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Yes, yes, yes. It is a very ludicrous idea. I am the first to admit it!
But if we stop and consider it from the point of view of an important personage...how else can one preserve a modicum of royalty in these hurried times? In modern traffic, there is no way a traditional palanquin will keep up.
Motorbikes are the answer: they are fast and they are highly manoeuvrable. When each of the four palanquin bearers is riding a motorbike with his free hand, it gives the personage the chance to once again among the highest modes of personal transport. The group dynamics needed to co-ordinate four motorcycles present a very real "where will I end up" factor that the personage can always reflect on.
Rentals will also be popular, like the horse & carriage rides in many cities.
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Maybe a multidirection swivel bearing point ( like a windsurfer universal) on the motorcycle would allow both hands on the handlebars . |
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How about fixing the bearing point to a sidecar on
the bike? of course the bikes on the right hand
side would have to have left hand sidecars and
vice versa. Then again, you could have the palanquin bearers in the sidecars? |
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The drivers would have to be very much in sync
with each other or disaster could strike (the scene
from a tale of two cities comes to mind) a boy
could be playing in the filth in a dirt road in Victorian London as the aristocrat comes whizzing
past in his palanquin, the drivers, trained not to
stop ride over the boy, but this time because the
bikes are much faster than people or horses there
isn't enough time for the aristocrat to toss a silver
coin out to the bereaved family... |
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Excellent. I can finally bring my palanquin out of retirement. |
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Perhaps they could send the family an Amazon or ebay e-voucher instead. |
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Some sort of contactless payment system is needed, like the new Visa Touch-and-Pay cards but operating over a greater distance. Something based on PayPal or Google Checkout ought to be reasonably easy to set up. |
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Independent four-point suspension, rigidly coupled to the 'bikes, coupled front steering, and a [+] |
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I actually misunderstood this idea until I looked up palanquin in an encyclopædia. I was thinking of the canopy supported by a polebearer at each corner, as used to shade a horseback monarch in a parade. Now four motorcyclists supporting such a canopy over a limousine would be a sight to see sweeping through city streets. |
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Unfortunately, though, I have had no luck finding the correct technical term for such a canopy. |
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I don't get this. If they're in traffic on motorbikes, how will
they find ants to eat? |
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