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Artist Jimmy Kuehnle (front bike) rides the swing bike he built to hold coolers of beer, a grill, and
Artist Jimmy Kuehnle (front bike) rides the swing bike he built to hold coolers of beer, a grill, and "lots of steaks." (Photo: Courtesy of New Belgium)

The Bike That Beer Built

New Belgium鈥檚 new five-seater swing bicycle is the ultimate cruising and drinking machine

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(Photo: Courtesy of New Belgium)

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Tandem bikes鈥攁.k.a. divorce mobiles鈥攕uffer from a crucial design flaw: a lack of cup holders designed for beer bottles.

Luckily New Belgium Brewing is on it. For the Fort Collins company鈥檚 summer 鈥溾 promotion, New Belgium has commissioned a multi-person swing bike complete with grills, space for coolers of beer and even an umbrella and a few folding chairs for those who would rather chill than pedal.聽

鈥淣ew Belgium has always kind of zagged,鈥 says Melyssa Mead, the brand鈥檚 creative director. 鈥淔or this promotion we were looking for people who were actively doing that in the real world. When we found Jimmy [Kuehnle, the sculpture artist building the bike], we were like, this is perfect!鈥澛

Kuehnle is a whose work spans from custom inflatable suits to concept bicycles to performance art projects. His most popular piece of work (as judged in the digital age by the number of times the photo has been reposted on websites without his permission, naturally) is a bike he built from bulletproof glass, called 鈥.鈥

鈥淚鈥檝e always loved bikes,鈥 Kuehnle says. 鈥淚n college my buddy and I each found old bikes and we had a bet who could keep them running longer without spending any money.鈥 He happened to be taking a college welding course at the time, and soon basic bike maintenance turned into full-fledged design work. Over the years he鈥檚 made all kinds of unique bike-mobiles including one that draws as you ride and one (called 鈥淒anger Bike鈥), which has no seat and is covered in spikes. 鈥淵ou really have to commit when you ride that one,鈥 he says.

Originally New Belgium commissioned a bicycle built for ten, but Kuehnle is going to start with building it for five and then add on to it from there. And it鈥檚 a swing bike, which means that it has 鈥渆xtra鈥 joints. Essentially the front of the bike pivots independently of the rear. You could ride it down a line of cones with your front wheel on one side of the cones and your back wheel on the other.

(Courtesy of New Belgium)

The swing bike will ultimately serve as a hub onto which other bike elements can be added. For example, Kuehnle already has in mind to weld onto it a couple of tall bikes, which would boost the carrying capacity of the bike beast to at least seven. When complete, the brewery will have a hodgepodge of old bicycles welded together with some heavy-duty car parts. Kuehnle鈥檚 estimate of the weight of the finished swing bike: 鈥渁 lot.鈥

If you鈥檙e having trouble imagining what this is going to look like, Kuehnle describes it like this: 鈥淎 bike centipede.鈥 The whole thing was聽unveiled June 20 at a Cleveland music festival called . Kuehnle hopes to ride the bike from his studio to the festival. 鈥淭he dream is for it to be ride-able by one person,鈥 he says, adding, 鈥渂ut if it鈥檚 not, some of the New Belgium guys will be there and I think they鈥檒l be willing to help me.鈥

With coolers of beer, a grill and 鈥榣ots of steaks鈥 on board, there will likely be no shortage of people willing to take a turn on the pedals鈥攁nd not a single utterance of 鈥淕od you always do that,鈥 unless, of course, it鈥檚 in regards to yet another perfectly grilled steak.聽

Lead Photo: Courtesy of New Belgium

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