Classic & Vintage - Cool road bike I found

I was on my way back from a job site when I saw a rollback truck loading a dumpster that was filled with trash. No big deal, except on top of that trash sat an old looking road bike. I flipped a U turn (right next to a No U-Turn sign) and went up and asked if I could have it. They guy said yeah, so I took it down.

I had to take the front wheel off to get it in my trunk, and that's when I noticed something was wrong. The crank arms were pointing forwards, and there were two chains. I had just stumbled across and old 80s Alenax transbar bike.

After doing some research, I found out that these were complete s**t, but I still love the way it looks. I don't really care how much it costs to get going, I just have to ride it around town and see what people say.

My camera's charging right now, but I'll post some pics in just a little bit. If anyone knows where I could find detailed schematics of how the transbar system works I'd appreciate it.

Wow, I had to look that one up. That is crazy. Now, I am no engineer, and correct me if I am wrong, but those "cranks" don't move in a circle at all do they? That is insane. Can't wait to see pictures of yours.

Check out some of the other ones.
http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/weird_bike_stuff.htm

Wow, I had to look that one up.+1

Good save! :thumb:

The guys who came up with this idea eventually became head mechanics at Ford and GM. Hence the bailout.

What I'm trying to say is.. so you're trying to think of a good design for a bike and.. :crash:


Still, i totally agree with you. Its an oddity of bike history and worth riding around to show off and give people a sense of all the crazy things that have been tried. Enjoy!


BK

The exact model is a trb 2400. I did a google search and found nothing on that particular model. In general, the bikes in really good shape. It's just been sitting outside for awhile apparently. Hard to believe that in another five minutes it would have been on it's way to the dump to be buried forever.

Check out some of the other ones.
http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/weird_bike_stuff.htm

I would love to have a two wheel drive bicycle. That's just plain cool. Probably really hard to ride, but cool.

It begs the question of the inventors --WHAT WERE THEY SMOKING ????????

It begs the question of the inventors --WHAT WERE THEY SMOKING ????????

If it was the 80's they were probably snorting it.

Sometimes it's cool to contradict the way things have been done for 100+ years, even if what you've designed turns out to be obscure and unpopular.

My LBS has 3 of those hanging in the rafters, he talked about how fun they were to test ride....but obviously they didn't sell. It's definitely a very cool niche bike to have in a collection though, there was another guy here who has a stand up bike that you propel somehow.

What I find charming about the alenax and some of the other weirdo designs on the referenced site is that they came from a time when the industry was still open and accessible enough that people were willing and able to forward radically new designs. Most of them failed, but others became standard.

I work in the startup software industry where it is a given that only one out of 20 are ever going to make money, the other 19, were somebody to see the software 20 years on, would probably remark, "Oh, what were those poor guys thinking". But in advance, nobody really knows which of the 20 will make the hit and you have to go through the drill with all of them to find out, just like the failed bike designs.

Check out some of the other ones.
http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/weird_bike_stuff.htm

Thanks for the link. That was a fun read. :)

Hahaha this is so neat. I'm curious to see if you can get all those nifty mechanisms working. Looks like it would be fun to ride.

That Alenax is a weird one--good save!

There's some wild stuff on that link. I like the hydro bike for cruising on the water.

A while back I saw a road bike with a tensioned wire cable in the place of the downtube. Can't remember the name of it.

Outfreakingstanding bike. Outside the box in corporatespeak.
I envy you, but not your quads when you start riding that.
Still, it's a killer, killer machine. Overhip.

My jaw was literally agape in horror looking at that bike.

However, it is a good find, and a neat piece of history. I hope you get it up and running!

Saw one of those in person last June. It's like a cross between a stairmaster and a bicycle. As the owner said, "it's the answer to the question nobody was asking". Pretty cool though, in an eccentric way.

Saw one of those in person last June. It's like a cross between a stairmaster and a bicycle. As the owner said, "it's the answer to the question nobody was asking". Pretty cool though, in an eccentric way.
hahaha. Those were the exact words I used to describe a band called "Yes".

It seems people really like answering those kind of questions.

I worked on it for a little while this morning, but I can't seem to get it working. I was hoping I could at least try it out before I took it apart, but I guess I'll start disassembling it. It really doesn't look that complicated to fix, but I'm probably in for a surprise. But it's cold, windy, and getting dark, so it'll have to wait til tomorrow.

Check out some of the other ones.
http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/weird_bike_stuff.htm

great link. the land rower was invented by Sam Bennett, who more mundanely raises potatoes in Idaho. He has a wonderful collection of really vintage (1800's) bikes, and I wave at him almost every time I ride south out of town.

Alenax still makes bikes... That's just weird. I wish I had the extra money to buy one just for the heck of it.