Ivan Herman, the bike designer, works at Rimac Automobili.
The idea has come to him all of a sudden, as he was not trying to invent or create something different. He then started drawing the concept on the paper and decided to start making bicycles. This is how Ivan Herman from Zagreb’s Jarun neighbourhood explained how he came up with the project involving his very unusual bikes, reports 24sata.hr on June 10, 2016.
Ivan, 28, made his first bike about ten years ago. According to him, about one to two weeks is enough to build such a bicycle. “I make sure not to spend a lot of money when making them. I buy parts for bikes in shops, the frame and bicycle fork I make myself, and some parts I find at Rimac Automobili in Sveta Nedelja, where I work as a chassis welder”, said Ivan. He added that he was riding one of his bikes 90 kilometres per hour on Zagreb’s Sljeme mountain. He is now working on two bicycles, one of which is electric.
“People want to buy these bikes when they see them, but I do not think I want to sell them. I can make replicas, but potential buyers are deterred by the price”, he explained. Ivan is meanwhile mulling over whether to rent them in Zagreb or at the Croatian coast.
He was recently participating in the annual Bundek Park Bike Tour and his inventions attracted great attention from the participants and passersby. The media reported about the handmade bicycles that are simply Ivan’s hobby and not a lucrative business. He brought four of his two-wheel creations to Bundek. One was “upgraded” with a high handlebar, while another one was very low and the person using it had to sit very close to the ground.
Ivan told the media that he makes them mostly for his friends. “We have been riding them the entire tour and this was not the first time. I have put together the parts from different bicycles to make these. For one of them I even used the ‘chopper’ tires”, said Ivan.
