Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Lateral Rigidity and Vertical Compliance... Maybe.



I recently stumbled upon this little throwback to the Woody Wagon era from SurfCycle. This company embraces the surfer dude lifestyle by creating a bike tribute. This, of course, is further proof that novelty is always being added to the most classic of designs (like your standard coaster brake beach cruiser).
The top tube of this bike is a formed aluminum surfboard. It isn't functional as far as I can tell, but I do have some recommendations (if the SurfCycle guys are reading):
  1. Do some force testing on the top tube to determine a maximum load. Surfer dudes are often accompanied by beach bunnies. Current bike designs have a round top tube... we all know this, but beach bunnies don't care. They just want a comfortable passenger seat for their beach bunny backside.
  2. If the top tube surfboard can't hold a passenger, make it hold your other significant other... bore some holes in the board and use it as an in-line 6-pack carrier. As previously posted, bikes and bottles go hand in hand.
  3. Regardless of the use of the surfboard top tube, the bike has novelty fins at the seat tube. These large chunks of metal are begging for an integrated bottle opener.

I'm sure the company doesn't want to indulge in too many frills since this is a niche product. However, a little more engineering could go a long way. It is rather clever how they made barefoot cutouts in the chainwheel. If I actually surfed enough to want a surfboard-themed bike, I would definitely add one of these:

http://www.garrettmcnamara.com/bike-surf-rack.htm

Photos swooped from http://www.surfcycle.us/

2 comments:

-p said...

It is imperative that your beach bunny be able to sit side saddle on your beach cruiser. Product idea? Beach Bunny Bum Sling?

-d said...

Exactly... beach bunny hanging off one side and your board off the other. That's livin'!