Folding Bikes - "Ezybike" mini-penny farthing sighting in Taipei. What is it?

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t24/Rollopics/newpenny.jpg

A feller in Taipei snapped the picture but he doesn't know anything about it. I can't find any internet info on it.

Original thread on the General Cycling Discussion board

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=514469

Wow... neat. got no info on it either, though.

It appears to be a unicycle with a training wheel.

Looks to be about a 24" wheel - that's a guess of course, but that makes for a very low geared fixie.

I thought I remembered seeing something like this while browsing a Chinese bike manufacturing site. Was probably a link I followed from the Folding Bikes forum here on BF. I'm pretty sure it wasn't Flamingo or Flying Pigeon, but for the life of me, I can't remember the name. It was very different though--no suspension... and it FOLDED!

I think the big 'boxes?' at the end of the forks might be some kind of gearing mechanism so that the wheel turns faster than the pedals. If so that's pretty cool. Either way a very unique bike.
Here's one for sale. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-TW&u=http://tw.f3.page.bid.yahoo.com/tw/auction/c38792347&ei=nsClSd7NIsjdnQeI8_SeBQ&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=10&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dezybike%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

The housings on either end of the front hub are probably a freewheel mechanism. The only internal gear hub that would work on that bike is a schlumpf unicycle hub, and those cost way more than that whole bike does.

There's a lot of strangeness going on with this thing. Dual suspension, front wheel drive, front and rear brakes so it probably isn't fixed gear like a tricycle..and what is the little dongle under the stem connected to the head tube?
http://tw.image.bid.yahoo.com/users/5/6/5/1/chen2122tw-img600x450-1222683564274679_____550-3.jpg

Here in Tasmania in a town called Evandale, they have an annual penny-farthing race, it was just last week. They also had a children's race on bikes about that size.

I don't think the front business is suspension - I don't see telescoping bits.

I have seen pictures of a French penny-farthing called le Cyclone - cycle sans chaine - it had a (single) gearing system allowing a smaller front wheel. This thing looks like it also might have a (single) gearing system.

[edit] and here it is!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/silvermeat/3262341916/

How did you find that picture, Iz? That's what I was speculating on the other thread, that the business by the hubs might be some sort of gearing mechanism. If the thing is a direct drive the gear would be ridiculously low, like 20. Could it be a little child's bike? The seat seems too close to the pedals for anyone bigger than a little child or a midget, at least in Iz's picture, and there appears to be no extra seat tube to extend either.

Looks like indirect steering. Probably makes it less twitchy.

Damn, now I'm all confused about the steering. If it is indirect, which would make sense, what is the end of the piece below the stem connected to? It looks to be screwed into a piece that is welded to the front of the headtube. Or is it just a stop to keep the front wheel from turning too far?

Now that I look at the hub/bottom bracket more it could be a greater than 1/1 thing going on there. Man. So complicated and yet so pointless. I love it.

Comparing to the other bikes around it in the first picture, it might be a 24" front, 12" rear. And I just noticed what looks like a rear drum brake in this pic.

http://tw.image.bid.yahoo.com/users/5/6/5/1/chen2122tw-img600x450-1222683565734635_____551-5.jpg

Can that be a tiny motor on the back? Any Chinese language translators here?

http://goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?11080717925056#pic

http://goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?11080426656336

I followed some links on one of those Chinese language (Taiwan) pages and came to this page

http://class.ruten.com.tw/user/index00.php?s=pan-1331

pictures of a lot of small wheel and folding bikes, for sale I guess.

Weird!
But then, to some, my folding bikes are too.

That steering thingie looks like a ratio reducer - a big steering movement results in a smaller wheel steer. Useful for having the pedals on the front, so more controllable especially when pedalling hard.

^ +1

One of the few truly novel things I've seen in a long while.

The A-head stem obviously has a head tube up front and the A-head stem steers less than the handlebar with quill stem, both going the same direction. It also brings the handlebar forward, for a little bit more normality in the cockpit, otherwise the handlebar would be more over the rider's lap as they would be on pennys.

Two stems, two head tubes... very clever aye.

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I get far too much attention riding on a strida type. I'd need to wear a disguise riding that.

There's a guy in this city with big moustaches who I've seen riding a penny farthing. I saw him twice riding down a busy shopping street among the traffic. Brave man or an idiot, I'm not sure.

^ I have a old acquaintance who builds and rides them, the real big ones. He's originally from Holland so the cycling gene must be in the blood. He makes everything by hand (hammer, anvil, torch, wooden spokes cut and shaved by hand, one at a time... real craftsman stuff), very clever guy. He's very good at riding too, up and down hills with no brakes!!

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^ I have a old acquaintance who builds and rides them, the real big ones. He's originally from Holland so the cycling gene must be in the blood. He makes everything by hand (hammer, anvil, torch, wooden spokes cut and shaved by hand, one at a time... real craftsman stuff), very clever guy. He's very good at riding too, up and down hills with no brakes!!

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A lot of people lost their teeth when riding high wheelers. They were prone to what was called, 'Doing a header.' That means tossing the rider onto his face. Being a real good looking guy - I'm not so keen on that. I might get fewer jobs in hit films.... :lol: Still, people who can fashion a high wheeler out of some ash wood, and steel using skill and hand tools are to be celebrated, I'd say.

