The AK-47, that fearsome weapon of mass destruction lugged by everyone from the Taliban and the Vietcong to Sylvester Stallone and Dianne Feinstein, is being put to use in an entirely new racket: bike design.
Yes, one plucky designer fresh from Savannah College of Art and Design, Bryan Walsh, has fired off a bike concept modeled after the ultra-durable construction and rugged looks of the 1947 Avtomat Kalashnikova, the world’s most popular -- and effective -- assault rifle. (It’s estimated to pulp a quarter of a million people a year.)
Walsh’s design won’t let you empty a few magazines on the RAV-4 crowding you in the bike lane. But it will last a long time. It’s powered by a hydrostatic drive (as opposed to a standard chain). And with its massive wood frame, we reckon you could still use it as a weapon. If you were so inclined.
Now, before you go and ring the design police (who most certainly do not carry AK-47s), consider this: There’s a reason the AK-47 would ignite the imagination of a young, self-described “Small Arms and Accessory Designer” from Beaufort, South Carolina. For all its grisly baggage, the AK-47 is actually a remarkable feat of weapons engineering. It was the brainchild of Mikhail Kalashnikov, a poet and a Soviet Army vet who, wounded at the bloody Battle of Bryansk in 1941, turned his hand to small arms design, vowing never again to let the Russian military suffer defeat. The result of his endeavors was a compact, relatively lightweight selective-fire rifle that could survive mud, sand, or snow and also happened to be obscenely easy to mass produce -- a sort of Model T for the munitions industry. Now more than 50 years old, it’s still widely manufactured alongside a pageant of AK descendants. Apparently, it can be bought in many countries for the cost of a chicken.
If you leave aside the ethics of engineering one of the world’s deadliest weapons -- even Kalashnikov has gone on record saying he wishes he had produced something less destructive, like a lawnmower -- there is little question that the rifle is a marvel of design, a perfect object for an imperfect world, as the blogger Dave Gray of XPLANE suggests.
The real AK-47 assault rifle. I still don't see the resemblance to the Avtomat Hydro-Static Bicycle
That brings us back to Walsh and his Avtomat Hydro-Static Bicycle. The bicycle is powered by a Hydro-Static drive medium. It is designed to be sealed and reliable up to 20,000 hours. The frame of the bicycle is designed to out-last the rider and contains the fluid accumulator and cooling tank. The handle bars and pedals are designed to fold up since these two components take up the most room when storing in a dwelling. The bicycle has the capabilities of energy recovery in the form of braking and full front and rear suspension. This energy is stored in the high pressure tank and released when the rider goes from a static to a fluid motion.
We get why he drew inspiration from the AK-47. We don’t get why he drew inspiration for the AK-47 to design a bike -- and even on its own terms, the bike doesn't exactly scream "AK-47." The AK-47 is a symbol of rugged simplicity, but the actual principles of its design don't add any sort of value -- beyond sheer provocation -- to the bike. (On the Ed Ruscha continuum, this falls under the “Wow! Huh?” category.) Cement mixers are tough, but you wouldn’t design a bike after them. Then again, maybe Walsh has a bright future ahead of him in advertising and marketing? He certainly has a knack for flashy hooks.
COMMENTARY: I like the cool design of the Automat Hydro-Static Bicycle, but am left wondering where the shifters, brake grips, brake calipers, front and rear chain rings are. The handle bars are more designed like those for a mountain bike. I assume that the bike has fluid suspension, but how can this be adjusted for different terrain. The bike was obviously signed for its resemblance to the AK-47 and aesthetic looks, not practicality. Since the bike frame contains the "fluid accumulator and cooling tank, that would make the bike awfully heavy. Just the same, it would be cool to ride it just to attract the attention, and see who tries to steel it.
Courtesy of an article dated August 27, 2010 appearing in Fast Company Design
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