At this weekend’s VolkswagenSea Otter Classic – the bicycle festival, Grand Fondo, Expo and races – a few new surprises were shown. These included new 29ers – mountain bikes with 29 inch wheels – but Ibis skipped introducing, one and instead rolled out a 59er, aptly named Maximus.
The bike weighed in at about 1000 pounds, and used 59 inch diameter tractor wheels. The bike is of course too big for anyone – at least shy of Paul Bunyan – to actually ride. The Maximus is actually the brainchild in creation of Fort Bragg Calif. sculptor Nick Taylor, and is made from 4 inch diameter steel, and features custom made works, bars and stem.
In a way, we see this as a statement of the merits of the 26-inch versus 26 inch-inch versus 650b real sizes, and were sure no one will try to outdo the 59er!