Bike of the Week

I thought I would start a "bike of the week" section, where I post an interesting, strange, or amazing bike every week. Of course, knowing me, it might turn into "bike of the month," but we'll see where it goes.

This bike came from fixedgeargallery. It is intriguing if only for it's weirdness.



The owner calls this a Stayer bike, which I have never heard of before. Apparently it is a sport where you race behind a motorcycle at 50mph. It's really just a butchered DeRosa track bike with an insanely high gear ratio (which you would need going 50mph!) and backwards steerer. This is what the owner has to say about Stayer bikes:

"Stayer bikes are really rather rare - the sport has been big in Europe but racing behind Dernys is now more popular than racing behind the big motorcycles and is far less common. So when this stayer turned up on Italian Ebay I was very interested particularly as it was poorly described as a pursuit bike... Stayer bikes are all about getting the rider as close as possible to the shelter of the motorcycle rider. So a specially shortened saddle sits on a seatpost which is reversed and there is an extra long adjustable stem. The front wheel is 24in nominal and the front forks are reversed - this also increases the trail and hence stability of the frame which is essential as the speeds are around 50-55mph. And hence the extra-large 63T chainwheel - gearing is considerably higher than standard for track bikes. The rear disc wheel will not be original to the bike - it would have come with a standard wheel originally. Hilary Stone, Bristol, United Kingdom."

I'm sure it would be interesting to watch!