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Video - Ghost rider? Footage on Facebook shows bike’s pedals spinning … with no-one on it

We reckon it was the janitor … and he’d have gotten away with it too if it hadn’t been for those pedalling kids

Video posted to Facebook by a user in Thailand shows a bicycle’s pedals and rear wheel spinning apparently of their own accord – leading some users of the social network to wonder whether ghostly goings-on are afoot.

CCTV footage of what appears to be the patio of a bar or café shows the cracks and wheel turning, building up a fair old pace, with nothing obvious propelling them.

Towards the end of the video, a bucket resting on a table is sent crashing to the ground, causing a man to rush through a doorway to find out what is going on.

But while some people believed a ghost was behind what happened – one even saying they thought they could detect an almost invisible man – another had a more prosaic explanation, saying “One viewer wrote: "Fake. Don’t be so stupid. Just wire everything up. Anything can move."

When we’ve featured videos of bikes with rear wheels spinning apparently of their own accord, it’s been in the context of a pro race with Twitter abuzz with speculation that the footage provides evidence of illegal mechanical assistance.

Mind you, those theories of riders actually using a concealed motor in competition used to be dismissed as too far-fetched to be true … until one turned up in a bike prepared for Belgian Under-23 rider Femke Van Den Driessche at the cyclo-cross world championships earlier this year.

So maybe there is something to the supernatural angle after all?

Here at road.cc HQ, however, we’re a bit more cynical and we’d point the finger at the janitor – and he’d have gotten away with it too if it hadn’t been for those pedalling kids …

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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4 comments

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festina | 8 years ago
0 likes

Obviously another example of a hidden motor. Surprise the UCI aren't all over this.

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aladdin pain | 8 years ago
1 like

Stories like this always make me think it could really be a let-down to wake up in an afterlife or realm of ghosts.  Like the hottest game in town would be knocking over buckets. 

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lro0001 | 8 years ago
0 likes

Its is just the wind i reckon...

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ridein | 8 years ago
0 likes

FAKE Facebook user, somebody could easily be pulling with fishing line off camera since you can see the pedals moving.  Why would you even have a camera dedicated for this area?

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