File this one under "just for fun".
BikeRumor.com today carried a story about the upcoming LEGO City Corner set because that set contains its own bike shop so kids can pretend to snub newbs while harboring dreams of becoming accomplished roadies. No no, not all bike shops are like that. I'm just kidding. RBR is newb friendly.
Ahem.
Anyway, seeing photos of the play set got me thinking - there aren't any recumbents at that toy bike shop! What the heck! LEGO are based in Denmark, so they should know better. In fact, they do know better as seen from these photos taken at LEGOLAND.
Photos from ligfiets.net
But surely those can't be the only LEGO recumbents? Certainly not. Allister McLaren created a LEGO Bacchetta, complete with bearded rider who has seriously miscalculated his x-seam. It's hardly a tweener bar if nothing, well, tweens.
Photos from BrickShelf.com
Tom Engel used the ubiquitous blocks to create a model of a prototype Greenmachine that he wanted to purchase. He didn't get the bike, but his model turned out well.
Photo from ObjectFarm.org
Those are the obvious renderings of recumbents in brick form. After that come the folks that use their LEGOs to mock up new recumbent designs. A box of bricks is a lot cheaper than CAD software. And more fun, too.
Stefano Paris used LEGOs in his childhood to dream up new forms of recumbent bikes. He happened to dig up one of his early creations and posted photos at his site.
Photo from StefanoParis.com
And perhaps you've heard of the ZWEISTIL bike? It is a design that has recently garnered a lot of attention for its ability to switch between upright seat and recumbent while in motion. Unfortunately, there are no images of their LEGO models, but there is a great write-up on their design process.
Image from SolidSmack.com
I'm sure there are many other undocumented or unGoogleable instances of the merging of recumbency and LEGO. Perhaps with time and influence, we will be able to convince the LEGO corporation to make 1% of their LEGO Bike Shops a recumbent shop.
If you're interested in other LEGO kits that have included cycling, go no further than Peeron.com which has a page cataloging every LEGO kit that included part 4719c01 - "Bicycle with Clear Wheels and Black Tyres".
