Didi Senft keeps it Real

March 27, 2009 11:44 AM

Bike fanatic Didi Senft, who's been building crazy cycles for years, shows off his latest "angular" bikes.
posted by rageagainsttherobots (19 comments total)

Didi Senft would be one crazy Grandpa. Could you imagine Christmas as a kid with this guy as your Grandpa?
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 11:45 AM on March 27, 2009

Those are some crazy bikes. There's some sort of crazy curve the can be used to define a surface where triangular wheels maintain a constant height above the ground but I forget what it's called - a carotid? My mind is failing as usual.
posted by GuyZero at 11:54 AM on March 27, 2009

That man is my hero. If only I could do something so fun and beautiful with my life!
posted by R343L at 12:15 PM on March 27, 2009

GuyZero: Reuleaux Triangle.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:22 PM on March 27, 2009

No, I was thinking of catenary curves. Not sure if it's the same curve for arbitrary polygon wheels though.
posted by GuyZero at 12:25 PM on March 27, 2009

Hey, I just invented a car that TOTALLY DOESN'T FUCKING WORK, can I get on the news too?
posted by rocketman at 12:32 PM on March 27, 2009

Could you imagine Christmas as a kid with this guy as your Grandpa?

I'm reliably told that Didi Senf - at least while he is being the devil - has weapons-grade body odour. So yes, I can imagine Christmas with him. It would have confirmed my long-standing childhood observation that all old people smell funny.
posted by tim_in_oz at 12:43 PM on March 27, 2009

HolyBike Fool.
posted by stbalbach at 12:45 PM on March 27, 2009

I can confirm the B.O. rumor as fact. We managed to park our car in a slightly hidden drainage ditch at the 2002 Giro d'Italia and Didi summoned various passers-by to push us out. This was in the last week of the tour and both he and his van were rather ripe.
posted by Icky at 12:49 PM on March 27, 2009

He's the original. Antler man, the Pope, all those other ATOC shcmucks are just a pale imitation. The Devil!
posted by fixedgear at 1:12 PM on March 27, 2009

Count me in the minority, I find the bike fan kooks to be annoying as hell. In fact, I rather enjoy this photo of a fan getting his comeuppance by Michael Rogers quite alot. The bikes in the link are interesting but worthless as bicycles.
posted by fenriq at 2:23 PM on March 27, 2009

They'll never sell. Everyone knows carbon fiber is where it's at.
posted by alexei at 2:30 PM on March 27, 2009

Who would have thought that the boundary between a vehicle that transports you, and a pile of junk that you drag around, could be such a permeable one?
posted by StickyCarpet at 3:02 PM on March 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

That triangular-wheeled bike was obviously invented by a man who hates his own balls.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 8:52 PM on March 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

I can confirm the B.O. rumor as fact. posted by Icky

So very Eponysterical
posted by Skeptic at 4:00 AM on March 28, 2009

That boy's got the devil in 'im
posted by mannequito at 5:47 AM on March 28, 2009

SLYT to catenary bike in motion.
posted by Wild_Eep at 2:44 PM on March 28, 2009

A reuleaux triangle is indeed a triangle and it does have a constant width the same way a circle does, but you can't build a wheel out of it because it doesn't have a constant center to attach an axle to.

That catenary bike is pretty cool, but to be fair to joe's spleen, Guy Zero said "triangle" and the catenary bike has square wheels.
posted by DU at 5:58 PM on March 28, 2009

In my defense, where am I and why am I naked?
posted by GuyZero at 6:06 PM on March 28, 2009