Whimsical Whymcyles and their eccentric creator to appear at Explorit

By Derek A. Woller
Special to the Enterprise

Whymcycle (pronounced whimsical). The very name evokes an array of fanciful images, but what does it mean exactly? According to Peter Wagner, one of Davis’ best-known inventors and creator of that very word, a Whymcycle is now almost a generic term for any creation containing wheels (or a single wheel) that is operated via human power.

Explorit visitors can meet Wagner and test-ride a few of his unique and fascinating Whymcyles from 1-4 p.m. Saturday at Explorit’s Mace Park Branch, 3141 Fifth St. in Davis. The event is free with paid admission to Explorit’s main site, 2801 Second St.; just stop there and get a hand stamp before coming to the Fifth Street site to ride Whymcycles in this Family Exploration program.

To truly understand what a Whymcycle is (or was), one must journey back to its humble origins in 1987. In that year, Wagner traveled to the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Mich., “and saw this strange scooter among the displays of all kinds of bikes.” After taking a photograph of the circa-1930s scooter, Wagner decided he wanted to re-create the strange machine, called an Ingo-bike and made by the Ingersoll-Rand Corp. It superficially resembled a kick scooter, and two things made it odd: Its rear wheel was larger than its front, and to propel it forward, the rider had to bounce up and down on the main platform.

Wagner set about making his own version of the scooter once he returned home. Not long after, he happened upon a meeting of the Sacramento Historical Society featuring antique cycles, some of which were Ingo-bikes. Wagner added his reverse-engineered creation to the collection, and it proved to be immensely popular because he allowed society members to ride it, unlike the antique models. Wagner was encouraged by the society to build more of his Ingo-bikes and to give them an updated name.

So, given that Wagner’s middle name is William but has always been abbreviated as Wm. in his signature, he “thought up the word Whymcycle.” As he explains, “in the dictionary, the conventional spelling for whimsical comes from the word ‘whimsy,’ which is just imaginative or funny.” An alternate definition lists “eccentric” as a synonym for whimsical, and since Wagner’s machines are anything but usual, his created word takes on further meaning.

In fact, Wagner likes to think of his Whymcycles as being “geometrically eccentric,” which is often literally true. Case in point: The back axle on an Ingo-bike is off-center and, thus, eccentric. Moreover, Wagner jokingly notes that the term eccentric often fits those who build and ride such unusual cycles.

At any rate, the term “Whymcycle” has slowly evolved to refer to any unusual cycle in present day and not just Ingo-bikes. Wagner, a substitute teacher for Davis and West Sacramento schools, had been building a variety of bikes since age 10, starting with a Stingray and then moving on to tandems “and all kinds of bikes ever since then.”

Since that fateful trip to the Henry Ford Museum, Wagner has put together a staggering 240 Whymcycles, with about 120 of those being in the Ingo-bike vein. He keeps almost all of his creations, which can be seen in his garage, in his yard, along his house and hanging from his eves, but he also makes some for friends, does a bit of contract work now and again, and occasionally builds highly specialized creations for those who desire mobility but are unable to use conventional methods.

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Explorit Science Center has two exhibitions running: “Go with the Flow… From Delta to Sea,” sponsored by the Monsanto Fund and the Teichert Foundation; and “Move It! Science in Action,” sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, the Hance Family and Northrop Grumman. Admission is $4 general, free for age 3 and under. The museum is open from 2-4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 11 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Explorit is at 2801 Second Street, Davis. For more information: (530) 756-0191 or www.explorit.org