Has Anybody Heard of a Yankee Bicycle? There's One on Craigslist

[WillWork4Parts]

Interesting gear system! If I run across one of these, I may have to buy it just to try it out.

This one appears to have the crank arm produced with a Cambrio Gear set up. I know I'm screwing up the spelling, it's been posted on here before, though I can't find it...at least the one I had would fit a regular one piece crank.
They are composite, and the actuator kind of sucks. Ingenious, but kind of more delicate than I care to deal with.

 

[Oilit]

This one appears to have the crank arm produced with a Cambrio Gear set up. I know I'm screwing up the spelling, it's been posted on here before, though I can't find it...at least the one I had would fit a regular one piece crank.
They are composite, and the actuator kind of sucks. Ingenious, but kind of more delicate than I care to deal with.

I followed the video link in the ad, it looks simple but that's not the same as first hand experience. Thanks for your insight!

 

[DaGasMan]

Again, marketing. The Fitness Bike? It's frisky and fun? Damn. Although I kinda miss
those big 80's and early 90's commercials. There's a lot of out of work saxophone
players out there today. Nothing for nothing but I think I married that red haired
girl that couldn't make it up the hill or stop on the downhill! lol This was fun. Thanks.

 

[WillWork4Parts]

I followed the video link in the ad, it looks simple but that's not the same as first hand experience. Thanks for your insight!

That's definitely one heck of a Marketing Video!
Notice the manufacturing quality of the sprocket shown by just how round it spins...... I think it shows 2 different versions of actuators too. One is clamp on, like a standard front derailleur. They were composite too and prone to slipping around the seat tube when your chain bound in shifting(often). If I saw the second one right, it had a brazed on lug at the downtube for the actuator. Huge step in the right direction! The next issue it had was the spiral inner disc that handles all of the shifting would wear a little, have so many related issues from the actuator twisting and jamming into it, that it became loose and flimsy and eventually let the sliding gear segments pop off track and shear.
Would be cool to see this one revisited with modern technology and improvements, maybe some 3d printing!

I like the brake with all of that surface area, but it seems like it would create a lot of drag when not in use.

 

[Gordon]

I didn't get the bike out yet for photos, but I will eventually. It was my understanding that the guy who came up with this bike spent a considerable amount of time having friends and relatives ride his prototypes until he finally refined the bike and put it into production.

 

[Gordon]

I finally found time to get the Yankee out of storage. I thought it was a 7 speed, but low and behold it is a 9 speed. The rear is a single speed freewheel with a derailleur.

 

[WillWork4Parts]

From those photos I found more about this "Radial Gear" sprocket...that looks like it was a composite casing around maybe a 2.5pc crank setup?? And some more sections of Anybody Bike ads...

 

[scott1race]

I know I'm most interested in how this bicycle operates. Also wondering why such innovation was never adopted, outside of the usual
Corporate needing to make a huge fortune on someone else's patented thoughts and ideas. Unless there were major faults with the
system that prevailed in the less than two years they tried to make these. Personally I think it's the marketing scheme and the name of
the ride. Who wants to ride the Anybody Bike? Most kids want to ride something cool. Picture a real person walking into a bike store,
"Hi, I'd like to buy a bicycle that's totally different and innovative." Well, we have this brand new Anybody Bike. "Wait, what's it called?
The Anybody? Um, yeah, no thanks. I mean, it's neat looking and all, but no." Oh, but it's got... "Cool. No." And corporate America watched
carefully and said, "Phew! See Bob? I told you to wait with that $1M check for those Anybody people."

I have great respect for the original designer, who really wanted to build a bike with as few parts as possible. He felt that bikes with derailleurs and gears were just too complex, and that his ideas solved those problems. I have two of these bikes, and they are very well built with good quality frames and parts. The narrow 24” wheels roll fast and make pedaling easy. The wheels are alloy, the frames are lugged, and the rear only brake is powerful.
These bikes were intended for Florida retirees who just wanted to get out for an occasional ride. The gearing range is not wide enough - not low enough for big hills, not high enough for real speed. The gear changing operation makes sense, if you have not ridden a conventional bike in 20 years. The shifting action works well enough, but it’s not like any other bicycle. The rear brake is too strong and can be grabby compared to a normal canti brake.
I have one of the original Yankee bikes, and one of the later Nordic Track models after they bought Yankee out. This is a bike that can easily be sold on television, just like those AutoShift bikes and the ShaftDrive bikes. In practice, bicycle dealers didn’t want to sell them and they have a bunch of proprietary parts that bike shops did not carry.
If you’re a collector and find a nice one, buy it. It has a ton of good and different ideas , but it could not beat conventional bikes and was not capable enough for dedicated riders.

 

[DaGasMan]

I have great respect for the original designer, who really wanted to build a bike with as few parts as possible. He felt that bikes with derailleurs and gears were just too complex, and that his ideas solved those problems. I have two of these bikes, and they are very well built with good quality frames and parts. The narrow 24” wheels roll fast and make pedaling easy. The wheels are alloy, the frames are lugged, and the rear only brake is powerful.
These bikes were intended for Florida retirees who just wanted to get out for an occasional ride. The gearing range is not wide enough - not low enough for big hills, not high enough for real speed. The gear changing operation makes sense, if you have not ridden a conventional bike in 20 years. The shifting action works well enough, but it’s not like any other bicycle. The rear brake is too strong and can be grabby compared to a normal canti brake.
I have one of the original Yankee bikes, and one of the later Nordic Track models after they bought Yankee out. This is a bike that can easily be sold on television, just like those AutoShift bikes and the ShaftDrive bikes. In practice, bicycle dealers didn’t want to sell them and they have a bunch of proprietary parts that bike shops did not carry.
If you’re a collector and find a nice one, buy it. It has a ton of good and different ideas , but it could not beat conventional bikes and was not capable enough for dedicated riders.

I have often been accused of mocking what I do not understand. Clearly this is an accomplished engineer and a notable bicycle in the history
of successful bicycle design and production. To All; Forgive my apparent and offensive ridicule of the marketing. I did not consider the regional
or demographic target market. And again, I was wrong in that corporate America (Nordic Track) was watching and did pay handsomely for the
rights and design. I have been schooled and I appreciate that. It really is a most interesting study in bicycle design and function.

 

[AndyA]

Man, I am once again in awe of caber expertise. I started this thread after seeing the bike on Craigslist and folks responded with a pile of good info. Cabers rock!