sillygolem

If you wanted safer couldn't you make a slightly less tall bike by putting a couple BMX frames together? Not only would it be lower, you could attach training wheels.

Amesja

Frameteam2003:

I've seen plenty of tallbikes in Chicago as they are pretty popular here. But this is probably the slickest/nicest looking tallbike frame I've ever seen. You have mad framebuilding skilzz. This bike looks like it came from a major bike company. It just looks "right."

Most tallbikes look like they were tacked together by a blind welding monkey.

Every time tallbikes are mentioned I can't help but think of this:

chuben

Sculch, your bike is awesome!

Sculch

Thanks guys it is one of my sweeter builds. It now is tied flat against my 10 foot garage ceiling out of the way. About my blind welding monkey.............I think I should show you some Swing Bikes. Can't have Tall Bikes without Swing Bikes. A few of you here may recognise my bikes 'cause I recognise theirs.

Sculch

freighttraininguphill

Here's a couple tall bikes I saw while riding around:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgoadLnXuo4


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuaCmuwZrYE

Amesja

OMG, that second video was cool.

Those outriggers look a bit on the dangerous side. If the rider deployed them at the wrong time they could get run over or hit by another vehicle.

Can you imagine the chaos at a Critical Mass riding next to that guy (you know how crowded it gets sometimes) and this guy hits that lever and the outrigger gets in your wheel? OMG bad things would happen.

Still is a damn neat bike. I'd love to see one but now that I realize it has outriggers like that I'll be on the lookout for such items. That could end up being an end to a fun ride...

dougmc

Of course, riding next to a tall bike where the guy loses it while trackstanding or the guy he's leaning on rides off can have similar effects (well, not a pole in your wheel, but a guy falling on you is bad too.) Ultimately, Critical Mass rides tend to be chaotic, it's just the way things are. Picking where exactly in the pack to ride is an important skill in keeping yourself out of trouble and keeping yourself from being hurt by others.

unterhausen

I saw a tall bike made out of a 16" kids bike. The weird thing was that it was the identical model that my daughter had, so I could copy it exactly. It was a little silly, but what tall bike isn't?

MACAQUE

beautiful bike sculch!

nikole95.7

You don't need a ladder to get on, just roll the bike and hop on.
I ddon't have one yet, but plenty of people here do and I've ridden them many times.

Dan In Demand

I built my first one last year and now I really dont care to ride my other bikes,,,tall bikes are a blast !!

Dan In Demand

you always have to plan ahead on a tall bike,, you would need to find something to hold on to like a post or tree or you put your foot on someones front fender

downtube42

Advantages:
Dogs can't reach you.
High water? No problem
Easy to find your bike on a crowded ride.
More smiles per mile

Dismount is easy - throw a leg over the top tube and hop down. Mounting is trickier but not bad. I've only fallen once.

asuperstar103

I love tall bikes. I rode a couple that my neighbor friends built when I was younger and dismounting was always the easy part for me. I thought it was way harder to get on the bike than to dismount. I had no idea tall bikes were liked by soooo many people until reading this post. Outstanding! Not too sure I would get on one today, not quite as brave as I use to be, but they are still fun to look at! Thanks for posting all!

TIII

I built one with another frame in back of the lower, to help keep the front end down. The Mt. Fuji also had front and rear derailleurs, front and rear brakes and pegs to aid in dismounting. <a href="https://s484.photobucket.com/albums/rr208/Revraydio/?action=view&amp;current=TIIIonbikeMSBike2009.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://i484.photobucket.com/albums/rr208/Revraydio/TIIIonbikeMSBike2009.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Then I fielded a team of tallbikes for the MSBike.

THEN I decided to build a bike with as short of a wheelbase as possible. As I laid it out, I kept raising the bottom bracket so the pedaling cranks would clear the front wheel. Got the seat hieght right for my lef extension, front and rear brakes, front and rear derailleurs (I don't know why anyone skilled enough to glue bikes together can't think far enough ahead to do this!) and realized that IT was a stubby kind of tall bike.

Broken ribs, bruised heels, spinal shocks... yeah, it hurts to fall, but they ARE fun. I feel like a little kid riding my bike.

Getting off the bike? Learn to do a track stand. Make people WONDER how you get on and off by not doing it at the lights, etc.

And I wear a helmet. May not save my life, but my odds of walking away are better. It's been working for me so far.

24fps

So how do you mount and dismount these things? It could be my shortness talking but I can't work it out in my head.

lz4005

Mount: one foot on the bike, push like a skateboard, then climb up
Dismount: jump

Amesja

You don't even have to jump, you can just climb back down before it comes to a stop. Bikes are pretty stable when they are moving as long as the builder of the tall bike didn't screw up the geometry and there is a decent amount of trail built into the steering.

lz4005

"Slow down, swing your leg over and hop off carefully" didn't sound as cool as "jump".

TIII

I welded pegs on my Mt. Fuji, right in front of the rear wheel.
Right foot on the peg as I kick off, skateboard like, with the left.
Moving... then the left foot goes to the left side pedal and I step up onto it, swinging my right leg over the seat. Easy easy easy.

Sculch

On my double highs I like building them with the lady on top of the man........one reason is that the frame length lines up better and the other reason is the ladies bar is lower.

When I mount up I start by putting my right foot on the empty bottom bracket of the mans bike and scoot on the bike useing my left foot. When I get enough speed I place my left foot on the mans top tube and pull myself up in a some what standing position and take my right foot and slip it over the ladies top bar and place it on the pedal......oh, did I mention before you mount up you place your right pedal in a position ready for your foot. If it ain't there there will be a slight pause followed by mild panic while you locate it. This can be followed by increasing panic till you hook up. It's all good, you learn quick.

To dismount I just swing my right leg over the back of the bike like everyone else and lower myself down where your right foot makes it near to the ground and make a small leap of faith and continue with a slow walk.

Sculch

gavtatu

i built my tall bike in 2003, still going strong, but in desperate need of a make-over !
here's the finished bike !

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gavtatu...57625883189764

there's a few pics of the painting in progress, and a few finished shots i took today !

J4$0N

I haven't been on here in years, but i built my tall bike about 4 years ago and he still rides like the day i made him.



his name: Andre the Giant

if you guys want to see some more tall bikes, take a peak at some bike kill videos on youtube

Von Potter

I found this one in a field this summer. It was a mess of crappy welds, duct tape and hose clamps. I jsut started fixing it back up last night. I had to re-weld the long neck, replace the forks, beat the crank apart with a sledgehammer, and make a new seatpost. I still have a lot to do before i trust it. I need to re weld some of the existing welds, figure out my wheel/tire combo and paint it yet
It was originally made to run a 24" tire in front and back, but i think I'll be runnning a 24 in back (pre-existing brake mounts) and a 20 up front. Then I'll sandblast it, paint it bright reflective orange and ride it straight to the ER

Artkansas 

Well, any bicycles are intrinsically unsafe on really busy streets. It's obvious that for the most-part tall bikes are recreational bikes, not used for daily commuting, messengering, or car-free living. I think you can relax ukny. Unless the hipsters go from fixies to tall bikes I don't think that there will be enough riders for it to be a problem.