4/29/2010

Its a thing! Bikes on smartcars

If you see three, its a thing.

1st sighting:
Driving north near Pojaque, I saw a smart car going the other direction with a Yakima hitch mount rack with a dual suspension MTB on the back. It was cattywumpus on the rack with the rear wheel above the roofline of the car.

2nd sighting:
not a week later

Framebuilder and tiny car aficionado Curtis Retrotech Giantman Inglis himself seems to have this set up, seen on his flickr stream click for source.

3rd sighting:
A day after number 2:
So cute
This guy in my neighborhood has a homemade rack added to the factory hitch on his Smartcar. Factory hitch! Who wouldathunkit. Note the sweet lustron home in the background.


It is now officially a thing. All the rage. I am going to get a smartcar and festoon it with biketites screwed directly into the plasticky smartcar body and mount as many bikes as I can simultaneously so I can join the fun.

Also, Smartcar v. Bakfiets

update! 4/30/10
From the comments, we received:
This excellent visualization of smartcar bike festoonage:
festooned
from reader JRA

And then this most excellent conceptually troubling folding bike on a smartcar:

Caught in california by andy R.

Thank you fellers! I knew it was a thing.

9 comments:

John Romeo Alpha said...

I assume when you are done with the biketites project, the result would look something like this:

http://tinyurl.com/minibikepile

Andy R said...

And here's a related highlight from our recent vacation:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87686664@N00/4564386187/

Tarik Saleh said...

JRA,
Almost exactly like that.

Andy R.
Excellent, it hurts my brain just a little.

Both of youse,
Can I include your excellent contributions in the post above?

John Romeo Alpha said...

Yes by all means include above.

Andy R said...

Of course, go right ahead.

Margo said...

Smart Cars look good and environmentally conscious... but seem pretty stupid to me. For a car THAT small and rather limited for all purposes recreational/practical, you should get 80-100mph, not the 40-45 ish mph (highway!) that tests/reviews indicate, given you and another body can barely get in the vehicle. Dumb Cars IMO.
Good to know you can sort of carry a bike on one, though :).

2whls3spds said...

Let me know whey you see a "Smart" car on a bike rack...or would that be a car rack?

Aaron

Tarik Saleh said...

Margo,

I think they make sense if you are single and live in a real city where parking is a much bigger deal. But I I agree that they should get better mileage for such a small car.

Aaron,
Keeping my eyes peeled! I will let you know.

cyclotourist said...

@Margo & @Tarik: Smarts are cool if you need to park them in tight spaces. That's their big #1 and IMHO only advantage. Maybe price, too. Otherwise get a Honda Fit or a Golf TDI!