What is a Tall Bike?
I am not sure if I am the person to answer this...
maybe someone from Portland could explain things more clearly
either way... here I go...
a Tall Bike is a kinetic bicycle sculpture of sorts
one bicycle stacked upon another bicycle
to make for a taller ride
did that work?
for years I talked about building a tall bike with my welding friend David
we talked about this at the DC Bike Party
we talked about this at various DC Alleycats
we talked... we talked...
then we talked some more...
then finally we acted...
we met up... and we built several tall bikes
building a tall bike is a unique engineering task
David likes to say that building a Tall Bike is more Art than Science
the more complete the bicycles at the start of the project
the easier the task
everything gets more creative if things are not from a desired starting point
it can be an organic process taking a piece from here and a piece from there
making it work with what is available
I made a trip to NOVA and visited two friends to get some donations to the cause
Bennet at Old Town Big Wheel Bikes had an old Schwinn that worked as the base bike
while Christian from Velocity Bicycle Coop had an old woman's Columbia three speed what worked well for a top bike with its step through frame
David is the "talent"
this project could not be done without David
David brings both Tall Bike experience as well as Welding experience
me... I can assist and coach
my hands are in the mix
but I could not do this without David and his Tall Bike Knowledge and his skills with a welder
his owning the welding equipment helps as well
after building one tall bike
the second tall Bike build developed at a more rapid rate
we did not trip over the same obstacles
yet of course... there were obstacles
the second bike used two higher quality frames
it was shocking how light this bike was once it was completed
the Green Schwinn bike has wheels with SOLID TIRES
no tubes
SOLID TIRES
that alone makes that vehicle a tank
while also the frames in that build were much heavier than the frames used in our second build
trying to convince David to build at least one more tall bike
maybe a short tall bike
something for those shorter than 6 foot tall to ride
we will see...
then after that...
a swing bike!
what is a swing bike?
