Most technologies exist to make your life easier, safer, smoother. This one, on the other hand, is designed purely to throw a spanner in your works. The Helyx Bike lets you steer with both the handlebars and your backside, making for a challenging (and very wacky-looking) ride.
Vaguely reminiscent of the equally bizarre Trocadero Fixie with its twisting frame, the Helyx operates on a simpler principle. The front end is more or less standard, but the rear end is on a twisting fork of its own, with the simple fixed-speed drive extending forward and the curved main frame designed to take the load of a rider up to 100 kg (220 lb) without triangular bracing.
The seat swivels, fixed to the rear wheel, so in essence, you grab it with your butt cheeks and steer the back end with your hips. The results let you ride the bike more or less normally if you like, or swing the back end out merrily to make onlookers think your bike is about to self-destruct. You can almost think of it as a unicycle with a totally free-swinging outrigger; there will be gawping wherever you ride it.
Its creator James Roberts says it's obviously not built to be fast or practical, but to be the kind of challenge you once experienced while you were first trying to ride a bike. I'm not sure many people would look back on those days as halcyon times they'd love to re-live, but the sheer weirdness of the Helyx Bike will surely be enough to sell out the initial run of 100 bikes, and they'll doubtless be popular with attention seekers, circus acts and street performers, as well as all your drunk friends.
If you actually need to get anywhere in a hurry, the rear wheel is easily lockable, transforming the Helyx into a more or less regular bike.
It's on sale now on Indiegogo for UK£275 (around US$350) plus delivery, which is 40 percent off the anticipated retail price of UK£395 (US$510). Deliveries are due to begin in April 2020 and the standard crowdfunding caution applies. Check out the Helyx Bike pitch video below.
Source: Helyx Bike Indiegogo
Surely the Aspiring unicyclist can just cut and shut some kids pair of bmx's...
Designs of independent front and rear steering bicycles have existed for "at least as long as the internet".
(NB. I hope theris a "turn/angle limit" built into the swivel head on the rear assembly, or it could get very interesting