The Story

I love bicycles and I've ridden and raced all kinds of stuff for thirty years. I remember jumping three garbage cans on my BMX bike as a kid... no big deal these days, but to twelve year olds in 1980, Helena, Montana, we thought we were SO cool. Ultimately that led to road, mountain, and cyclocross racing which I still do, though less and less as the necessary balance in life dictates.

I also LOVE motorcycles and when I was younger I'd read motorcycle magazines cover to cover the day they arrived in the mail. I'd imagine what my perfect motorcycle would be and I always thought it would have a big-inch ninety-degree V-twin with pushrods for the whine-free, hot rod, Ducati sound. Let me know if you can get your hands on something like that!

I spent months drawing PedalHawg. I wanted to marry the look of the coolest custom motorcycles with a fun, rideable bike that you could even commute on. I spent a lot of time working on frame designs with traditional tubing diameters, but finally started messing around with large diameter tubing. The "backbone" tube of PedalHawg is three inches OD (outside diameter). And I discovered streamline tubing which seemed the perfect solution for the downtube.

A recumbent riding position was the only way to mimic the cool custom motorcycle riding positions. Forward controls, man! I came up with a position that wasn't too extreme and then it was a matter of figuring out how to get the curves and angles right to keep the rider and the bike looking good together.

It takes a lot of time to run errands on this bike! And it's NOT because the bike is slow! The bike moves right along, but I often have to stop and gladly answer questions from all kinds of people: little kids, retirees, parents, teenagers, etc. "Did you make it?" "Where can I get one?" I remember riding past the local oil change place on a slow Sunday afternoon and all of the employees came running out the door to see the bike and ask questions. Of course, I let all of them take it for a spin. Then there was the time I got chased down by a guy in a white Mustang. He had to know where I got it. And that's the power of this bike. The photos of it look great but seeing the bike in person has a big effect on people. They want one!

Well, I hope you like it and I hope we at PedalHawg Bicycles can interest you in one.

Thanks,
Brink Kuchenbrod
owner/designer