50 Greatest bikes of all time - Cycling Weekly

[PaulCumbria]

Got this week's issue of Cycling Weekly, mainly for a picture feature entitled "the 50 greatest bikes of all time". Lots of beautiful machines - I particularly love Alf Engers' holiest-ever bike with amazing amounts of drilling-out.

The 50 featured machines are from "121 years of Cycling Weekly", and include a Flying Gate, Curly Hetchins, Chopper, Brompton, track tandem, Moulton, Obree's Old Faithful, Boardman's Lotus, Moser's hour record machine and lots of lovely road racing and time trial bikes from throughout the 20-21st centuries.

As the editorial says: "They're all here, the machines that made history... you name it, we've got it."

But of course, you can guess what is notable by its absence - there's not a recumbent in sight. The whole piece is peppered with examples of how the UCI's rules on what bike designs are permitted to compete have been explored to their limits - and beyond, e.g. Moser's then-illegal disc wheels, which he used to gain the hour record and the UCI 'overlooked'. Yet it seems Cycling Weekly is trying to write recumbents out of history entirely.

I'm not really bothered, as for me the 'oddness' of recumbents is part of their attraction, and if they'd not been banned from mainstream competition by the UCI in 1934 they'd be much less odd nowadays, as track racing and maybe road racing would surely be dominated by them. And I don't think they're 'better' than other configurations. It just makes me chuckle that there does seem to be real disdain for them in certain cycling circles - ah well...

[Cunobelin]

I am not sure about "odd" designs, it is simply that there is no "best" design for a recumbent.

I love the diversity, and this is something to be encouraged and applauded

[[XAP]Bob]

But at least one design of 'bent should be in the top 50.

Even if it's just Sam Whittington...

[PaulCumbria]

I reckon the Velo Velocar should be there, as it was the machine that precipitated the UCI ban (wasn't it?).

[[XAP]Bob]

Agreed.
And who has the hour record?

[PaulCumbria]

[Steve Kish]

I'm quite surprised to learn that Martin Pyne's gull-wing low profile isn't in there.

Not sure if Steve Hegg's 1980 Olympic gold medal pursuit bike is in there ....? I know the Burrows/Lotus superbike that did the same thing 8 years later is.