It sort of looks like a cross between a penny farthing - a high wheeler - and a child's tricycle. They have pedals directly attached to the front axle.

Did you click the two Chinese (Taiwan) links I posted? The bikes at the bottom have no seat or seat tube. I don't even see where the seat tube can go since the downtube would stop it from sticking out the bottom - just a tiny little one - like for a little kiddie - to stick in there, I think. Looks like a quick release on it, too. Strange, a quick release on a kiddie bike...

It's in my A to Z, it was marketed as the Q-bike (http://www.qbike-online.com/), and it's a folder (as the rear wheel folds under!)
The mechanism in font of the steering limits the amount of steer to stop the front wheel from doing a 360
There were a few on sale in the UK a few years back, did try to buy one at the time. Haven't seen one lately, would quite like to get my hands on one though. :thumb:

Solved - thanks to professor Chop!

And it does have a transmission - 1 - 1.96 it says, with 26" wheels, so it must be geared to ~ 50". I still don't see how you could adjust the seat height...

It's in my A to Z, it was marketed as the Q-bike (http://www.qbike-online.com/), and it's a folder (as the rear wheel folds under!)
The mechanism in font of the steering limits the amount of steer to stop the front wheel from doing a 360
There were a few on sale in the UK a few years back, did try to buy one at the time. Haven't seen one lately, would quite like to get my hands on one though. :thumb:

That is plenty bizarre...

The mechanism in font of the steering limits the amount of steer to stop the front wheel from doing a 360...
Ah, ok, I see that now.

I wonder if a sharp turn at speed tends to put the inside foot in the spokes?

Ah, ok, I see that now.

I wonder if a sharp turn at speed tends to put the inside foot in the spokes?

I did at one time find some info from Italy which said it was a patented anti jack-knife design, I've never ridden one as I didn't catch up with the few that were in the UK.
It's just one of thousands of sites that I've trolled through to get the not for profit A to Z of folders, if my 56 year old memory is not 100% mechanically accurate then it's tuff titty! LOL!

Next time I'll keep stum in case someone knows better! :innocent:

Coker sold The Wheelman a few years back. It used a 36" front tire, currently still used on their unicycles.

I've seen similar little penny-farthings by FSA. They show up on Ebay every once in a while, go for maybe $100 or so. They have a standard bicycle-size front wheel.

I think the bulking things by the crank are just bearing housings, probably uses standard unicycle bearings.

Chop - I just figured out what you were going on about, the "A to Z" thing. Hey, that's a great website! Is it yours?

The Q-bike link presents more info and photos, like:

Transmission:
Gear Box w/ DSL
Speed Ratio: 1:1.96
Tire:
F/26"x1.75.


I don't know quite what that all means, but it seems they've invented a way to double the direct drive gear ratio (the mysterious bulky stuff I guess). Now if they can do that on a 36" wheel, or invent a variable gear ratio transmission, and put it on an adult-sized version of that thing, then penny farthings may be making a big comeback! No chain necessary! Looks like an adjustable seat tube might present one problem, though.

You can still buy them Werewolf if you want one. People make repro versions.

Also, if you are interested, this guy is riding one around the world.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/pics/docs/00/00/14/51/small/PennyFarthingWorldTrek1.jpg?v=db

He has an interesting photo blog at this site. I've started where he is riding through Germany, Eastern Europe and Greece to Turkey and onwards.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=3Tzut&page_id=34673&v=gS

^ That is so cool!

What gets me is that he's got a bike trailer attached to his PF! :)

^ That is so cool!

What gets me is that he's got a bike trailer attached to his PF! :)

Yeah - also, while looking over his site, I found reference to an American called Thomas Stevens who rode from San Fransisco to China on a Penny Farthing in 1885, via crossing America, Europe and Asia. I've been reading his account. It's great stuff. As far as I can see, he is crossing America at a time when there were hardly any roads across two thirds of it - least ways, he has to push the high wheeler a lot of the way, jumping on when the road is good enough. He's a man of his time though - with scant regard for people of non European or white American heritage, and shooting at wildlife with a revolver for no other reason than they came within two hundred yards of him.

You can find the text version of his journey here - at least the first volume:

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/5136


There are a lot of facsimile copies of his writings here but they are serialised and quite mixed up which makes finding your way through an epic journey quite difficult.

http://search.la84foundation.org/search?q=&Author=thomas+stevens&Keywords=&btnG=Search+LA84&sort=date:D:L:d1&output=xml_no_dtd&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&filter=0&getfields=*&proxyreload=1&partialfields=Author:thomas+stevens

Correct -Q-BIKE is the name that the parent Taiwanese company attached to their product.
When (2001~2002) I worked for Global Mfg.Co,Ltd. in Wuxi, China(who has since gone bankrupt) they were manufacturing this item at that time. At one time they were in numerous airport duty free shops in Asia, and so many companies laid claim to manufacturing them-owning the company-have exclusive rights that they it was difficult to beleive anyone.They had attached too much importance to this product, in selling to various companies, trying to license the design to different companies, selling through different trading companies,selling direct,
basically a very scattered and confused-shotgun style marketing approach.
I don't know if they are still in business or not.