What is the brand of this bike with 35" wheels
 

I thought maybe someone here might know the brand name of this bike that was imported into the U.S. about 12-15 years ago.

(Sorry, no pictures, just a fading memory)

It was a single speed euro-commuter style bike with fenders.

The distinguishing thing about it was it had really big wheels. My guess is about 35". It was definitely not a 29er. No joke.

The bike was heavy and low tech but of good basic quality, the wheels may have even been steel.

I think it only came in red and am almost sure it was imported from northern Europe.

Anyone remember this?

Thanks, Dan

I think it was made by Coker, or at least Branded with the Coker name. You could still buy them new in certain corners of the internets even last summer...The bike was sort of a promo for the tire size.

IIRC beleive Coker produced the tires for Mountain Unicycling, then stuck them on some 2 wheeled machines..presumably to find a way to sell more of em.

**edit**
it was a 36" tire.

Thanks, Thats it. Just did a google image search and got this picture.

http://www.bikepedia.com/Images/imag...er-Cruiser.jpg

They made a funky little pennyfarthing too. There's a great video on youtube.

Yep thats the one. I can't find anyone online who still has em in stock. They had em last summer though.

Somebody out there is still making giant-wheel bikes, although I can't imagine who is buying them.

Check here: big wheels

Yech. It's a shame that nobody has built a conventional diamond frame to fit such wheels.

-Kurt

That probably gets as many looks as my new Fat ******* jersey.:thumb:

Coker actually started with the penny-farthing, and made the tire just for that (Coker is a tire company, not a bike company.) From there, they made the Monster Cruiser and the unicycles. The bikes languished, the unicycles took off, and now two or three other tire companies make that size tire.

I understand Coker is actually making some of their unicycle frames now, but I think the monster cycle was built for them. I've also seen a european unicycle manufacturer that had them listed.

I suppose if you were so inclined, you could have a custom one made up

I saw a virtually identical one on bikepartsusa.com a couple of years ago.

There are couple of those Coker monster bikes near where I live. One guy rides the crap out of his, typically having to get a new tire for the rear every 6 months or so. I have seen it at my LBS several times being tuned up or having a new tire installed. In fact they keep a couple of tires in stock because they know he will be coming in for one sooner, rather than later.:lol:

Aaron:)

Man, that guy's got a tiny crank.

Think of the gear inches he's got on that though.

If the diameter (including tires) is 38 inches, a 1:1 crank to rear cog ratio would give 119+ gear inches. :eek:

:eek: I hate when somebody tells me that! LOL

Mutt

A 1:1 crank to cog ratio (based on a 38 inch wheel diameter) is 40 gear inches... 119 gear inches would need a 3:1 ratio.

At a glance I am guessing that this bike has a gear range in the mid to high fifties... getting it up top speed would take a little work but once rolling I can imagine this bike rolling over everything.

The 28's on my roadster are like that.

I think for cosmetics, they should have used larger front and rear sprockets.

That's what I get for applying the formula Sheldon posted. :crash:

Zorro -

Rough calculation...

Crank teeth * wheel diameter / # cog teeth = gear inches.

That sounds a bit flawed actually. The circumference (not diameter) of the wheel is what determines how far your travel in one crank revolution.

Not flawed. Gear inches is a way of relating bikes with tires and gears of different sizes, not of measuring travel distance per crank revolution... although that's an easy extra calc.

To clarify ...

Gear Inches refer to the diameter of the front wheel of a penny farthing.

A 56 inch gear would be a penny Farthing with a 56" DIAMETER front wheel,
a 119" gear is a large a** front wheel! :p

The ratio of circumference to diameter is constant. c=d*pi

ok - point remains - the small crank on the 35" wheeled bike yields a bigger result than what it would on a 27" wheel.

I'm embarrassingly rusty on the math. You'd never know I had a 770 on my math SAT back in 1977 from reading this thread. :o

Here's a pic of a 36er mtb. This guy is a custom frame builder. I have seen maybe half a dozen similar mtb builds on 36ers. He has a write up on how it rides and handles on trails too.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZOmYbeW-E...010526.med.JPG

Ride report.
http://waltworks.blogspot.com/2009/04/36-36-36.html
I bet he could build you a 36er roadie.

The builder's name wouldn't happen to be Picasso, would it? :innocent:

Interesting idea, but I'd feel really silly riding that.