Gallery: One-Wheeled Motorcycles: As Cool as They Are Wildly Dangerous

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    Photo courtesy of Getty Images
    01

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    A Swiss engineer known as Mr. Gerdes designed this monowheel. It is pictured here, ridden by a man who may or may not be Mr. Gerdes, apparently on a trip to Spain in 1931.
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    Photo courtesy of Getty Images
    02

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    J.H. Purves's Dynosphere, a wide-based monowheel variant built in the UK.
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    Photo courtesy of Sean Donley
    03

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    Professor E.J. Christie of Marion, Ohio atop a version of his 14 foot monster monowheel in 1923, which may or may not have been tested. It apparently had a 250 horsepower motor, and was its designers were aiming for a top speed of 250 mph (safe to say that never happened).
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    Photo courtesy of Getty Images
    04

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    Walter Nilsson aboard his version of the monowheel in Los Angeles around 1935. His assistant is riding an old timey penny farthing bike.
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    Photo courtesy of Getty Images
    05

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    Purves's son takes the Dynosphere for a spin on Brean Sands Beach in the UK, 1932.
  • Image may contain Human Person Clothing Apparel Military Uniform and Military
    Photo courtesy of Douglas Self
    06

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    This 1917 picture of the D'harlingue monowheel, from Douglas Self's online museum for the devices, shows why the motorized wheels have become the stuff of steampunk mystique.
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