Core77
Similar in minimalist philosophy (if not in form) to JRuiter + Studio's city bike is this Gravity Bike by Jeff Tiedeken, a.k.a. Monkey Likes Shiny.
As you can see there's no drivetrain and the crank has been locked, with the pedals replaced with mere foot peg holders. In testing, Tiedeken has reportedly done 60 m.p.h. plus on this thing. Someone get this man a GoPro camera. There's a Flickr page full of shots of the finished product here, and MLS has a blog entry from last year featuring the prototype shots.
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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Jeff Tiedeken's Gravity Bike Gets Up to 60MPH
The world records are more than twice that speed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_records#History_of_downhill_records
The flip side is that your Schwinn never went that fast. People always over-estimate their speed on a bicycle without a speedometer.
Wheelbase seems short, and I question the flip-flop disc brake mounts, but it sure looks fun.
Drive up mtn pass fly down :)