The “Exercycle”: The Strangest Bouncing Bicycle Ever Built

In 1934, Chicago brothers Phillip and Prescott Huyssen invented something wild: a bicycle with no pedals, no chains, and no gears that ran entirely on human bouncing. The Ingo Bike (or "Exercycle") used an eccentric rear wheel that forced riders into a hypnotic rhythm: pull and squat on the downstroke, push and stand on the upstroke. Master the beat and you could hit 15 mph, but lose the rhythm and the bike loses momentum completely. Hollywood embraced the contraption with enthusiasm. Rita Hayworth rode one between film shoots, the Three Stooges featured it in a movie, and it even raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For three glorious years, this bizarre invention seemed destined to become the future of transportation. But then it all fell apart... literally. The constant bouncing caused the platform to crack under stress, especially where it met the rear wheel, and the expensive repairs required a skilled welder. Combined with fading novelty, the company couldn't sustain production, and by 1937 the Ingo Bike had vanished entirely. Today, one is in the collection at the Owls Head Transportation Museum, a testament to human ingenuity and a reminder that sometimes the most interesting failures teach us the most. 2026 | Owls Head Transportation Museum http://www.owlshead.org   / owlsheadtransportationmuseum   Photo of two women on ingo-bikes on Miami Beach 1934- Miami Springs Historical Society and Museum