BIKE GOD
Thread started by
imachynna at 06.30.08 - 4:56 pm
Bike God (Gary) needs his own thread.
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he was cool...weird to see that in the middle of the night
MOM_RIDAZ42006.30.08 - 5:02 pm
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Do tell the story of Bike God. What are his sayings? Is he the way?
W.W.B.G.D.?
neverclever06.30.08 - 5:04 pm
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Well, first, he just kinda rolled up outta nowhere when we were all at the meeting spot for The Beach Ride, and this was at like 3 in the morning...
imachynna06.30.08 - 5:08 pm
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(We were still hanging out at the meeting spot after the ride ended)
Then... he gets off his bike, we're all shocked, and he comes to talk to us...
(Let's make this a collaborative story, c'mon, join in if you were there)
imachynna06.30.08 - 5:10 pm
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BIKE GOD is the way. After 3am, when the crowd had dissipated after the beach party ride and there were only a few of us lingering at north hollywood park, this old guy rolled up on a 5 foot tall penny farthing.
He hung out with us for a half hour and taught us all sorts of really interesting bike history while we gawked and drooled over his vintage 1881, well restored monster of a bike.
We finally convinced him to ride with us and he led us for a few blocks while we all formed a protective shield of riders around him, chanting "BIKE GOD! BIKE GOD!'
As we chanted, he lifted his hands off the handlebars and spread them while we rode, as if to bless our bikes from above. It was pure zen/epic/awesome!
Bike God says:
"each pair of spokes is one spoke, threaded through the rim, and soldered at the hub"
Take what meaning you will from that and think long of it. Like taoist philosophy, it could lead you to enlightenment.
Undercover Bob06.30.08 - 5:10 pm
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He was just some crazy hallucination- we were all really tired.
imachynna06.30.08 - 5:15 pm
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I have an 1898 hanging at the crib. Not in riding condition though. I left right before this action.
Gotta love that spoon brake!!!
parlorbikes06.30.08 - 5:18 pm
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nicceee
& thank you for the credit there
imachynna06.30.08 - 5:43 pm
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Not only can holmes mount and balance that velocipede but he rides fixed without clipping in. DANG.
cabhauler06.30.08 - 7:11 pm
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Not only can holmes mount and balance that velocipede but he rides fixed without clipping in. DANG.
cabhauler
06.30.08 - 10:11 pm
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i was just thinking this at 2:24 am and had to revisit this thread, what he^ said.
bike god, see you @ bicykillers.
HANDBONE07.1.08 - 2:24 am
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Not just fixed, direct drive, so no nice chain bounce to give you a bit of slack if you slow your roll too fast... oh yeah, and as it's front wheel fixed... no skidding, EVER. Anyone who rides one of those skullcrackers is awesome, someone who rides one built in 1885, at 3 am, yeah that MUST be BIKE GOD!
FuzzBeast07.1.08 - 3:00 am
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I HAVE BEEN SEEKIN BIKEGOD! DID ANYBODY AT LEAST "TOUCH" HIS BIKE. KINDA LIKE THAT WALL IN JER=ROO=SA=LOM? NO?
eddieboyinla07.1.08 - 3:52 am
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Indeed his bike was touched
Oh yeah, and he was in WIld Wild West with Will Smith <----that's a lot of W's.
imachynna07.1.08 - 5:33 am
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I touched it too. I even felt the ORIGINAL rubber on the pedals.
Undercover Bob07.1.08 - 8:01 am
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Most impressive. I touched the whole bike, molested it properly. The pedals were the bestest part.
Riding with him was truly zen.. and as quickly as he appeared in the night, he was gone.. We who were there know.
With great power comes great responsibility -- so, please, keep trying to remember all the greatness he spoke and pass it along.
Maybe one day.. when we least expect it..
Bike God Will Roll With Us Again.
bondink07.1.08 - 9:50 am
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BIKE GOD trivia:
According to Gary, how much distance does he travel with one full crank of his 129 year-old pedals?
(bondink is disqualified because I told her the answer last night)
Undercover Bob07.2.08 - 4:45 pm
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Well, I can't remember if he said he had a 50" or 52" wheel, but if it's a 52 it's something like 13 1/2 feet ((52" x 3.14)/12 = 13.6 feet) of course my math could be wrong (i failed it in HS) as well as the fact that I'm only using PI to 2 places.
FuzzBeast07.2.08 - 4:50 pm
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HEY !!!
You did not tell me the answer.. I answered it right. But I did answer it last night.
