Does anyone know what this is?
 

I have searched the internet far and wide with no results. Thanks!

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=329127

menage a trois? NNTAWWT

Thank you for your eWit but I am searching for FACTS. My father was thought to ride on one of these three person creations and I believe one of the riders pictured here might be Him. It is exceedingly important that I find the TRUTH.

I couldn't tell you,, but I really like the back ground with the mountains!!!I hope you find your father,,,,,

Looks like a one of a kind bicycle. Very cool.

Which person do you think was your Dad?

I smell B.S. and even if its not that is the dumbest bike I've ever seen, I mean come on, whats the purpose? Every thing I see in the pic serves absolutely no purpose!? If they were clowns OK, I get it, but they're not. Its just doesn't make sense.

This is Alt-Bikes. Asking what the purpose is for a bike in this forum is kind of silly, really. The purpose is to see if it can be built. I like how the three cyclists are attached at the chainwheel, without intermediate chains. You have to admit that having 3 cyclists whose power strokes all vary with the angle is going to smooth out the power to the wheels, a smaller flat spot to the power curve.

From this page, http://www.futurebike.ch/FB_Web_WM99.../pictures.html, I find another picture of this same rig described as "The french tridem team (taken from the Swiss Newspaper "Sport")". I don't know who wrote the headline, but there is a possibility that it was written to poke fun at the French, and that the bike pictured may or may not be French and may or may not represent a team in any organized activity.

The picture file you posted was labeled "tridem". "Tridem" is not a conventional bike term. But it appears to be a foreign word (German, maybe?) describing any 3-person bicycle. In the US, we'd normally call that a "triple tandem" or "tandem triple" or "triplet". I would suppose that the picture you posted was somebody's one-off novelty design. If all you know is that your dad routinely road a "tridem", it's probably not this style, but a conventional 3-crank bike. If you know your dad rode a 3-person bike with single crank, I'd say there's a good chance it is this one.http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=330429http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=330430

(It may not be obvious at first, but the novelty in that bike is that all three riders use the same crank, which dictates the bizarre seating pattern.)

I found two or three other images of the same rig, one of which shows the faces, although it's a low-res picture.

Agreed, alt bikes all have a purpose.

I'd like to see a close up of how that crank is set up. I like the crazy stuff people dream up.

Guess its a 6 foot engine ..

That was the first thing my rational side homed in on, too. Small photo, but I think I see some photo retouch nonsense going on in the pedal/crank area.

I sense a little sarcasm there. ;).

Just for that, here's another silly bike.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2180/5...36a40455_z.jpg