{{Short description|Type of bicycle}} {{Use mdy dates|date = February 2025}} {{More citations needed|date=February 2025}}

[[File:clown bike (4728821963).jpg|thumb|A clown on a tall trike, similar to a [[tall bike]].]]

A '''clown bicycle''', '''freak bike''', or '''circus bike''' is a [[bicycle]] designed for comedic visual effect or stunt riding, often by [[circus clown]]s.

== Types of clown bicycles == *[[BMX bicycle]] *Bucking bike – With one or more [[Eccentric (mechanism)|eccentric]] wheels, that is with significant [[run-out]] *Come-apart bike, or Breakaway bike – Essentially a [[unicycle]], plus a set of handlebars attached to [[Bicycle fork|forks]] and a wheel<ref name=sqrmagazine2017-cycles>{{Cite web|url=https://www.srqmagazine.com/articles/710/Wheels-of-History|title=Wheels of History|last=Lederer|first=Phil|website=SQR Magazine|language=en|access-date=6 February 2026|url-status=live}}</ref>

*High wire cycle – A bicycle pedaled along a thin wire<ref>{{Cite news |last=Peretsman |first=Natalie |date=November���December 2008 |title=Science under the big top: find out what's behind all those jaw-dropping circus stunts |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A187907655/ITOF?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4368cd39 |access-date=2025-02-16 |work=SuperScience |via=[[Gale General OneFile]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=High Wire Cycle |url=https://www.imaginationstationtoledo.org/visit/exhibits/high-wire-cycle |access-date=2025-02-16 |website=Imagination Station |publication-place=Toledo, Ohio}}</ref> *[[Small wheel bicycle]] *[[Tall bike]] –&nbsp;Often called an upside down bike or giraffe bike, constructed so that the pedals, seat and handlebars are all higher than normal *Tiny bicycle, or miniature bike *[[Swing Bike|Swing bike]] *[[Sideways bike]] *

Some clown bikes are also [[fixed gear]], with no [[freewheeling]], so that they may be pedaled either forward or backwards. Some are built very small but are otherwise relatively normal. Pedaling an extremely small bicycle is very difficult and usually much slower than walking, so there is little practical advantage to having a bicycle that will fit in one's purse or pocket.{{Cn|date=January 2025}}

== History == Soon after their invention in the 19th century, the [[bicycle]] was adopted into the circus repertoire.<ref name=Cirquecnac-cycles>{{Cite web|url=https://cirque-cnac.bnf.fr/en/acrobatics/mobile-apparatus/cycles|title=Cycles|last=Jacob|first=Pascal|website=Cirque CNAC|language=en|access-date=6 February 2026|url-status=live}}</ref> Initially prevalent as group acts, early performers drew inspiration from equestrian circus, or [[hippodrama]], and the art form gradually became a more individual act.<ref name="Cirquecnac-cycles"></ref>

=== Notable early performers === Notable early performers include: *Harry French<ref name="Cirquecnac-cycles"></ref> *{{ill|Nick Kaufmann|de}}<ref name="Cirquecnac-cycles"></ref> *Dan Canary<ref name="Cirquecnac-cycles"></ref> *[[Lilly Yokoi]], bicycle acrobat who performed on a gold-plated bicycle<ref name="Cirquecnac-cycles"></ref> *[[Joe Jackson Sr.]] <ref name="Slide2012">{{cite book |last=Slide|first=Anthony|date=2012|title=The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|page=284 |isbn=978-1617032509}}</ref> *Jack Natirboff, “The Bicycle Clown”<ref name"Nytimes-archive1975">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/05/25/archives/cycle-marathon-goes-on-in-park-2000-at-the-starting-line-for-fourth.html|title=CYCLE MARATHON GOES ON IN PARK|website=New York Times Archive|language=en|access-date=6 February 2026|url-status=live}}</ref> *Baraka Jima Fermouz, Tanzanian clown bicycle performer whose act included tall bikes or "giraffes", as well as miniature bikes.<ref name="Cirquecnac-cycles"></ref> *Serge Huercio, BMX performer who trained at the Centre National des Arts du Cirque in Châlons-en-Champagne<ref name="Cirquecnac-cycles"></ref>

== See also == * [[List of bicycle types]] * [[Art bike]] * [[Clown car]]

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == *[https://web.archive.org/web/20061208222419/http://www.clownhouse.org/ The Clown House], a house in northeast Portland, Oregon, that is home to many clown bikes.

{{Human-powered vehicles}} {{Clowns}}

[[Category:Circus equipment]] [[Category:Clowning]] [[Category:Cycle types]] [[Category:Art vehicles]] [[Category:Modified vehicles]]