It's a great number, too!
bondink07.2.08 - 4:53 pm
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however, funny enough, your average fixed gear travels further. at 81 gear inches (which is the ratioed equivalent to the diameter of a highwheel, relational to the surface distance covered by the wheen for every rotation of the cranks (Gary's bike is only 50 or 52 gear inches), this was the reason for increasing the size of the wheel, more distance covered by each crank of the pedals - less spinny ride), anyway, at 81 gear inches my fixie travels 21.195 feet per pedal rotation.
FuzzBeast07.2.08 - 4:54 pm
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Fuzzbeast is VERY close but does anyone (other than bondink) remember the correct answer according to BIKE GOD himself?
Undercover Bob07.2.08 - 4:56 pm
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I know the answer.. and you are all soooooooo close!!!
bondink07.2.08 - 4:57 pm
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Well, I think he might have given the answer in meters, and the more I think about it, I think he said it was a 50 in wheel, so it would be about 13 feet even, or 3.987 meters
FuzzBeast07.2.08 - 4:59 pm
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hahahaha!
I have to ride home from work now.. good luck!
My holiday weekend starts right now.. be safe this weekend ridazz -- see ya'll at the beach!
bondink07.2.08 - 5:02 pm
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Maybe it was 14, it actually goes up a bit depending on how far out you take Pi when multiplying.
FuzzBeast07.2.08 - 5:03 pm
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awe, I give up, he said it was "about 23 feet"
now for BIKE GOD trivia part two:
Why, according to Gary, do most surviving Penny farthings have no brakes?
(I know he repeated this one a few times so somebody should know it)
Undercover Bob07.2.08 - 5:06 pm
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Because spoon brakes work for crap, and people would panic and slam them and pull a header... same reason a front brake is kinda dangerous on a fixed gear.
FuzzBeast07.2.08 - 5:23 pm
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And also because "they rattle like crazy" unless you're as wise as oh great BIKE GOD and know to keep it adjusted "very tight." He said that most people took them off the bike back then because they rattled more than they served a function.
Undercover Bob07.2.08 - 5:29 pm
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This is the same reason spoon (or push rod) brakes were pretty much put out of use in ALL kinds of bikes by the mid 20's or so (after the highwheel era they were continued to be used due to the consideration that the weight was more evenly distributed and an endo was less likely, other than the Flying Pigeons in china which had a spoon brake until the 70's or so, rim brakes became standard equip. pretty fast, however, not really until the freewheel became the dominant type of rear hub, which wasn't until about WWI, before that about 90% of bikes on the road were (GASP) "brakeless" fixed gears, the rest ran spoons.
FuzzBeast07.2.08 - 5:30 pm
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Well, the rattle was a side effect of having it loose enough to pull, his brake was so tight you have to YANK it hard to make it move. They were basically useless, but were put on to assuage the fears of a non cycling public that the bikes couldn't stop, which like a newbie fixed gear rider today, some couldn't, and as a drop from 7 feet or so onto your head is a pretty EPIC FAIL, news spread pretty quickly when it would happen, overemphasizing their occurrence (although not extremely uncommon, more common than say doing it while mountain biking). Of course road conditions helped this one along a lot too.
FuzzBeast07.2.08 - 5:35 pm
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bike god trivia question 666:
could bike God create a bike so rad--so un-ride-able--no one, not even He, could ride it
Aquinas pwns
hitsthepoles_ow07.2.08 - 6:41 pm
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No more questions on the capabilities of Bike God. We all know he can do EVERYTHING. Including pull off an awesome toupée like the G that he is.
imachynna07.2.08 - 10:57 pm
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bike god is not my god, if he aint JEW he aint god......
hes more like bike prophet.....
thefrenchconn07.15.08 - 2:43 pm
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God is a Woman. And his name is - Eris.
Joe Borfo07.15.08 - 2:51 pm
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What a horrible video.
This lady wishes she was Bike God.
imachynna08.1.08 - 5:58 pm
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If the radius of the wheel is 52", then the circumference is:
C = 2(pi)r = 326.7" = 27 feet
He travels 27 feet with one revolution of the front wheel.
ubrayj0208.1.08 - 8:39 pm
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With all the crazy things happening in the world I just wanted to bump this thread and remind everyone of our roots. Haha.
imachynna09.1.08 - 7:33 pm
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Crazy like a fox, eh? Well, I guess it's possible, but I just don't see the craziness in me. I feel a bit tame.
imachynna09.1.08 - 8:15 pm
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