Never saw this before ... Spark 1/43 scale Porsche 911 turbo and Porsche Bike combo. Limited to 1,000 made in 2015. Super cool!
Follow my continuing passion to explore new adventures on Porsche bicycles. I have conquered a Century ride with a Porsche mountain bike, the Death Ride on a Porsche touring bike, the 184.5-mile Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath in 2020, the 370-mile combined C&O/GAP trail in 2021 and the 237-mile Florida Coast to Coast ride in 2022. And just completed the Maryland and California Coast & Coast Porsche road bike adventure!
Thursday, December 30, 2021
Bike S illustration
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
$76,500 sim racing rig
I got to drive a $76,500 sim racing rig for a PCA video. Here's the end result.
Sunday, December 26, 2021
Top 2021 Fun Porsche Experiences
This time of year, I like to reminisce about the fun things I have accomplished throughout the year. Even with a global pandemic, I have much to be thankful for and had many amazing experiences in 2021. So, here are my top 13 fun Porsche experiences in 2021. Click on the links to read the posts.
13) 4-week Boxster strut replacement project
12) Porsche Sportscar Together Festival: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3
11) I got to drive a Porsche Taycan!
10) Porsche Parade French Lick, Indiana
9) Werks Reunion events in Amelia Island and Monterey
8) Porsche Bike shock rebuild party
7) I hosted a Porsche Cayenne & Macan offroad event
6) 76-mile BWI to Annapolis Porsche Bike ride
5) World's largest display of Porsche Bikes
4) Bike Spyder #37 arrives in the U.S.
3) Porsche Bike Century ride
2) 550 Spyder 17-mile drive
1) 360-mile C&O/GAP Porsche Bike ride: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, published story
Christmas decor ride
Saturday, December 25, 2021
Christmas ride
With temps into the mid-60s, I took the 2004 Porsche Bike X in Florida Coast to Coast configuration out for a Christmas Day 12-mile ride. It’s been awhile since I have been on any of my Porsche Bikes. Sure missed riding around. With weather like this, I’ll try to get out some more.
Friday, December 24, 2021
Christmas Eve: 919 at Daytona
Excited about the new Porsche LMDH prototype announcement and rumors circulating that the car may be at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona to turn some demonstration laps, I drove the Porsche 919 Hybrid around Daytona for a few laps this morning. Great way to spend Christmas Eve!
Thursday, December 23, 2021
Porsche Bike oddity: the Bikester mystery solved
Other bikes are much more rare. The Bike Spyder prototype is of course the rarest, but others like the Bike CS, Bike X, and Bike ST were not sold in the U.S. and only hundreds were produced of each. So these are considered rather rare among the entire line of limited Porsche produced bicycles.
It looks different and even has a model name distinct from the entire Porsche Bike line naming convention. The name Bikester is likely a combination of the Porsche "Bike" and "Speedster" names. This is dissimilar from all the other Porsche Bike names – that typically end with S, FS, ST, CS, X, R, RX, RS, etc.
So, where is this unique Porsche Bikester? What was the idea behind it? Was it ever sold in the U.S. or only in Europe?
Researching other leads about Porsche Bikes, I was fortunate to ask some of the guys responsible for the 1990s Porsche Bikes a few questions about the Bikester.
Jürgen Steiner and his brother-in-law, co-designers and co-owners of VOTEC bikes in Germany, created the bike design that would ultimately become the 1990s Porsche Bikes.
Briefly asking Steiner about the Bikester, he said, “It was never produced, it was a study and concept bike."
Steiner pointed out that the Bikester “wasn’t their idea.” He didn’t seem too disappointed it was not considered for production.
Steiner then connected me with Bernhard Kciuk, who was in charge of the technical development of the entire Porsche Bike line in the 1990s.
Bernhard added that the Bikester prototype was created by VOTEC and Porsche as a concept study to be presented at the EUROBIKE exhibition in 1997.
“The sales executive and the head of marketing at Porsche urgently wanted to show a bike at the EUROBIKE exhibition. They wanted to display what was possible from the technical side in terms of a future concept. This was the birth of the Porsche Bikester,” Kciuk emailed me. “It was a difficult effort to design and realize such an unbelievable project.”
Kciuk went on to explain that the VOTEC team worked days and nights before the EUROBIKE event to fulfill the requirements set forth by Porsche. The parts for the stem and seat post adjustment were extremely complicated, because the idea behind the bike was to build one bike with a range of rider height from 5’4” to 6’4” without changing the frame.
“I think it was a brilliant idea but it was really, really expensive to realize this bike for a comprehensible amount of money. Most of the parts of the Bikester concept study had been unique pieces handmade including the mudguards,” Kciuk added. “The presentation at the exhibition was very impressive and we got a lot of demands for this bike, but the relevant board members at Porsche could not make the decision to build this bike in a small range. So, the Bikester, unfortunately disappeared in an archive room and I don’t know if it is still exists.”
Asking Bernhard if anything from the Bikester concept prototype still exists, he responded, “One highlight would be the technical drawing of the Porsche Bikester concept bike and a copy of a design drawing. Unfortunately I don‘t know where this drawing disappeared too. Would be great to have it.”
