ‘crashed footprint’ is huge.
Why would I not be able to steer suddenly occam24? Have you ever rode a tallbike? If any kids walk in front of me or any bicycle it may be a lesson. Better than walking in front of a car where it may be game over BTW the further the balance point from the ground the more reaction time the rider has. Is a tall bike the smartest thing around? Certainly not. Am I going to crash and kill or hurt someone? Likely not. Has not happened in the past years I’ve been riding this bike. I’ll leave that up to the motorists
Why would this biker not be able to steer suddenly? The further you are from the balance point (where the rubber meets the ground) the easier it is to balance and react. Compare it to balancing a pencil on your hand vs a broom. A pencil is very difficult. With the broom you have plenty of reaction time. Very same concept with a tall bike. Is this build taking it a little too tall? I feel so, but if you have not ridden one your comments are a little naive
How the devil do you stop? I can imagine some sort of running dismount like the starting process in reverse, but what about if you are riding and have to stop for cross traffic, a red light or whatever? Do you just stop adjacent to a sign post that you can hold on to? Can you move off from a standing start?
I simply climb down the way I climb up at all stop lights. Only takes a few seconds. As an option I can hold on to a post or wall but I prefer to climb down. The starts are easier from the ground