Not technically a 'cycle ...
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2018 11:11 pm
... but seriously, you don't even need to go as far as a 'wing, or a BMW RT model, to find a bike that's more sophisticated and complex than a 2CV. And it always had an air-cooled flat-twin as an engine, and I'm German. Air cooled flat-twin = 'cycle. The wily French have just built a few with an excessive number of wheels.
Among the latter group of almostcycles, the 2CV stands out as most perfect, I think. I don't know who said it, but "Perfection is not achieved when you lave nothing more you can add - but when there is nothing left you can leave out". Might have been Colin Chapman. It does go ever so well with "Simplify - and add lightness".
Short of cutting in half the number of wheels, there is nothing one can remove from the 2CV and still let it be a useful vehicle. Certainly, I can't see anything one can leave out and still have a useful car. Well, except maybe a radio (though having traffic news and some tunes is, imo, a dire necessity) or the fancy, modern, padded seats. The original prototype had just two tubes with a bit of cloth, deckchair-style.
But apart from that. No ac. Not even a fan. Instead, flaps under the windscreen, and a "roof" that'll roll up. No wind-down windows, either. Two-cylinder air-cooled engine, some sheet metal, and a suspension that will let it travel over a freshly-plowed field at 40kph with a basket of eggs on the passenger seat, and none of the eggs breaking. While the driver is in wooden shoes.
But, it is the tradition, or an old charter, or something. Someone will take an old bike and put a new bike engine in it. Same with an almostcycle. And where else to get a new flat twin than from BMW. Though with about twice as many camshafts and oil-cooling, obviously.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1E3uVNbAas[/media]
Among the latter group of almostcycles, the 2CV stands out as most perfect, I think. I don't know who said it, but "Perfection is not achieved when you lave nothing more you can add - but when there is nothing left you can leave out". Might have been Colin Chapman. It does go ever so well with "Simplify - and add lightness".
Short of cutting in half the number of wheels, there is nothing one can remove from the 2CV and still let it be a useful vehicle. Certainly, I can't see anything one can leave out and still have a useful car. Well, except maybe a radio (though having traffic news and some tunes is, imo, a dire necessity) or the fancy, modern, padded seats. The original prototype had just two tubes with a bit of cloth, deckchair-style.
But apart from that. No ac. Not even a fan. Instead, flaps under the windscreen, and a "roof" that'll roll up. No wind-down windows, either. Two-cylinder air-cooled engine, some sheet metal, and a suspension that will let it travel over a freshly-plowed field at 40kph with a basket of eggs on the passenger seat, and none of the eggs breaking. While the driver is in wooden shoes.
But, it is the tradition, or an old charter, or something. Someone will take an old bike and put a new bike engine in it. Same with an almostcycle. And where else to get a new flat twin than from BMW. Though with about twice as many camshafts and oil-cooling, obviously.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1E3uVNbAas[/media]
