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Or a horse, of course. The bike has to be rideable, and needs to return to normal afterwards.

Most years my city has what they call a "carnivelo", a family ride in which bikes, riders, trailers, passengers etc are encouraged to be in fancy dress and ride a car-free route. There are photos online and videos of previous years on YouTube. Some years have more fancy dress than others.

This year the theme is "enchanted forest" so I thought a unicorn with 2 riders (my daughter fits better on her bike seat than in the trailer) would be suitable. We would of course be in fancy dresss ourselves. A "horse" could also pull a carriage based on the frame of the trailer with a new cover.

While the event itself is traffic-free, we'd have to get there somehow, which would presumably involve riding in traffic.

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  • 2
    Maybe some sort of papier mache 'skirt' attached by wire to the fork and seat stays, and a 'head' that attaches to the bars and maybe anchors to the head tube? Recipe for disaster if its raining or windy though
    – Andy P
    Aug 15 '18 at 13:49
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    All time greatest question contender?
    – Swifty
    Aug 16 '18 at 11:39
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    I bet that horn makes you real popular in a paceline. ;-)
    – Andrew Henle
    Aug 16 '18 at 11:59
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    Maybe your the unicorn and you can make draping fabric that cover the bike, you of course would also have to make a guard system so that the fabric could not get into the wheels or moving parts
    – Nate W
    Aug 16 '18 at 15:37
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    If you had more time, building two significantly off-center wheels would give you a "cantering" effect. Downside is this takes either a heap of different spoke lengths, or access to a spoke threadding machine and blanks.
    – Criggie ♦
    Aug 19 '18 at 9:05
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In addition to my comment i wanted to provide this highly detailed artistic rendition of my idea. Make the whole bike the unicorn with you included. You could pull your princess or fairy daughter in an adorned trailer as well. The bike could be covered with a fabric or cardboard skirt with a guard so that it cant get into the wheels or moving parts. Legs could be drawn onto the side as well.

enter image description here

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  • that could work, though not using one of these. Perhaps attaching a mane and foam horn to a (cheap/old/spare) helmet work do the trick. It might look a bit like a unicorn/centaur hybrid -- maybe I should explain centaurs to her and go for that (via Narnia rather than classical). The back wheel already has a partial skirt guard because of the child seat.
    – Chris H
    Aug 16 '18 at 15:53
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    @ChrisH a centaur is another good idea, may look more realistic in a way
    – Nate W
    Aug 16 '18 at 16:20
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    @ChrisH You mean this Centaur, right?
    – Argenti Apparatus
    Aug 16 '18 at 17:13
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A minimalist yet inventive design by Korean designer Eungi Kim has caught my eye:

Horsey - picture my be subjected to copyrights

You could use white PVC plumbing pipes and heat bend them.
Accompany it with similarly minimalist fancy dress and you're good to go.

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    I like it, but good luck getting a 5 year old to dress up as a "minimalist" fairy!
    – Chris H
    Aug 16 '18 at 9:38
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    What about preparing matching fairy wings and a magic wand (thinner PVC pipe) explaining "the lighter the gear the higher you fly, my luv"?
    – Mike
    Aug 16 '18 at 9:52
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    I hope that's very lightweight plastic as, otherwise, well, don't slip forward off the saddle.
    – David Richerby
    Aug 16 '18 at 10:32
  • I know there are different types of PVC, water, sewage, electrical. The latter is most lightweight, though I'm not sure if easily available in white (surely in ivory where I live).
    – Mike
    Aug 16 '18 at 11:38
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Fit exactly one of these devices:

enter image description here

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    *groooan* That's 'orrible.
    – David Richerby
    Aug 16 '18 at 16:35
  • @DavidRicherby sorry, could not resist.
    – Argenti Apparatus
    Aug 16 '18 at 16:36
  • You could also wear exactly one of these hats. I'm sure it would be safe instead of a helmet: you wouldn't need to worry about corn cushion.
    – David Richerby
    Aug 16 '18 at 16:38

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