[Fictionary] Pannage Results

[J-J Cote]

Well, it could be built.  Turning the power train 90 degrees like that 
takes a bit of doing, though.  Bevel gears would work, though they're 
lossy, or there are chains that consist of a bunch of buttons strung 
between a pair of cables, and these can do twisty things.  You can also 
have a lever and pushrod drive system, which is likely more suited to 
the image and the period.  The feet would go up and down instead of 
around, more like an old sewing machine than a conventional bike.  I'm 
more concerned with how you would get this thing moving, though.  It 
takes a bit of speed to be able to balance a bike (complicated by the 
fact that the balance axis is now pitch rather than roll), and if this 
thing has two wheels, it's going to be really tricky to get started.  I 
suppose you could have "training wheels" that retract once you get 
moving.  But if you fall, there's a 50-50 chance that you're going over 
backwards.

But in this crazy world, everything probably exists:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JzIwv_oCcmc/TJqvV5cXKLI/AAAAAAAAATQ/6fpP23m7Ab4/s1600/Bike.jpg
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42588000/jpg/_42588033_mike_bike203.jpg
http://cache.travelfish.org/b/assets/images/features/burma-bicycle.jpg
http://theboogle.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/side_saddle.jpg

Jean-Joseph

On 10/12/2011 6:09 PM, eLLioTT morEton wrote:
>
>> pannage, n. A bicycle or velocipede designed to be ridden sidesaddle.
>>
>> Jim: I suspect Elliott is Staying Whimsical here...
>> J-J: I'd think I would have seen one of these, given my acquaintance
>> with antique bicycles.  In any case, it sounds marvelously awkward and
>> impractical.  And probably inspired by "pannier".
>
>> Nora: More like "caught-your-pantage"!
>
> Hey, would it really be so impossible as all that?  Is there any 
> reason the axis of the pedals can't be parallel to the line of 
> motion?  I'm picturing a park full of Edwardian ladies gaily steering 
> with their right hand and holding their hats on with their left.
>
> em
>
>