The Infinity Cycle is a Mind-Blowing Touring Bike Built for Two (and Soon Four)

As pictured on the cover of Be a Fool, the retrospective book brother’s Benny and Willy Zenga are currently trying to fund via a Kickstarter campaign that’s 50% funded and ends next month, the Infinity Cycle is a truly one-of-a-kind bike built for two that allows a pair of riders to switch places and ride forever—the dream of anyone who’s ever ridden a bicycle.

Beginning this weekend, Benny, his wife Emily, and their sons Oly and Ike will all hop on the Infinity Cycle for the first time for an open-ended tour around their home in Vancouver, British Columbia, revealing the latest version of the bike to the world and helping raise awareness of the Be a Fool book project. Exactly how four riders can mount the Infinity Cycle at once has yet to be seen—including by Benny himself—but if anyone can turn this far-fetched idea into a reality on just a few days’ notice, it’s a Zenga brother.

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Ahead of the ride this weekend, Benny shared some words introducing himself and some of the many fascinating projects he’s dreamed up with his brothers. Read more from Benny below, paired with a smattering of photos of the Infinity Cycle in various forms from its inception to today.

Notes On Being a Fool

By Benny Zenga

I’m Benny Zenga, a cinemacyclist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. I’ve worked with many of the biggest brands in the action sports world as a filmmaker, camera operator, director, and editor, but I still define myself as a cinemacyclist. I do this because these two tools—the camera and the bicycle—resonate deeply with me. I grew up in a family of skateboarders and trick bikers and was the only kid in my neighbourhood hauling around a video camera at a young age. I discovered early on that a camera isn’t just a way to document things; it’s a way to instigate them. The bicycle played a similar role, acting as the catalyst for many of my earliest adventures alongside my seven brothers and one sister.

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As a cinemacyclist, I’m committed to traveling by bicycle while carrying as much of my camera and camping gear as possible. For many of these adventures, I’ve ridden custom-built touring tall bikes which we designed and built ourselves. Although traveling by tall bike adds additional challenges, I have found that the positives far outweigh the negatives. They offer a large undercarriage for gear, better visibility on the road (for you and everyone else), and a higher vantage point for seeing what’s ahead. But the best part, by far, is the joyful connections you make with people along the way.

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On various tall bikes, I’ve explored Canada and the U.S. and completed a 12,000-kilometer journey from Cairo to Cape Town. Over 25 years of these adventures, I’ve been refining tall bike design, ultimately leading to what I consider the ultimate touring machine. The only real problem with bicycle travel—tall or otherwise—is that it’s human-powered… and humans get tired. And since e-bikes don’t exist in our world, we had to get creative. So, together with some of my brothers, I helped design and build the world’s first double-decker, vertical tandem touring tall bike, the Infinity Cycle. This groundbreaking joy machine lets two riders switch places without stopping, so they can ride forever.

Since that time, my brother Willy and I have been busy writing a book called Be A Fool, The Way of Infinite Creativity. It’s packed with 25 years of epic adventures, misguided experiments, full-colour photographs, eccentric illustrations, mystical philosophy, and bold challenges. We wrote this book for artists who need a playful jolt of inspiration and for those who want to reconnect with their childlike wonder and joy. Our hope is that this book will be an essential guide for anyone committed to living a more creative, unconventional, and adventurous life. We are partnering with Nine Ten Publications and are currently running a Kickstarter campaign to get our first print run out to the world.

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Now, in promotion of this campaign, the next phase of the Infinity Cycle story will be revealed to the world. Since building the original Infinity Cycle, I’ve gotten married and become a father to five-year-old twin boys. So, naturally, it’s time to upgrade the bike. I’m modifying the Infinity Cycle, so my whole family can ride it together—doubling its capacity from two riders to four. Where two riders could once ride Infinity Cycle forever, now we will be able to ride it twice as long.

Further Reading

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