Comments on: A Bike with a View http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/2009/04/09/a-bike-with-a-view/ Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:18:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: holly http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/2009/04/09/a-bike-with-a-view/#comment-1073 holly Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:22:08 +0000 http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/?p=699#comment-1073 they have custom bikes like these all over portland. there is a family that lives a couple blocks away who i think makes them. they have a few on their front lawn, and i think they might climb a tree to get on the bike. or anyway, that's my best guess. but sometimes i see them locked up by a pizza place or outside a movie. don't know how they get going then.... they have custom bikes like these all over portland. there is a family that lives a couple blocks away who i think makes them. they have a few on their front lawn, and i think they might climb a tree to get on the bike. or anyway, that’s my best guess. but sometimes i see them locked up by a pizza place or outside a movie. don’t know how they get going then….

]]> By: dc http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/2009/04/09/a-bike-with-a-view/#comment-1034 dc Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:03:07 +0000 http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/?p=699#comment-1034 There's an even taller one in this video about a critical massesque ride on an LA freeway, but still no sign of how you mount or dismount. I suppose that if you lived and worked on the second floor, you could park it next to a window and commute to work without ever hitting street level. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vJy4qVOq2LI&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vJy4qVOq2LI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3XkMhzIi5c&feature=related" rel="nofollow">This video</a> shows a guy climbing up as it coasts along slowly, before the video deteriorates into pure idiocy. And <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4LovOqgLs8&feature=related" rel="nofollow">this one</a> shows some tall bike jousting in Portland---maybe that could be the next sport for the summer olympics.) There’s an even taller one in this video about a critical massesque ride on an LA freeway, but still no sign of how you mount or dismount. I suppose that if you lived and worked on the second floor, you could park it next to a window and commute to work without ever hitting street level.

(This video shows a guy climbing up as it coasts along slowly, before the video deteriorates into pure idiocy. And this one shows some tall bike jousting in Portland—maybe that could be the next sport for the summer olympics.)

]]> By: eric http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/2009/04/09/a-bike-with-a-view/#comment-1023 eric Sat, 11 Apr 2009 12:57:36 +0000 http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/?p=699#comment-1023 There is one of those in my neighborhood, too. I've never seen the guy get on or off, but I have seen him riding along the street, cruising serenely with his head above the SUV high-waterline. Re the bike RV you spotted, Jabel: a friend of mine just bought a bike with a plastic tub on the back big enough to hold his wife and two kids (they're all pretty small, and he's big, but still)--and so far neither he nor I can ride the thing without wobbling scarily. Maybe the RV's homemade balance was better than that of the factory-made bike my friend got, but I'm hoping that experience will make the difference, and soon my friend will be riding his family around just as effortlessly as your biker beach bum. There is one of those in my neighborhood, too. I’ve never seen the guy get on or off, but I have seen him riding along the street, cruising serenely with his head above the SUV high-waterline.

Re the bike RV you spotted, Jabel: a friend of mine just bought a bike with a plastic tub on the back big enough to hold his wife and two kids (they’re all pretty small, and he’s big, but still)–and so far neither he nor I can ride the thing without wobbling scarily. Maybe the RV’s homemade balance was better than that of the factory-made bike my friend got, but I’m hoping that experience will make the difference, and soon my friend will be riding his family around just as effortlessly as your biker beach bum.

]]> By: jabel http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/2009/04/09/a-bike-with-a-view/#comment-968 jabel Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:33:55 +0000 http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/?p=699#comment-968 Let alone getting on it how would one get off it.A good ten years ago in one of the beach towns north of San Diego we were having breakfast at a place right off the concrete bike/walking/roller blading ribbons that wind right above the beach in so many So. Cal cities.This guy who looked like he was living in the open pulled up and dropped a big double kickstand on what could only be described as a bike RV.He had welded a metal frame above the bike that held a mattress had those big twenty/twenty five gallon water containers hanging off each side on the back a lawn chair attached to the front and various belongings loaded on the mattress.It was amazing when he rode off it seamed effortless to him. Let alone getting on it how would one get off it.A good ten years ago in one of the beach towns north of San Diego we were having breakfast at a place right off the concrete bike/walking/roller blading ribbons that wind right above the beach in so many So. Cal cities.This guy who looked like he was living in the open pulled up and dropped a big double kickstand on what could only be described as a bike RV.He had welded a metal frame above the bike that held a mattress had those big twenty/twenty five gallon water containers hanging off each side on the back a lawn chair attached to the front and various belongings loaded on the mattress.It was amazing when he rode off it seamed effortless to him.

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