bike porn (the secret guilty please of looking at human powered vehicles)

I hate to admit it - but I am worried that I am something of a pornographer.  Perhaps I am no Larry Flynt (if you dont know who he is here is a link to a G-Rated wikipedia article about him) but I am guilty of publishing pornography. At least that is what my pal Mateo told me a few days ago.  He said "a lot of your pictures are like bike porn."  I suppose they are.  Sure it is not hot young naked hard-bodies... it is even sexier.  I publish pictures of bikes.  I suppose you could even go a little broader and say I publish pictures of human powered vehicles.  To a builder of such machines, and a creator of the spin off photo genre, there is not much that is hotter.  I admit it is a rather unusual turn-on to discuss, but I don't think it is all that unusual to have.  To be fair though, weirdos seldom think that they are weird.  There is something deeply satisfying though in taking a piece of crap

and transforming it into a functional work of art.  Particularly when it can be ridden down a mountain single-track at a frightening velocity.  This old Schwin went from junk to hot.  It is in the hands of a 16 year old boy who rides it every day on his school mountain bike team.  It takes a serious beating.

Part of the thrill for me as a bike pornographer is in capturing one of my creations in an environment where it is natural.  A place where it fits.

Sometimes the thrill is in capturing it in an environment where it absolutely does not fit.

Sometimes the thrill comes from creating something that belongs in no known environment.  The creation below has two drive-trains - two chains - two sprockets.  It folds in half.  The rear wheel is a 26 inch mountain bike wheel.  The front is a 27 inch antique road wheel that I restored.  As far as I know, it is the only one of its kind in the world.  It is ridiculously fast, stops on a dime, and lives in Trinidad and Tobago now.

One of the most interesting human powered vehicles I have ever seen is in Kathmandu, Nepal.  It is made of teak.  Is two stories tall.  Serves as a playground for neighborhood kids.  Weirdest of all... it is also a religious shrine to the hindu god Ganesh.  It is super slow and almost impossible to stop once it moving.

What could be more pornographic (in the bike-porn world) than a bicycle built for two.  This 1950 Workman Cycle was a non-functional lump of rust when I got it.  It is a true work of art now.

Bamboo fenders, hand-painted accents, and photo decals from my love's career as a dental missionary around the word are just a few of the features on this 1943 John Deere bike.

My dad's retro cruiser features a dc generator built into the front wheel hub, brakes from the 1920s, leather wrapped handlebars from an 1895 Wright Cycle (like Wilber and Orvile Wright), and old car horn.  My dad rides it all over the village where he lives.

My 80cc Bianchi Cafe Boardtrack Racer really should be illegal.  With a nitrous-oxide injection system, a seven speed manual transmission, and a top end in the 60s this definitely earns the "hot" label.

Matador is a celebration of the Mexican Bull Fight.

Larry Flynt?  I don't know Mateo... I am a rider, and a builder, but I don't know about bike pornographer. www.badassrides.us