• OBloodyhell (unregistered)

    "This sounds silly" -- most of the commentariat

    It is, if you take the engineering viewpoint of it with the idea that a bicycle has exactly one function as a conveyance. Having seen trick cyclists perform*, though, one can grasp that a bicycle is not just a conveyance, any more than a skateboard.

    Looked at in this light, the bicycle in question has possibilities. It looks as though it is not a street vehicle, but a performance art device, much like a skateboard can be (you might note that skateboard tricks are quite popular, eh?).

    I doubt if I'd ride it on the street at all... but in a park or large, open, paved area, it might be fun to play with. Children probably learn it better than adults just because it requires some recircuiting of the brain to get it to adjust from what the bicycle is expected to do and how it behaves. Just the change from the standard gyroscopic stabilization is probably tricky to get a feel for.

    *A good example is the now-ancient Kevin Bacon movie, QuickSilver, which is not about Moto-X and hill jumping types of tricks, but features a more earth-bound style. The movie is not that great, but the trick cycling which is a sidebar of the movie is at least impressive.

  • OBloodyhell (unregistered) in reply to masklinn
    masklinn:
    Jon:
    They don't turn unnaturally; one can ride no-handed quite safely with a little practice. Start at a moderate speed (too slow and it's too hard to balance; too fast and it's too dangerous if you fall), then take your hands off the bars for just a moment. Repeat. Work your way up to longer hands-free times. That's all it took for me, anyway.
    Just don't go too fast or the aerodinamic imbalance of the front wheel starts taking over and you eat soil hard.

    You must have a remarkably badly repaired cycle if you can't ride at any normally attainable speed with no hands. There may be curves you can't follow at 35 mph with no hands, but straightaways are not an issue. Depending on the design of the braking system (are the rear brake cables exposed or housed as they run along the top tube?) you can actually brake with no hands down to an almost complete stop (pull the cable directly by reaching down under the top tube). I've gone down steep hills (with no intersection at the bottom, mind you) with no issues. A mountain, yeah, might be a problem, but you're probably going too @#%#$^# fast for a bicycle if you aren't braking regularly anyway.

    In short, down a mountain might be a problem. Random hills on marginally flat country, you can easily spend 25-30% of the time or more with no hands, while using a measure of caution with regards to other possible traffic.

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