ODD TWO-WHEELER CATCHING ON
                        Finnish 'kickbike' grows in popularity
If running makes your knees hurt, biking makes your butt sore and
you can't face strapping on skates, a Finnish inventor suggests
the latest in locomotion: a kickbike.
Looking like a cross between a child's scooter and a Gay '90s
highwheel bike, kickbikes have become a common sight on
Helsinki's strets.
It's a design that could hardly be simplier: A tubular metal
frame connects the 28-inch front wheel with the 17-inch back
wheel. A narrow footboard is attached to teh bottom of the frame
and to the rear wheel's fork. The rider stands on the footboard
and propels the bike by kicking the ground.
Riders don't have the help of a conventional bicycle's gears, but
they do benefit from the stripped-down cycle's light weight --
16.5 pounds, about half the weight of a regular bicycle -- and
they can average about 20 mph.
The inventor, Hannu Vierikko, hit on the idea after years of
riding a kicksled, which looks like a chair on two long runners.
The user stands on the runners holding the back of the chair and
pushes it along by kicking the ice or snow. Kicksleds are used in
Nordic country towns and villages where roads are not sanded.
Copied in part from Rochester Democrate and Chronicle, Aug. 6,
1996
Bill
Rochester, NY
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