Zach ([info]zachdms) wrote,
2008-02-12 23:41:00
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  • Music: Saul Williams - Sunday Bloody Sunday

And Now You Know!

After the completion of last year's Seattle To Portland (STP) bike ride, I thought to myself, "Well, that was a fun but overwrought excuse to eat some ice cream. Too bad there weren't as many rest stops with free ice cream as there were last time I did it." This immediately inspired the glorious notion...

... doing the STP on an ice cream bike.

After lustfully dreaming about this for a while, I finally broke down and found out the price and plausibility of my dream tonight. It looks like it would be about $2000 or more just for a (new) bike itself. That's not too bad for a high-end bike. And there's a "vintage" one on eBay for $700, so the price isn't awful.

The problems?

  • that umbrella has to go
  • they aren't designed for speed
  • they aren't designed for stopping going downhill
  • they aren't really designed for "turning"

    So now I feel that if I am serious, I should actually call one of these companies and inquire about the rationality of my plans. I suspect that they're designed for dawdling around town doing one to two miles per hour, which is a great idea, but would be a really really time-consuming way to travel two hundred miles. "Slower" is OK, where "slower" maps to "about 14 miles per hour", but I don't know how viable pushing up a tank of ice cream up the hills of Washington would be if even going down them is an Exciting And Painful Adventure(TM).

    Hm. Still, it is a sweet idea.


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    • 10 comments

    [info]tacofordinner

    February 13 2008, 09:13:52 UTC 4 years ago

    You could strap a cooler on a regular bike but that wouldn't be that awesome. Or you could get someone use their welding skills to build you a speed ice cream bike.

    [info]zachdms

    February 14 2008, 21:30:46 UTC 4 years ago

    Yeah, the whole point was to wear a dapper white suit and soda jerk hat helmet, so a cooler would not meet the required Awesome level.

    I'm thinking that the custom welding idea might be a good way to go here. I kind of need to find somebody with an ice cream bike that I can borrow for a test ride so I can see how they really handle. =[

    [info]marypcb

    February 13 2008, 11:57:46 UTC 4 years ago

    Adding an ice cream shell to an existing comfortable bike maybe?

    [info]zachdms

    February 14 2008, 21:08:59 UTC 4 years ago

    I was originally imagining some sort of back-mounted addition. After looking around, the "weld it yourself" idea does seem the best suited to my needs. :(

    [info]marypcb

    February 14 2008, 21:13:27 UTC 4 years ago

    if you want something that makes you look like an ice cream bike, something with cloth over a snap-together frame could look very effective. if you want to actually haul ice cream, you're going to need something insulated and freezer like, when it gets heavy... don;t want to crush your dreams under the weight of the compressor or anything!

    [info]zachdms

    February 14 2008, 23:36:42 UTC 4 years ago

    I appreciate your avatar

    Definitely. I've been thinking that it might be worth it simply to jump out early in the race, slowly let everyone pass me by, and see how far I can go. I suspect by about four hours in there will be no one to give ice cream to anyways. =)

    It's an important part of the equation that I be able to give out ice cream to everyone. =)

    [info]marypcb

    February 15 2008, 19:36:53 UTC 4 years ago

    Re: I appreciate your avatar

    you might need a pickup to haul off the ice cream section, refill it and drop it off at the overnight location ready for you to carry on next day.

    we do like Ashes to Ashes we do ;-)

    [info]piper_cat

    February 13 2008, 23:47:48 UTC 4 years ago

    best idea ever ... you are a great man

    [info]girlkate

    February 15 2008, 00:59:34 UTC 4 years ago

    I agree that you should start with a real bike and icecreamify it. Maybe with a small trailer? Or large panniers?

    Then, much painting and decoration!

    Anonymous

    February 19 2008, 04:50:30 UTC 4 years ago

    if you went w/ dry ice as your coolant - you wouldn't need to worry about having such a heavy cooler unit.
    I saw a very cool front mounted unit once - it was keeping things warm, but same idea. Chrome - looked very cool.
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