Tour de France Devil creates royal wedding-themed rickshaw

Royal wedding fever has swept up one of its more unlikely victims in the shape of Didi Senft, the eccentric German known to millions of cycling fans worldwide for popping up at the roadside on Tour de France stages dressed in his devil costume, urging the riders on with his trident. When not attending the big races on the calendar (or hanging out with road.cc types, as in the picture), Didi designs some weird and wonderful bikes and has built a Kate and William-themed rickshaw to help celebrate the happy couple’s big day tomorrow.

The news comes just days after it was revealed that Mayor of London Boris Johnson was giving the couple a tandem 'Boris Bike,' with Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme operator Serco picking up the cost.

Perhaps commemorating the royal family’s German roots, the cab of the three wheeled, pedal-powered vehicle that Diddi has designed is the rear end of a Trabant – the East German car made famous when the Berlin Wall came down.

A picture accompanying a Reuters report shows the full effect – union flag hubcaps, livery incorporating London landmarks such as Tower Bridge, a model of Westminster Abbey on the roof, and lifesize cardboard cut outs of the royal couple sitting on the passenger seats, together with a doll of a baby perched between them.

That latter detail reflects Didi’s belief that the marriage will result in royal offspring, he revealed to Reuters. "Then we could outfit the wedding rickshaw with a little wagon, and we could come up with more ideas and construct more fun new things and continue to send our best wishes to London," he revealed.

Explaining why he chose to create the rickshaw in the first place, he said: “Every person in the world is following the wedding and you've got to take part. It's a global event like the soccer World Cup, but it only takes six hours - the World Cup takes four weeks."

Besides the machines he designs, Didi also runs his own museum in Storkow near Berlin which houses many of his creations, including what he says are the world’s largest and tallest bikes.

More details of Didi’s bikes and his activities can be found on his website, which sadly for those of us who don’t speak the language, is in German only.