Vince Hoffmann

Obviously hand made. I love the custom (?) saddle bag and Big Wheel pedals!

Wordbiker

A friend of mine would call that a "Penny Fakething".

FBinNY 

DIY "crank forward" bike.

I think there's another thread where someone is looking for one.

Philphine

i've been wanting to try that, or something like it, but i can't build wheels (my constant achilles heel). it looks like they used the front wheel of a huffy green machine. what i'd want to use. the pedals are right on the axle but it still freewheels.

bkentr

Looks like an Unordinary to me.

Vince Hoffmann

I like that word, is that a thing or am I amazingly uninformed?

FBinNY 

Looking at the fork and wheel, I suspect that the builder started with a unicycle and added a training wheel.

I also suspect that it doesn't freewheel since the cranks attach to the hub itself and the bearings are at the base of the fork.

bkentr

Hi Vince,
Of course "unordinary" is a word.
But you wont find it in Websters.
I made it up, but now it's been used, right here on the BF.

It's a simple reference to the front part, which looks like an "Ordinary" or penny farthing bike, but it's not, it's "un".

I agree that it started out as a unicycle, and does not freewheel.

I have done the same, used unicycles to make something else. However not with so long a frame.

Mine were more like modern velocipedes, made of metal rather than wood, and smaller, used a 26" wheel, so as
to be able to touch the ground when stopped.

The old velocipedes were taller, with the cranks fit solid to the wheel, as with a unicycle, and you could Not
touch the ground when stopped. Dangerous !!

As the story goes, the front wheel got bigger, for more speed, and the rear wheel got smaller, to save weight,
until an "Ordinary" resulted. Very,very dangerous!!!!! That's where "headers" were very common.

Which led to the invention of the "Safety" bicycle we ride today.

I have seen a modern "ordinary" with a freewheeling hub. The hub is much bigger as it needs to house the
freewheeling parts.

My "homemade" modern velocipede started with a children's unicycle, $5, and laced the hub into a 26" wheel,
and used a 24" rear.
It was fun to ride, while being both easy and hard at the same time.
The hard part comes from the need to "pay attention" , no coasting to site see.
When a friend of mine first saw it, he "had' to try it, then he "needed" to take it home for his kids to try.
Then he had me build a smaller one for his kids.

So the bike you saw has a bigger wheel, but with the long frame the rider sits way back from the center of
the wheel, much safer, and lower to the ground, possibly low enough to touch the ground when stopped,
and has a riding position similar to a recumbent. then the small wheel out behind.

I find the "look" kinda fun to see. Looks a bit like a chopper.

So to coin yet another word, i might call it a "chopanary", however it is very un ordinary as well.

Side note: I was born in Hayward, and wound up living in San Mateo as well for a few years.
i was living on the Peninsula when the "new" bridge was built.

Philphine

that's the way those green machines are made. I don't know the tech term (concentric gear is what's coming to me, but I'm not sure if that's it), but they do freewheel. the fork is made that way too. I was thinking they just welded the green machine fork ends to a longer fork.


another hard thing for me is the wheel I have has very few spokes, like 24 or something (haven't looked at the wheel in a while). so I'd have to figure out how to make the conversion to a 36 hole rim (I think at some point in the future i'll have a coker monster rim I could use for it) or try to drill more holes in it. but like I said, wheel building is like some mysterious dark art to me.

bkentr

I was just surfing the Coker website this morning, and see that they can and do freewheel.

that's really a good looking modern Ordinary, only $900, and ready to go.

Also that they have been available for so many years proves that I have living in podunk central.

Also typed in "odd bikes" to Google search to find that anything I have done or will do, when it comes to
hacking bikes, is Very tame.

One that I did not see, but have wanted to build, is an amphibious quad, that steers with a pivot in the middle,
like the huge front end loaders.

While not in the building stage yet, the inspiration for one many years ago by combining the ideas of "Milk Carton"
Boat races, Kinetic Sculpture races, HPV races, and a 4 wheel drive pickup.

If anyone has a pic of one, I would love to see it. Please post it.

FBinNY 

Just to be clear, my post referred to the bike in the OP's photo, not to green machines which, until now, I never knew existed.

jimmie65

You led a deprived childhood (or your kids did, depending on your age).
I pick up used green machines at garage sales and we (my son, my grandson, and me) ride them till they break. And my wife has a pink one.
Awesome fun.

Skipjacks

It looks like someone figured out how to put a training wheel on a unicycle.

jimmie65

Nah. This is training wheels on a unicycle.

Skipjacks

Well played, sir.

Philphine

somewhere in the depths of my garage, I have something similar to this, but it uses a skateboard truck and wheels.

Cguev

Looks so cool

Tallbikes

Ooh a very nice penny fakething :-)

Velo Mule

Clever. It is like a low rider penny farthing, or fakething.

jadi

I wish i'd knew if the owner commutes with it or not. Does not look that stable.

GrantFlower

a new way to cycling. I just want this plz tell me where to buy this awesome cycle

MsTris10

Tehehehe this is neat. I see all types of crazy concoctions out here in Atlanta on the beltline. I’ll have to start snapping some pics!