It’s well known that we here at BnC HQ have a deep seated (pun!) dislike of the vehicles known as ‘recumbents’. For some reason the two-wheels-and-pedals nature of these abhorrent vehicles sees them associated with bicycles all too frequently. We’re open minded to a fault, but sometimes you just have to draw the line, and recumbents fall far, far beyond that drunken scrawl. And so it is that I find myself somewhat torn about posting this up. Technically it is a recumbent. But then, technically it’s not a bicycle, so maybe that excuses it? Either way, it’s mutated enough that it appeals to my ‘weird shit’ sensibilities and I think it fits in somewhat with Ben’s recent touring efforts. So, thanks to a heads-up from Carl, I present…the Quike.
Yep, that’s one messed up machine. But I can’t help but be fascinated and drawn into its bizarre set of components. Look closely…Fox Vanillas (coil, makes sense for touring), two gearing systems featuring a Rohloff and a Schlumpf, corrected steering, and a load hauling ability that’s probably hard to top. Not only that, but it’s Australian made and designed, which is always a winner. I still don’t know if I like it, and I think it’s a morbid fascination as much as anything else. But the fact is, it exists, and that’s probably enough reason to post it here. Make up your own mind.
Hate
Fox forks? Why would you need suspension on that thing? Very strange…
Maybe after the apocalypse.
I support a similar concept which fits in the best of both worlds. check out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XngMScBBymE
I’ll offer labour to who ever has the brains to build one. think how many beers could be fitted into the trailer
I’ve seen horrors… horrors that you’ve seen. But you have no right to ride a recumbent. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that… but you have no right to ride a recumbent. It’s impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror. Horror is a recumbent… and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies. I remember when I was with the Hobart Wheelers. Seems a thousand centuries ago. We went to Newtown Velodrome to ‘inoculate’ the children. We left the velodrome after we had inoculated the children for recumbents, and this old man came running after us and he was crying. He couldn’t see. We went back there and they had come and turned every track bike in to a recumbent. There they were in a pile. A pile of recumbents. And I remember… I… I… I cried. I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. And I want to remember it. I never want to forget it. I never want to forget. And then I realized… like I was shot… like I was shot with a diamond… a diamond bullet right through my forehead. And I thought: My God… the genius of that. The genius. The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were lower to the ground than we. Because they could stand that these were not monsters. These were men… trained cadres. These men who rode seated with their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with love… but they had the strength… the strength… to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral… and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to ride prone without feeling… without passion… without judgment… without judgment. Because it’s judgment that defeats us.
Jeez Benny, it’s been emotional.
…that’s a shopping trolley with cranks…
Only cool if it can split in two mid ride to confound enemies.
What happens when one weirdo is pedalling faster that the other weirdo? Is there a clutch system that makes sure that both weirdo’s are doing the same ammount out-put. Or is it to do with the beard length x whiteness of sox = spd sandals
ITS A FUCKING RECUMBENT! Even more gay is the fact that they want to hold hands while laying down…
The reactions here give me a warm feeling. Except for Ben’s, which just leaves me confused. I think he’s saying he loves recumbents?