Hasta La Gadget!

Bikes, unlike bigger means of transport, are pretty easy to modify to fit the will and needs of the owner, for carrying strange cargoes or perhaps to just look more awesomer. Sometimes, though, there are some chop-jobs which are quite inexplicable. Here we’ll look at a few, and try to decode the more unusual.

First, this bike above, photographed this weekend in Berlin’s slushy streets. We have dubbed it the "Pizza Bike" for its round cargo section, but it is clearly not used for delivering pizza. Not unless it’s by a restaurateur with a strange grasp of gravitational laws.

To be honest, I have no idea what this is. There’s a small, rectangular hatch in the side, and it appears that the top tube pierces the disc — if not the bike would be pretty unstable. Is it for small parcels, a kind of slow, old-fashioned courier bike? We’re flummoxed, so help out with suggestions in the comments.

Bike Water Pump

The presentation is something of a mystery — the rider is playing air-bongos to a bongo soundtrack, but the mod is a good one: it’s intended to draw water from wells in Senegal. This is a bike with the front wheel removed, the seat rotated and the rear wheel rigged to pump water. Maybe it’s an art "happening" or perhaps just a cool demo. Out in the field, though, this would be way easier to use than a rope and bucket. Designed by Baay Xaaly Sene.

Bike Culture Break [Bike Hugger]

Treadmill Bike

The point of this bike is somewhat questionable — the Bike Forest sells it as an alternative to the gym, saying that it "offers the same fat burning benefits of a conventional treadmill without the membership fees."

Surely, though, a normal bike offers the same "fat burning benefits" as a treadmill? Nevertheless, this is a crazy, Rube Goldberg contraption, the front end of a bike welded to a treadmill, which is itself hooked up to a small rear wheel. We’d suggest using this to actually get to the gym and, once there, standing in the changing room, holding on to the coat hook and reading a book whilst swaying slightly, as if you were taking the metro.

Treadmill bike [Bike Forest]

Photo: frankh/Flickr

Tall Bike

The caption put on this picture by the photographer, scob89, cannot be improved upon:

20" Rear tire, 16" Front Tire, One fucking speed, The bearing in the head tube are shot, Dual rear dirtbike shocks on the back, No brakes, Give me some sugar

Care to try riding it?

Google’s image search reveals hundreds more wacky tall bike mods. (Thanks, Dean J!)

Photo: scob89/Flickr

Shoe Bike

Wheels? Who needs wheels when you’ve got heavy-duty spokes with boots on the end? This photo, from Bike Kill 2008 in Brooklyn, New York, shows just one of the many mutant bikes that can be seen at the annual event. (Thanks, Armitage!)

Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.com.

Longfellow Cargo Bike

Matt Ritter’s "Longfellow" is a homemade cargo bike capable of carrying a couple of passengers. Ride it gently, though: The chain is so long that you can derail it simply by shaking the bike. If you like Ritter’s mod but don’t want to do welding, check out Xtracycle’s cargo bike conversion kit.

Photo: Tim Anderson / Instructables

If you know of any more crazy bike mods, or even better, if you have done one yourself, let us know in the comments. And don’t forget to tell us just what the vertical Pizza Bike is really for.