You’ve gotta be “nuts”

Treehugger.com recently posted and article about a collaboration between various fashion designers and Peugeot for a charity / fundraiser event.  This event gave 12 designers a Peugeot frame to customize, which would eventually be auctioned off.

Twelve Peugeot fixed-gear bikes and 12 top fashion designers recently came together for one goal: Raise funds for Act-Responsible, a non profit organization that promotes responsible communication on sustainability, equitable development and social responsibility.

I was browsing through the photos of the completed creations.  Most were what one might expect for art bikes – interesting and even beautiful designs, but often at the expense of ridability or practicality.  But then I stumbled across this gem created by “Husband and wife François and Marithé Girbaud” [treehugger.com]:

Treehugger.com describe this bike by saying “Their bike has a custom frame with irregular geometric figures to die for.”  I suspect that may have been an error though, and what they perhaps meant to say was “irregular geometric figures that will make you wish for death should you try to ride it.”

Don’t get me wrong – I’ve got absolutely nothing against art bikes.   However, art bikes are like haiku – there is a specific framework for the form to follow.  It is the expression of creativity within that framework that truly allows the genius of the artist to shine through.

Maybe in the future an additional requirement for these contests would be to require the designer to actually sit on and pedal their creation when they are done.  That might help illustrate pesky details that slipped through the cracks, like not being able to reach the pedals, or the handlebars for that matter.