Winifred

Winifred was based on what I'd learned from the horrid Pickup Styx. The beach cruiser is single-speed and much more comfy of a ride. The curved lines and armature look more authentic. And most importantly the handlebars are underneath, making the bike far more safe. It turns out you don't need your hands at all! I could sip tea riding this thing, and it's taken me hundreds of miles in Chicago, New York, and Black Rock City.



Here's a video of the mount:



Winifred got her name when a hipster said to me, "You win. You win the game of bike."

Pickup Styx- the first pennyfakething

While riding with recreationists in Critical Mass in 2003, I often wished I could make a pennyfarthing. The problem is just where to get a large, fixed wheel- otherwise the bike is very simple to construct. I researched making your own unicycle wheel, figuring I'd just make it larger. I found lots of tales of horror about trying to drill through axles.

Then I saw a picture from Marin County of an odd reverse chopper. The maker had tilted a frame upwards, reversed the bottom bracket, and mounted a seat on the extended fork! The result looked like a chopper that rode backwards. This gave me the idea that I could cheat and skip the big wheel if I just flipped a frame upwards. This was the result:



The bike was deadly. A small bump or slight grade and you'd crash forward, catching your legs on the handlebars. The terror of riding it set me on the path of developing a pleasant, retrofuturistic faux ordinary.