Peugeot's 'Pizza Slicer'

“Looks like my Pizza Slicer” – a poster on BikeRadar aptly described it.

In the mid-19th century Peugeot manufactured the Coffee Grinder, to take the chore out of pounding beans and towards the end of the millennium, it finished Bicycles, Motorbikes and Motorcars.

When I ride the TeamLine, my instinct is that form and function of the manual Coffee Grinder influenced Armand's design of his prototype bicycle.

Given the basic theory of proximity that elements are related, a bond is implied when proximity of elements in similar or parallel designs fuse or are logically positioned to form a similar structure.

In Armand's equation, the evolved design elements of the Coffee Grinder were parallel to the evolving design of his prototype Bicycle and thus, logically positioned to form a similar structure.

Simply put, the crank circulating under Armand’s hand that crushed his beans to its logical conclusion provided a clue that followed the evolving design of the crank circulating between his legs.

At the 80th Geneva Motor Show last week, Peugeot showcased its Pizza Slicer, a zany concept of a bicycle named SR1, said to complement its hybrid four-wheeled cousin with a similar name and outfitted with a similar regenerative braking system.

The general stream is that the Slicer is a design exercise created to complement its four-wheeled cousin and as condescendingly as one commentary put it - it mirrors its unusual controls, techno bleached-look materials and fancy layout and that the bike’s designers clearly valued form and innovation over function and that bikes have been extracted from the same standard mould for so long that a concept such as this is refreshing and welcome.

Point is, in this equation, the Car complements the Bicycle - not the other way around - simply because the new-fangled two-wheeler was conceived before its similarly appointed four-wheeled cousin was even mooted.

Observe the minimalist design where elements are grouped in such aestheticism that it becomes a single workable visual unit.

Observe the monobloc spine that follows the curvature of the rear wheel, progressing to the apex to meet the saddle and downwards to anchor the front wheel - and the symphony of the pedal-energized hybrid motor complimenting the regenerative braking system while anchoring the rear wheel to the structure.

It underscores the theory of proximity, in that the Slicer - which is positioned where the Coffee Grinder was in the mid-19th century - is Peugeot’s current and evolved design basement, with a proximity of elements parallel to the evolving design of its prototyped four-wheeled cousin and therefore, logically positioned to form a similar structure.

In other words, the Pizza Slicer is analogous to the finished Coffee Grinder, while its evolving four-wheeled cousin is poised with the unfinished 19th century bicycle.

Words, Videography - Tommy Peters

Sources: Yellow Wheels - Bike Radar - Tim Andrew's Lens ©

(All references and materials are used without express permission)