You may get tired of all the “dad jokes” in June, so let’s talk more about bikes.
There isn’t anything I can think of that has more varieties than the cycle. There’s the unicycle, the recumbent cycle, the cruiser, the tandem, the tricycle, the roadie, the BMX, the mountain bike, the balance bike, the gravel bike, the foldable bike, the electric bike, the handcycle, the training-wheel cycle, and the sidecar bicycle. So many people have had ideas on their own brand and breed of cycle that the possibilities still seem to be relatively untapped. What could you dream up, invent, and produce?
Before you invent whatever’s on your mind, let’s look at what the others listed really are.
For instance, you probably already know what a tricycle is. It’s a cycle with three wheels. They aren’t only for sidewalk riding by children. They come in adult sizes too. They can be a fantastic way to get groceries, or to get exercise. They’re perfect for people who no longer have good balance, or, yes, for people too young to have developed balance yet. The training-wheel cycle is based on the same concept, except it will most likely have four wheels: two average sized wheels and two very small wheels stretching out to the sides of the bike to keep the bike upright.
The unicycle is in complete opposition to the tricycle and the training-wheel cycle. It’s for people with excellent to amazing balance. The unicycle is only one wheel, a fork, and a seat on top of the fork. The fork will incorporate the crank arms and pedals. To balance, usually the rider will use his or her own arms to extend out to the sides. A rocking motion is often how the unicycle rider starts and stays in one place. Then if you’re crazy, you put on a cape and juggle machetes.
A recumbent cycle is just a low-rider cycle. It has a low profile, so low that the person riding it can almost recline. If you’ve ever seen these on the streets, you probably noticed that they have a flag extending up from behind the seat. That’s so people in cars and trucks can see them and not run them over.
The cruiser, also sometimes called a beach cruiser, is a bicycle with a high center of gravity and taller handlebars. This kind of bicycle was meant for casual rides on roads and boardwalks. They would often be fitted with a basket for hauling things.
Although the tandem is meant for people to double up in the twin seats, they can be ridden by one person. Many models of the tandem bicycle have a “command” seat, or the seat which absolutely has to have a rider, and then the other seat is just a helper seat, where the person helps to pedal, but can’t steer. A few have been rigged up with crazy steering gear so that either seat is the “command” seat.
Road bikes are common enough, though they do come in a few varieties. There are racing models which are feather light and have a lot of gears for playing catch-me-if-you-can. Others are more for the average person who wants to get fit on a flat piece of asphalt, but they’re still roadies, no less legitimate than the pro-racers. Gravel bikes and cyclocross bikes are slight variations of the road bike—both with thicker, sturdier components to make traveling off road more fun.
BMX bikes and mountain bikes are off road rigs. They usually boast tiny saddles, and thicker and/or knobbier tires. They also have beefy welding for rougher handling.
Balance bikes are cool. They’re basically just a bike frame, some wheels, and handlebars. No pedals. A balance bike is for kids to be trained, without training wheels, how to balance on a two-wheeled vehicle.
A foldable bike is exactly what it sounds like: a bike that folds. It’s the Transformer of the biking world. It folds up and turns into a…robot?…no, just a bike that fits into smaller spaces, such as the trunk of a car, or a closet.
The e-bike is only an electric bike. It’s really, at the heart of it, just a motorcycle. There are “assisted pedaling” varieties, and 100% driven varieties. Regardless of how much they push you, they do push you, so if some muscley mountain biker calls you a “cheater”, take it with a measure of humor. He may be afraid that he is going to be old like you someday.
By the way, there are loads of companies which make electric motorcycles. These electric motorcycles are as fast as the gas varieties, and they’re out there on the streets, right now.
The sidecar, in my humble opinion was destined to happen, since it’s just a more friendly way to tow someone. Trailers make it difficult to talk to whoever you’re pulling, hence the sidecar bike.
One of the coolest inventions is the handcycle.
The handcycle is often thought of as an accommodation for people with limited or no use of their legs, however, such a bike can be for anyone wanting to feel the experience. Honestly, it has to take some massive amounts of upper body strength to drive one of these handcycles. If you can imagine that mountain biker who called the e-biker a “cheater” coming up alongside the biker on a handcycle, then the biker on the handcycle would just snicker at that wimpy mountain biker and drive off into the sunset.
Or fly, like this guy.
Xenosthesia.com 