Muppets on Bikes

[King Jim]

This is a strange picture. How can Muppets ride Bikes?

 

[Uncle deadly]

I know how do they do it.
It looks sooo cool!

 

[christyb]

I remember seeing something that they attached them to the bikes and to human bike riders in front and in back. (i.e. TMC) But I'm not sure.

 

[Uncle deadly]

huh?

 

[muppetmayhem]

kermit looks funny on a bike

 

[FISH'N'WOLFE]

huh?

For the famous scene where they're all riding together, the bicycles with characters on them were all linked together by rods, and pulled along by people riding real bicycles way ahead in front. For the other riding scenes, they used an elaborate marionette rig suspended above the character and bicycle to operate them with wires. For the pedaling I believe there must have been a small motor inside of the crankshaft housing to turn the pedal arms.

 

[christyb]

Thanks Kevin for further elaborating on that. I couldn't remember on how they exactly did it.

 

[Uncle deadly]

oohhhh!
ok i get it now.

 

[MuppetDude]

Additional notes:

The first time Kermit rode a bicycle was in "The Muppets Valentine Show", but it wasn't a marionette. Two rods were connected to the wheel axles, and a puppeteer from underneath simply moved the rods across the screen.

The first "Kermit on bicycle" marionette was from "Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas".

In "Kermit's Swamp Years", Kermit is seen riding a scooter.

 

[That Announcer]

Ah-HA...


I read that Brian Henson had a cameo in "Couldn't We Ride"; was this an onscreen cameo or was he one of the crew pulling the Muppets?

Quick question: I'm assuming that the mouths of the characters in "Couldn't We Ride" were radiocontrolled. Is this true?