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How many bits make up a bike?

Canadian photographer Todd McLellan explores the inner workings of everyday things for a new book

Eight hundred and ninety-three, apparently.

The image above is from a series produced by Canadian photographer Todd McLellan showing everyday objects reduced to their constituent parts. The bike in question is a 1980s Raleigh, and McLellan has also dismantled a fire extinguisher, a bedside clock radio, a typewriter, a chainsaw and a host of other familiar things. The book of the images, Things Come Apart, is published by Thames & Hudson and will be available soon.

www.toddmclellan.com/thingscomeapart

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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10 comments

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italianbikesnob | 11 years ago
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It's a steel frame right? So a bit of heat applied to the lugs and hey presto - 15 more bits.

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merckxissimo | 11 years ago
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I still think a good quill stem is one of the most beautiful things going.

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Nick T | 11 years ago
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On a bike of that vintage, well over half of those 893 parts come from just one - the chain. 570 parts roughly.

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mrmo | 11 years ago
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if your going to dismantle the saddle why not the frame and fork? seems an odd thing to do.

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Yossarian2809 | 11 years ago
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No matter how i put it back together I guarantee there would be 4 screws left over who's purpose would only become apparent after the first mile!

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andrewfurlow | 11 years ago
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Why three saddles though?

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Veloacciaio replied to andrewfurlow | 11 years ago
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andrewfurlow wrote:

Why three saddles though?

Base, foam and covering I think

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Not KOM | 11 years ago
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Wow - I love stuff like this, it shows you all the beautiful thought and engineering that goes into even the smallest piece.

I bet the photographer has got an amazing tool kit, too!

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jellysticks | 11 years ago
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Awesome.Imagine how long it would take to build the bike back up from that picture!

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notfastenough replied to jellysticks | 11 years ago
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jellysticks wrote:

Awesome.Imagine how long it would take to build the bike back up from that picture!

The real question is whether there would be anything left over when he'd finished!

"Hmm, what does this bit do then?"

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