Asking Bernhard if the Bikester ever went into production, he also confirmed, “the Bikester has never been produced or sold. It was only a concept study, unfortunately.”
The mystery of this Porsche Bike oddity was solved with personal information from both Steiner and Kciuk. But the Porsche Bikester prototype and any conceptual or technical drawings may still be out there. The search continues…
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
718 GT4 RS blueprint drawing
Sunday, December 19, 2021
Porsche prototype drive
Porsche LMDH prototype tease
Yesterday Porsche teased the new 2023 LMDH prototype. Porsche posted a news announcement that was followed by all the racing websites providing these images. There was also one website claiming that the Porsche dealerships were shown a few exclusive images. Above is a collection of all of those images. Some have said the new prototype looks like a cross between a Porsche 956 and a standard LMP2 prototype, with a hint of Taycan. There’s a rumor circulating that this Porsche LMDH prototype will be doing a few demonstration laps at next January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. I am really looking forward to the 2023 racing year with this new Porsche prototype!
Thursday, December 16, 2021
Sim Racing demo
I had an opportunity to try out two high-dollar sim racing rigs today as part of a video shoot. I got to drive many laps around Road America in a Porsche GT3 R. One rig was full-motion and challenging to drive. Tons of fun! Video will be ready by the end of the year.
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Bike Spyder #37 purchase documents arrive
Today the original 1993 Bike Spyder #37 purchase documents arrived. I scanned these original documents, signed by Dr. Ulrich Bez, who was the designer of the first Porsche Bike Spyder prototype. These documents will be displayed with the Bike Spyder #37 at the PCA National office in Columbia, Maryland.
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Multitasking
Watching the Formula One race while I pedal on my stationary bike. I’m also researching a possible 2022 Florida Coast to Coast 240-mile ride. Kind of a normal winter activity, this race/day dreaming.
Friday, December 10, 2021
GT3 R Road America practice
Porsche GT3 R practice at Road America tonight prepping for an unique opportunity next week...
Monday, December 6, 2021
Bike Spyder #37 display
The Weissach Bike Spyder #37 is now mounted and on display at the Porsche Club of America National office in Columbia, Maryland. Next up is including an information plaque and a framed May 1991 Christophorus magazine featuring the Porsche Bike Spyder prototype.
Sunday, December 5, 2021
Design future?
Porsche unveiled the Vision Gran Turismo (Vision GT) for the upcoming 2022 Gran Turismo 7 video game for Playstation today. This new Porsche is 100% digital and for the game only. It won't exist in reality, yet it is said to be the future of Porsche cars. I find it very similar to the all-electric Mission R prototype race car. Between these two design concepts, I think we are seeing the future of Porsche sports cars. I sure hope there are Hot Wheels versions of both these cars!
Saturday, December 4, 2021
Winter projects underway
Resumed my winter projects today installing new rear hatch struts on the 2006 Cayenne S and front splitters on the 2001 Boxster. The Boxster work took no time at all, but the Cayenne struts were hours of work. I had been putting this off because of the amount of interior panels that needed removing. But I got tired of the hatch falling closed. So today was the day to finally fix it. I do enjoy working on my cars!
Friday, December 3, 2021
Winter projects begin
As tradition dictates, each winter while I'm stuck inside, I line up projects on my Porsche cars and bikes. Today I switched over to the winter tires on the Cayenne S. This will be the last winter for these tires for sure. Also a box arrived from EBS Racing with my supplies for oil changes, rear hatch strut replacement on both the Boxster and Cayenne, and front splitter replacements on the Boxster. I already replaced the rear trunk struts on the Boxster today with the rest of the projects later this month.
Thursday, December 2, 2021
New 919 Laguna Seca PR
Tonight I set a new personal record at Laguna Seca in the Porsche 919 Hybrid.
Erie Canalway Trail completed
Another epic Porsche Bike ride is in the record books. This time the Porsche Bike team rode 390 miles from Buffalo to Albany in the state of...
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I took them apart, scraped out all the old gunk and rebuilt them with brand new elastomers. Took all last night and half of Saturday. Yes, ...
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Here's another blueprint-type drawing I just completed that might also make its way to a shirt design.
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I wanted to better document how to change the suspension fork elastomers on the Porsche Bike S. This blog has photos and information when I...
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This rough diagram shows the inner workings of the Votec GS97 bike forks used on the late 1990s Porsche Bike S and Bike FS. The elastomer po...
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During this week's concept announcement of the Mission E Cross Turismo, Porsche teased in both the new Mission E vehicle's news...
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The Porsche Bike ST is a rare Porsche bike among rare Porsche bicycles. The Bike ST is a "touring" version of the Bike S mountain ...
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I just ran across a disc brake conversion option on the Internet . Appears to be a viable option to provide better braking power to the Po...
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Good friend Dennis Yee emailed me some photos of his near perfect 1998 Porsche Bike FS. Dennis lives way over on the other side of the count...
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I ran across this picture of an all white Porsche Bike S on a German website. I believe all the Bike S models sold in the USA were painted G...