Random set of the day: Tri-Bike
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 3531 Tri-Bike, released during 1998. It's one of 12 Znap sets produced that year. It contains 29 pieces.
It's owned by 102 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 $5.00, or eBay.
48 likes
53 comments on this article
Sorry, what's the name of the theme? Something iap?
Aww, znap! That "stretches" what Lego is. Maybe it's just the picture...
Oh ZNAP!
@Miyakan said:
"Oh ZNAP!"
I bet you were typing yours as I was hitting "Post comment" on mine
I don't need to tri that bike to know that the seat is going to feel like the mother of all wedgies.
Is it called tri-bike because it's a three wheeled bike, or because it has three sample models on the front of the box
TC-VAP? Waddat? And what’s with the twisted coat hanger?
ZZZZZZZNNNNNNNNNNAP
how does a scan error like that even occur?
@R1_Drift said:
"how does a scan error like that even occur?"
The scanner got stuck.
@R1_Drift said:
"how does a scan error like that even occur?"
Drive system on the scanner carriage slips. It keeps scanning while not moving, so it just scans the same line repeatedly. The software is designed to stitch each successive line together to form the final image, so it's like leaning on a letter key whilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllle typing.
Trippy.
Yikes.
more like ‘random K’Nex of the day’
I think this is a downgrade from yesterday's set. Didn't think that was possible, and yet, here we are.
"Releases in 1998" - nothing more needs to be said. The decade between ~1997 and 2007 are a darker age for Lego than I ever had.
Regardless of how the scan error occurred, Im more confused as to how someone looked at this scan and said "yep that's good enough to upload, not gonna bother doing it again"
Tri-bike.. try try....
@R1_Drift said:
"how does a scan error like that even occur?"
The scanner znapped.
Galidor? Jack Stone? Scala?
At least they aren't Znap.
For those new to the hobby: yes, this was still produced by lego. The pins are compatible.
It's not ancient history either. I stumbled one a Znap set (7503) back in 2005 at a flea market, sealed. That was back when sets from 2002 could still be found in some stores, so I was excited to encounter one from 1998!
There was a reason it was still sealed.
It wasn't horrid, but certainly not great. The system was too insular and didn't look great unless you had a lot of it.
The system was flexible though and mine could even 'transform' for what it was worth, being super abstract in practice.
I've heard some enterprising AFOLs at the time took to using Znap for things like making bridge supports. So even Znap can still be useful!
Wait, that's Lego?
Oh man, that police car from yesterday didn't look so bad after all...
Now we really need some Clikits to recover.
I definitely had green Znap pieces, but I can't remember if they were all from the big one that was a helicopter/hovercraft or if I had this one as well...
Those are some veeery long technic pieces.
What the hell is that!!!
"Tri-Bike"...Um, no; the term you're looking for is "Trike".
Also, looks like the funkiest "Big-Wheel" this side of:
https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/green-machine
Whoever was responsible for scanning and uploading that image needed to tri again...
@Binnekamp: First, you linked to a Clikits set, not a Znap one. Second, I have a similar story. The one Znap set I have (3551), I only have because I found it at a yard sale, and thought, "What the heck, it's cheap, I'll give this weird part of Lego history a try." Appropriately enough, I also bought a small wicker trash can at the same yard sale.
Reminds me of a new part in yesterday's John Deere review:
https://images.brickset.com/news/95668_P1077637.JPG
After 25 years new ones sell for $5 says it all...
@GSR_MataNui said:
"Is it called tri-bike because it's a three wheeled bike, or because it has three sample models on the front of the box"
Yes.
It may not be as high a resolution, but the image from BrickLink's still better than this scan of the instructions: https://img.bricklink.com/ItemImage/IN/0/3531-1.png
Colors are better and there isn't a hole punched in the logo either.
I'm not proud to reveal that I owned this. It was the only Znap set I ever did own, however.
Has Brickset been hacked by K'nex?
@TheOtherMike said:
"Whoever was responsible for scanning and uploading that image needed to tri again...
@Binnekamp : First, you linked to a Clikits set, not a Znap one. Second, I have a similar story. The one Znap set I have ( 3551 ), I only have because I found it at a yard sale, and thought, "What the heck, it's cheap, I'll give this weird part of Lego history a try." Appropriately enough, I also bought a small wicker trash can at the same yard sale."
Oops. I meant 3503, Mini-Sonic. I had just woken up XD
@WizardOfOss not quite. Around 1998-2004 Lego was doing so bad that they tried to expand into other markets: dollhouses (Scala, Belville), toddler toys (Primo), action figures (constraction themes), video games (Lego games), programmable robots (Mindstorms), k'nex (Znap). Just anything but their core themes!
Of course, for a while now k'nex has tried to ride the automatic binding brick bandwagon.
Oh how the turntables...
Can't think of anything witty to say about this.
I had one Znap set. Not this one. I only bought it because we sold them in Woolworths where I worked and I would have got staff discount.
I can't believe Woolies chose to stock Znap but never sold Belville.
@TheRichrocker said:
""Releases in 1998" - nothing more needs to be said. The decade between ~1997 and 2007 are a darker age for Lego than I ever had."
(Shakes head) Can't believe they stayed in business.
Really, another Technic set!
@kingalbino said:
"What the hell is that!!!"
If you stretch your imagination as far as that image, you might call it a subtheme of Technic. At least most of the parts are compatible, and some of the pieces used even ARE actual Technic parts.
Then again, what was LEGO thinking?
Proposed name change for the set: Must Tri-Harder Bike
@StyleCounselor said:
"Really, another Technic set!"
This set is not Technic.
This set is crap.
@magmafrost said:
"Regardless of how the scan error occurred, Im more confused as to how someone looked at this scan and said "yep that's good enough to upload, not gonna bother doing it again""
Someone looked at the scan and thought ‘ahh, what the hell, it is only a znap set, nobody will notice.’
@EtudeTheBadger said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
"Really, another Technic set!"
This set is not Technic.
This set is crap."
No no, you misread that. It's znap.
But your mistake is understandable, since that image is pretty hard to read
:-p
@EtudeTheBadger said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
"Really, another Technic set!"
This set is not Technic.
This set is crap."
I'm not much of a Technic fan. Like this set, Technic requires too much imagination to see anything good there.
Maybe this Znap set was exclusively sold at Omega Mart. If you know, you know.
@ StyleCounselor said:"I'm not much of a Technic fan. Like this set, Technic requires too much imagination to see anything good there." Maybe back before all of today's panels and studless beams started showing up, but modern Technic isn't nearly as gappy as the line used to be.
Trike, hover jet, and ????.
What is that last one? A tiny race track with no car?
So I did some digging and discovered the 'chopper' main build actually transforms as well, much like my Znap set.
All it takes is flipping the wheel holders and you'll be done!
It turns into... this... thing?
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTkp9GHCAvigikd2sYZMeLRe05iC8b3K14kEw&usqp=CAU
I might be wrong but it seems to depict a Cargo bike or 'bakfiets' in Dutch. You see those here often. I doubt they actually thought of it when they made this... thing
https://www.fietskar.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/852-cargo-trike-smal-petrolblauw.jpg
My Mini-Sonic isn't great, but at least it turns from a 'speedboat' into a 'jet'.
Say what you want about Znap, but they sure had imagination to come up with these. Good thing too, because by golly you're going to need it with this system...
@anthony_davies said:
" @magmafrost said:
"Regardless of how the scan error occurred, