Remember American ingenuity?
For example, back in 1998, Trek introduced a bold and revolutionary carbon fiber bicycle that not only rode just as smoothly as the steel road bikes of yesteryear but also rivaled them in weight:
Of course, to unlock its full potential you needed an aftermarket suspension fork, which as you can see provides enough travel to replicate the effect of simply using a slightly wider tire:
If you’re wondering, “Well why didn’t Trek just make road bicycles out of steel and add a little extra tire clearance?” then you’re not thinking like a bicycle engineer in 1998, when the only question worth asking was, “How do we make a bike shaped like a Y?” See, in those days if a bike wasn’t Y-shaped then nobody wanted it:
You might even say it was a Y or die scenario:
Come on, a double-diamond frame!?! Y even bother?
So why carry a frame design mean to accommodate a rear shock over to a road bike which doesn’t need a rear shock? Well, like the suspension fork, the seat tube-less design replicates the sensation of riding a bicycle with a slightly larger tire, with the added benefit of being more aerodynamic–though while it permits the free passage of air, it also permits the free passage of road grit, which gets deposited all over your water bottle, where you want it most:
And if I’m giving you the impression that I don’t like the Y-Foil, nothing could be further from the truth. Of course it’s ridiculous, but the fact that it’s a great big workaround is precisely why it’s so charming, and it’s fun riding around on an evolutionary dead end, especially because it’s no longer a threat. Plus, it really works! I mean I wouldn’t ride it on something like this…
…but it absolutely succeeds as an eerily-smooth road bike, and as far as abandoned bike designs go it’s a much more comfortable way to turn heads than riding around on a pennyfarthing.
Speaking of timeless classics and/or freak bikes, Pee-wee’s bike ended up going for $125,000:
And here’s something I didn’t know:
Despite my own BMX background I’d also never heard of Gary Littlejohn, so I started reading up:
In addition to the Pee-wee bike it seems he was also involved with the bikes in “The Karate Kid,” though I’m not sure whether or not he had anything to do with Daniel-san’s Mongoose crusier:
Of course after getting bullied Daniel-san comes to hate his bike:
And once Mr. Miyagi gifts him with a vintage automobile we no longer hear anything about it:
This is because in American folklore moving from a bike to a car is a rite of passage marking self-actualization and the transition to manhood–a transition peculiar man-child Pee-wee Herman never undergoes, hence his all-consuming fixation with his bicycle. And of course it follows that without a car you’re never going to get a girl. If Daniel-san hadn’t ditched that bike he’d still be all alone waxing off:
Think about it.
