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.

Eccentric four-man bicycle built by Art Rothchild (top position).

Bicycle, Chicago, 1948

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Inventor Maurice Steinlauf riding eccentric bike with roving front wheel.

Bicycle, Chicago, 1948

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Uno-wheel bicycle, if braked suddenly, can send its rider round and round inside the big main wheel, designed by member of the Nat'l Bicycle Dealers' Assoc.

Crazy bike, Chicago, 1948

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Square-wheeled bike, 1948

Square-wheeled bike, 1948

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Gangbusters Bike, Chicago, 1948

Gangbusters Bike, Chicago, 1948

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Riding a preposterous bicycle, Chicago, 1948.

Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Men on bike, Chicago, 1948.

Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948

Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Unicycle, Chicago, 1948.

Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948

Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Chicago bicycle dealer Andy Koslow rides a tiny bike built by a former vaudevillian. "This helps limber up his left leg," LIFE wrote, "which, as a former motorcycle racer, he broke seven times."

Bicycle, Chicago 1948

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Rough ride, Chicago, 1948.

Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Bicycle, Chicago, 1948.

Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948

Bicycle inventions in Chicago 1948

George Skadding The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Ice bike ridden by its inventor, Joe Steinlauf, Chicago.

Ice bike ridden by its inventor, Joe Steinlauf, Chicago.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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