European HPV Championships 1993 in Farum, Denmark.
Not all bikes in Farum, and elsewhere at
international HPV events, are finished, "industrial- strength"
vehicles; nor do they have to be. Some are "mere homebuilts"
brazed up to provide the builders/ owners with cheap(ish)
transport alternatives; others prototypes, or more or less
ambitious proof of concept weld-em- ups done
to evaluate a particular engineering or other theorem.
One such project
was obviously this bike of an industrious Dane met in Farum, name
sadly forgotten, which distinguished itself from the flock by
having an integral chain, or at least a main portion thereof.
The most important portion in fact; that, which constitutes the
greatest "threat" to the cleanliness of rider's trousers. The
builder simply realized, that, long as he was going to use
a large- section aluminum profile for the frame, he might as
well employ it to hide the drivetrain. So he installed a custom
bottom bracket with a small within- frame- cavity chainwheel
attached symmetrically in the middle of the spindle, and driving
another like it at the other end of the frame. Said and done.
And very well done at that, too.
In this fashion
all of the BB- to- intermediate- gear chain is kept away
from the body, and potentially could be encapsulated even further,
to keep it perpetually clean from dust and grit. Knowing how
important a clean chain is for the --never enormous--
efficiency of a bike, it is not such a bad prospect at
all!
After the demise of
the vaporware Flevo Greenmachine, which
--I believe-- was to have such an integral drivetrain, no
manufacturer has felt the call to push the envelope of everyday
recumbency in this direction. Shame on ye all!
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