A while back we featured a "revolutionary" piece of exercise equipment that raised the question, why do so many nitwit entrepreneur-inventors have so much time on their hands when the rest of us have to work for a living? The invention -- the Mobile Treadmill -- was staggeringly idiotic but, on the plus side, equally highly entertaining.
Today we're pleased to feature the master-work of another entrepreneur-inventor. He's also looking for investors -- and, after carefully scanning the exercise-recreation landscape, has apparently finally solved (for him) the ultimate question: How can we design a bicycle that does everything a bicycle does, only without a seat? Or, expressing it a little differently: Damn, we love bicycling...but can't we just find some way to lose the seat, so we can ride for miles while standing up?
Seriously. The Seat-Less Bicycle. Or, as we affectionately call it: The Totally Unnecessary Borderline-Idiotic Mobile Stairmaster.
OK, disclosure. We're not exercise physiologists, so we can't fully evaluate whether there are any benefits to this form of bicycling. (We do know bicycling while seated is far better on knees & joints than climbing stairs which is what our inventor compares his breakthrough to.)
Also, since we can't entirely rule out any small physiological benefit, we're not prepared to label this invention definitively idiotic; it might well be, but we're more comfortable with, "borderline idiotic."
We are prepared to say it sounds, seems -- and definitely looks -- idiotic. Also, we never felt any compelling void or lack about not being able to bicycle without a seat. (Of course, that's just us.) We like to sit. It's comfortable. It's never been a problem. We don't want to stand -- we certainly don't want to have to stand. And the touted benefit of "better vision" from standing -- we're not astronomers/star-gazers here; we're riding a bike, we want to know if some wayward dog's crossing the street; we don't need to look at cars from above, we just need to know if there are cars. Same with the added "take-off torque" -- you know those few milliseconds we're supposedly losing from starting in our comfortable sitting positions? We'll find a way to live without them....read more rants
Why not just run if you want to move standing up? I hate stairmasters!!!
I hate to make this point,
- submitted by Anonymous on 11/05/2009
I hate to make this point, but whoever did the writeup for this video doesn't sound like they know anything about cycling at all.
This product definitely won't interest the vast majority of cyclists, but I can definitely see a niche market for this. More visibility? Definitely would come in handy if you commute in heavy traffic. More efficient torque transfer? I'm betting the author has never had to power up a 10% grade from a dead stop. I'm not saying that this concept is a panacea for all cycling woes, but making fun of something without any knowledge of it is hardly entertaining or clever.
And yeah, your disclosure that you're not exercise physiologists? That's basically the equivalent of saying, "I don't know what the hell I'm talking about, but I'm going to crap out my thoughts anyway."
I've cycled for decades and
- submitted by Anonymous on 11/05/2009
I've cycled for decades and I listened closely to the video and, while there may be some miniscule merit to a few of the claims, overall it's rubbish. I also agree with the author, whoever he is, that the absurdity and silliness of the whole thing grossly outweighs anything else. The bicycle is ridiculous, sorry, it is.
You want to cause car
- submitted by vcperson on 11/05/2009
You want to cause car accidents, start cycling like this in traffic. You'll be hit in minutes. I could this this as a collectors item maybe but that's about it. Im not surprised the so called inventor is desperate for investors, where do people like this come up with ideas?
Sadly, there's more -
- submitted by Anonymous on 11/06/2009
www.streetstrider.com/ and of course www.rowbike.com
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