Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Floppy chopper got no stopper



Ok, so it can wrap around a pole (not terribly useful) and can fold (pretty useful) and goes from flaccid to rigid with a ratchet system hanging from the tube (has he taken out a patent on that?) but what interests me is that he has absolutely no brakes. No rim brakes front or back and a single speed conversion kit out back that eliminates the possibility of a coaster brake or fixed gear. Easily resolved with a front caliper or a fixed rear hub, but I suppose he was so intent on making his bike floppy that he's forgotten the one component that will keep him from wrapping it around a pole on accident.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Should be easy to lock up: wrap around pole, and put the U-lock through both wheels. Okay, so vandals can cut the frame with diagonals.

-p said...

Alison makes a great point - the frame is now cutable. Although, a thief would just walk away with two u-locked wheels. More likely, a thief would cut the frame, realize he couldn't use the wheels and just leave it there in a pile.

Mark said...

Maybe he uses his foot to stop. By that I mean he pushes his foot on the rear tire using the seat tube to control the tension of the "break."

I saw a guy in NYC last year that did this. At first I thought the bike was fixed with just a front break but then when he started ride he was coasting so before he got going too fast, I asked him and he showed me. I told him he should just ride fixed and not worry but he said he wasn't worthy.