Ok, I know this is technically not a bicycle, but both the creator (Joe Grutzik) and people I pass on the street call it a bike- plus, I don't know where else I would have posted this bizarre creation! Anyway, I found this mid-90s 'Bouncer Bike' on Craigslist for $40, and decided to take it to the next level and do something rat-rod-ish with it. Originally, the bike would have had a front wheel with an eccentric hub, that allowed you to propel the bike by pumping the bars up and down like this. Which, despite the image of a bikini-clad girl doing it, is totally ridiculous.
That said, the original wheel was long gone, so I replaced it with a regular cruiser wheel- and subsequently replaced everything but the fork, headset and rear wheel in the process. I even had a buddy custom-cut a skateboard deck for the platform! As it is, it looks pretty good, but I'll be honest, it's kind of a pain in the butt to ride. The 8" ground clearance, designed to accommodate the 'bouncing' action (and to give it some negligible off-road capability), makes it so that you need to really bend down far to push off the ground. That, and having the brake mounted where it is makes it so that it takes the full brunt of any curb-hopping (probably why the original brake was completely wrecked).
I'm thinking about switching to a 24" front wheel to see if that brings the deck down to a more manageable height (though it will forgo having it level), and I'm planning to build a magnesium skid plate to protect the brake (eventually).
