Crudely Beautiful: Homemade Cuban Motorbike
At first glance, this modified Cuban bike is just a regular pushbike with an engine bolted on. Look closer, though, and all sorts of neat details appear. From the beefed-up front forks, through the front chainwheel with the pedals removed – and now driven by a belt from the engine (an ingenious way to get the power to the back wheel by using the existing drive mechanism), to the motorbike-style suspension on the seat (itself a bunjeed-on cushion).
The whole thing is so gloriously crude, yet shows the elegant simplicity born of need. Form is certainly following function here, and it' wonderful. Walter Gropius would be proud.
