A quick fix of quirky bike stuff

Trying to keep up with the constant flood of cycling information that flows through road.cc towers is a bit like trying to paint the Forth Bridge (except they are actually going to finish that now apparently). Anyway here's some of the stories, pictures and websites that caught my eye in the last few days that we haven't mentioned on the site…

First off, what about that Cole Honeywood posting a PB over five miles last week? Most of you may already have heard of the cycling exploits of four year old Cole from Lowestoft in Suffolk it's worth a quick recap for those who missed the story last week.

Here's the intro from the Telegraph online's story …

"At least 10 police cars, a helicopter and officers on the beat were drafted in to search for Cole Honeywood after he vanished from his home.

Cole's panic-stricken parents Hayley and Carl also alerted family and friends to join the search amid fears the little boy had been abducted.

Oblivious to the escalating drama, he crossed two busy roads during the morning rush hour and pedalled to all his favourite places, including the local hairdresser."

Okay it was Lowestoft, so a flat run, but it was five miles and he is is four so hats off to young Cole (although you've got to feel sorry for his poor mother). The Honeywood's can no doubt expect a visit from a British Cycling boffin any day now with his VO2 testing kit, while the rest of us can pencil in an early favourite for the 2029 Tour.

On a completely different note here's a great gallery of fixed gear photos from Alex White's blog it's his Hong Kong Cycling Hall of Shame – featuring some very lovely classic frames and components.

Alex's beef seems to be that they are all mixed up in a way suggesting that the people who built up the bikes don't know what they've got. At least I think that's why they're in the Hall of Shame, but maybe he's also having a go at the state of some of those cogs and chains – safely ensconced in my glasshouse I'll say no more except to observe that surely they don't grit the roads in Hong Kong…

Well worth checking out

Finally, who doesn't have a weakness for weird concept bikes? Well not me anyway. This lot came out way via Biketweets on Twitter and are from a site called weburbanist.

Some of them you may well have seen before, such as the Shift Bicycle (a childrens trike that transforms into a two wheeler as it moves along) which bagged a load of design awards back in 2005 and which I'd heard was going to be built by one of the big manufacturers… Sir Clive Sinclair's A-Bike is on there too (works great on a concrete exhibition hall floor). There's also a square wheeled bike in search of an inverted catenary road and an amphibious bike from Holland plus loads more.

My two faves though are the Viking bike – which is a real machine and not a conpect bike at all and which is pretty much the literal cycling embodiment of the phrase 'time trial weapon' and the Nulla spokeless bicycle (main pic) a concept bike from 2006 which, as the name suggests does away with spokes…

The Nulla also does away with a chain too – opting for a direct drive shaft system which transfers power to the wheel via teeth in the rear rim. A clever piece of work by designer Bradford Waugh who was trying to design the ultimate lightweight and visually appealling bike. It's certainly an eye-catcher but the drive for minimalism has possibly also minimised on the Nulla's efficiency too. If they ever build it I'd still like to ride one though…