Swing & Wrong-Way Bikes
Trick cycles from Cyclecide.
On a Swing Bike, Laird Rickard demonstrates how
both back and front wheels rotate out of the plane
of the frame.
On a Wrong-Way Bike, gears between the handlebar
stem and front fork make the front wheel turn in the
reverse direction of the handlebars.
MAKE Projects Editor
Paul Spinrad had a great
time trying to ride two
trick bicycles, the Swing
Bike and the Wrong-Way
Bike, from the bike rodeo
Cyclecide (cyclecide.
com). He spoke with
Cyclecide’s Jarico Reesce,
Jay Broemmel, and Laird
Rickard about how the
bikes work.
Photography by Sam Murphy
Paul Spinrad: Where did the
Swing Bike come from?
Jarico Reesce: Back in the
1970s, Donny and Marie
Osmond actually invested in
and promoted a commercial
swing bike as a wacky new
bicycle for kids. This was
when the Schwinn Sting-Ray
was popular. But too many
kids fell and got hurt, and the
bikes didn’t sell. Like with any my hands.
industry, innovative things JR: We tell people at our
get shelved and come back show that you need to be an
years later. ambidextrous dyslexic with
Laird Rickard: The trick to attention-deficit disorder to
riding a Swing Bike is steer- ride it, and you have to look
ing with your butt, which directly into the sun and ride
most people don’t get when as fast as you can.
they first hop on. That’s why We challenge the audi-they end up falling down. ence, saying we’ll give $50
JR: Laird here is pretty good to anyone who can ride it.
at making the back wheel Of course no one can. In our
alternate between left and show, it’s always like, are we
right. It looks cool when you entertaining the audience, or
get a rhythm going. Riding are they entertaining us? Ev-fast down hills, a Swing Bike eryone gets a chuckle when
really turns heads, which is some über-biker type in
one of our objectives with spandex gets on the Wrong-our bikes. Way Bike and just flops and
PS: And then there’s the falls.
Wrong-Way Bike, which PS: Can anyone ride it?
amazed me because JR: Yes, we have a clown
I couldn’t ride two inches who can ride it, Otis. And
on it, even if I crossed he fits the criteria of being
ambidextrous, dyslexic, with
attention-deficit disorder.
Jay Broemmel: I got the idea
for the Wrong-Way Bike from
David Apocalypse, who said
it was an old carny trick. He
would have the gears covered
up, and charge people to try.
He’d be like, “Two dollars!
All you have to do is ride this
bike ten feet, get across that
line, and I’ll give you 50 dollars!” Then he’d ride it himself
and say, “Look how easy it is!”
PS: Those old carnies!
JR: Of course, we don’t
consider ourselves carnies.
We consider ourselves show-men. If anyone calls us
See more photos
of Cyclecide’s bikes at
makezine.com/11/cyclecide.
Make: 73
