TIL: Robin Williams had a huge bike collection.
I just came about this article talking about the auction of Robin's bikes and I thought I had misread. What?!
But it is true and well documented. If you want to know more, watch this small video clip here:
As it happens, if you love biking and have money, you might as well be a collector. I know how this happens because I do have a bit of perfume obsession. You want one then another then ONE LAST bottle and before you know it you have 100 bottles that you never use but LOVE to look at.
I imagine that's how Robin's collection grew. Many of us wouldn't have known about this - for example, almost everyone knows that Jay Leno has a huge car collection - if it weren't for a very generous, I think, donation form his children. They decided to auction for charity 83 of his bikes.
The money raised were to be donate to two of Robin's favorite charities; While the collection was estimated at about 300.000$ but it sold for more than 600.000$. One bike even hit 40.000$!
It's a testament to how loved Robin was and also that even after his death, he still inspires people to be better, maybe.
I do not know much about bikes, but I did enjoy looking and reading about the auctioned collection. You can see it for yourself here and I'm including a few that I found most interesting in how they look and the history behind the bikes!
ZIPP ( I feel it needs an exclamation point)
What a weird and funny bike. The color, the form, the name, everything is just right. Also, this is not just an experiment. From the auction site:
"Founded by motorsports engineer Leigh Sargent in Speedway, Indiana, in 1988, Zipp is a cycling component manufacturer that places aerodynamics at the forefront of its research and expertise.Zipp’s “2001” is a competitive time trial road bike. This is one of the fastest time trial bikes ever manufactured, making it a piece of road biking history. "
Guv'nor
What a very british name and no wonder. This one is made by Pashely which was " founded in Birmingham, UK, by William “Rath” Pashley in 1926, Pashley manufactures traditionally styled hand-built bicycles".
Any hipster or vintage-lookig bike lover will feel great riding this bike to work.
PICyle
An electric bike with a very futurist design. Any collection must include a few electric bikes and if you get one...why not get one that looks electric too? Sure to get some looks when ridden.
Unicycle
I love that this is a bike but also that Robin had one. I can almost imagine him trying it out.
I read an interview in which he talks about this love for biking and what he does. I'll end this with his quote:
"I'm lucky to have bikes in my Life"
I hope you learned something and found this article interesting. do you bike? what's your dream bike?
leave a comment below!