Random set of the day: Shock Cycle
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8838 Shock Cycle, released during 1991. It's one of 6 Technic sets produced that year. It contains 251 pieces, and its retail price was US$29.75.
It's owned by 4,638 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $173.10, or eBay.
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It's a shock cycle indeed, from the main build to, whatever the second build is.
I do like the second build better though.
I wonder what LEGO would do today if bushings still had the teeth. I know that if you put two of the half bushings together, you get a 3/4 bushing, so there has some be some use for that, but what about the connectors? Maybe there's something that could be done there that's of interest in the modern day.
I totally forgot I had this.
@MCLegoboy said:
"I wonder what LEGO would do today if bushings still had the teeth."
Probably replace a lot of broken ones.
One of my first LEGO sets. Quick to build and a lot of fun to play with.
The B-model was a motorizable trike.
The teethed bushings and the technic axle and pin connector did not have much lifespan - almost all that I still have are cracked.
I’m certainly shocked looking at it
Those bushings and particularly their toothed connector cousins were kind of cool, and pretty useful when wanting to fix Technic axles at different angles (before the advent of the myriad of pre-angled axle connectors we have today). Sure, they were prone to cracking, but I just love the simplicity of a configurable system where with just two pieces you could accomplish what you now need countless different pieces for.
They were also very useful for early SNOT building, because you could use two of them at the ends of a 3L axle with two 1x2 Technic bricks in between, fixed at a variable angles like 90 or especially 180 degrees. A technique I used in MOCs as a kid when there simply were no dedicated SNOT bricks or brackets we have today. We simply had to be more creative back then, whereas today whenever a designer has no idea how to accomplish something a new dedicated piece is designed.
I still have it on display like all the other sets until 1996, after that it's mainly the big ones or sets from the last 5 years.
Both models are nice to build and the B model is one of many who has some specific parts that the A model doesn't need.
Still have this one! I feel like this is one of those ones I could build without the instructions, that's how well I knew it at one time.
Cool bike, cool trike!
As for those (extremely useful!) toothed bushings and connectors, I had quite a few of the connectors crack, but always just at the axle hole, never the teeth. In that regard no different the the regular axle/pin connector. I assume they nowadays make similar connectors from a different, stronger and more flexible kind of plastic (which probably also explains the usual color variations).
Another set whose name is a complete sentence. One thing that was cool about the toothed bushings was that the side with the teeth technically (pun intended) had an anti-stud, which made the piece useful for greebling.
Four shock absorbers!? Nice!
I also love the tiny front wheel on the alt build. That they included extra parts specifically for the alt build was such a Technic thing to do. Some of my Technic sets from the late 90s still did that.
The kickstand even has a rubber band to make it spring in place. That's a cool detail
This was the first Technic set I got at age nine and it made me realise Technic wasn't my thing.
I think this was my first Technic set. Memories are hazy, but I remember struggling to assemble the engine, getting the pistons into the cylinders without them falling out again before everything got locked in place. My dad helped me out with that part, we were sitting at the kitchen table. I must have been around 7 at the time. Thinking about that, it's amazing how Just a few years later I had no problems assembling stuff like 8880 by myself. Anyway, I played a lot with this bike, and modified it a lot too. And I saw the wheels and tires from it in a box a few weeks ago and thought about maybe reassembling it. Now I'm thinking about that again...
I suspect I have at least one of these in a bulk bin, and I really want to build it. I had a later design in red with road tires that I liked quite a lot, so it'll be fun to try this one.
This was one of my earliest Technic sets when I was a child.
A fun build with some nice features - I still have it.
I recently acquired another one cheaply and sold it for 200% profit a couple weeks later!
Probably one of my first and only one of a few technic sets I've had until I just recently got the Bugatti Chiron. Wow technic has come a long way!
Every time a new overpriced set is revealed the site goes through a Shock Cycle.