Fun Bikes

Pedal-power has always attracted inventive minds. When the major alternative to pedal power was still horse power, practical if odd-looking vehicles were designed to perform many civic functions. In Germany a firemen's quadricycle could be rushed to a blaze to deploy its pedal-powered pump. In America a Police Patrol Tricycle was used to transport criminals, secured hand and foot, to the lock up. There was a pedal-powered fish and chip shop in the UK, and knife-grinding bicycles, once common in Europe, are still found in India.The low running and purchase costs of pedal-powered vehicles have kept classics like the ice cream tricycle competitive against motorised equivalents.

Other specialised cycles have emphasised leisure and fun rather than utility - or the serious intent of their inventors was quickly subverted by entrepreneurs who spotted their entertainment potential. Arthur Hotchkiss, for example, devised a monorail at the end of the 19th Century for commuters to ride to an American factory. They powered themselves along a fence rail by means of a treadle mechanism driving a twenty-inch wheel. Such a comical contraption could be transformed into the perfect ride for amusement parks; which is where most monorails are now found.

The dream of bicycles on tracks persists: a Canadian firm has plans for a high tech system in which pedal-powered vehicles on rails would be boosted along tubes by air pumps. In complete contrast, enthusiastic mechanics around the world are designing their own bikes to ride along abandoned railways tracks; there are over 80,000 miles of abandoned rails in the United States alone. Dozens of patents have been granted for different designs. Pedal-powered boats have been cruising lakes and rivers since the 1880s, driven by paddle wheels, or propellers. In the 1880s a Mr. Terry invented a tricycle which he rode to Dover, converted within minutes into a boat, and rowed over the Channel to France. Since then at least four waterbikes have crossed oceans. As part of their 'Pedal for the Planet' expedition, Jason Lewis and Steve Smith from Britain crossed the Atlantic from Portugal to Miami in 111 days.

The Americans were particularly inventive, especially during the great cycling boom of the late 1890s. That fascination for experimentation in cycling has returned in the USA, but there is also a great sense of fun. For the last twenty years, for example, an annual event has been held in Northern California in which a number of fantastic, locally concocted machines have taken to streets, beaches, rivers and bay for a three-day 'Kinetic Sculpture' race.

Everyone loves to go beyond the everyday experience of cycling, to create a spectacle, a splash or to turn cycling into a group experience. On the pages which follow we show pedal-powered vehicles which go that little bit further. Not only are they great fun for the riders, they are also an asset to any leisure facility worth its name. There is the Hydrobike which can tour canals and lakes, but which will attract the attention of entrepreneurs in the leisure industry. And the Octos: an astonishing 'friendship bike', one of which should be owned by every large community and leisure complex. And what a great way to conduct a business meeting, or catch up with a bit of gossip with your friends!