Written By: Ben Cosgrove
Every year, more and more people in the United States are clambering aboard their beloved bicycles and blithely pedaling into a brighter, cleaner, healthier tomorrow. Or losing their balance, wiping out and maiming themselves. Either way, they’re getting exercise.
But back in 1948, a number of inspired amateur craftsmen not content with riding mundane, conventional bicycles took their enthusiasm to another, unlikely level and . . . well, let’s let LIFE tell it, in the words the magazine used in its December 27, 1948, issue:
To Webster a bicycle is “a light vehicle having two wheels, one behind the other.” Such a definition theoretically describes the contraptions [seen in the article], but fails to do justice to the imagination of the Chicago chapter of the National Bicycle Dealers’ Association.
By artfully applying welders’ torches to metal tubing, the chapter’s members transform ordinary, utilitarian bicycles into traveling monstrosities. By far the most outlandish ideas have come from the Steinlauf family, who produced from their bicycle repair shop most of the oddities [shown in the article]. They are hazardous; generally at least one member of the clan is to be found in the hospital.
Here, LIFE.com offers a selection of photos of these preposterous creations from six long decades ago mechanistic marvels that belie the famous old saying (which we just made up) that there’s no such thing as a useless bicycle.
Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizabethRonk.
Bicycle, Chicago, 1948
Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Bicycle, Chicago, 1948
Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Crazy bike, Chicago, 1948
Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Square-wheeled bike, 1948
Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Gangbusters Bike, Chicago, 1948
Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948
Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948
Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948
Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948
Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948
Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Bicycle, Chicago 1948
Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948
Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948
Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948
George Skadding The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Ice bike ridden by its inventor, Joe Steinlauf, Chicago.
Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
