Thursday, March 25, 2021

From One to Eighteen

 


I've only known one person who rode a unicycle.  I wasn't tempted to try it, knowing they couldn't make enough Band Aids.  Did drive an 18-wheeler in a back lot once -- that was fun.  In the range between those two numbers of wheels, people have come up with some pretty crazy things:


Here is Grand Duke Alexis Romanov in 1899 Paris,  riding in a two-wheeled carriage being pulled by a four-wheeled electric cart.  It didn't catch on.  Another anomaly, made in York PA in 1903, was the six-wheeled Pullman automobile.  It came to a quick end since it handled like a barge on sand.



A steam powered tricycle, the Phaeton Moto-Cycle, was made by Lucius Copeland (200 of them!) in the 1880s.  A newspaper writer saw one in Philadelphia, saying "It was certainly a most beautiful vehicle and the steam apparatus the very acme of ingenuity."  Top speed was 10 mph, so your top hat would not blow off.


 Today we have these Can-Am three-wheelers, considerably more highway ready:


The bicycle craze of the late 19th century has evolved well, and you can now choose from a wide variety of electric models which solve that persistent problem of hills that turn your legs to rubber and your face red.  Not one of the best at all, but my favorite for its simplicity and cool, fat tires is the Sondors:


 Morgan Motorcars of the United Kingdom has made its three-wheel car/motorcycle since 1911 with a V-twin cycle engine and a beautiful retro interior, today with the superb Mazda five speed transmission.  This one's a keeper -- as Albert Ball, decorated WW1 British fighter pilot put it, "the closest experience to flying without leaving the ground."

Mustang Sally had a pretty good time on the usual four wheels, though.


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One more...how about EIGHT wheels?  Sometimes you just have to wonder what people were thinking...


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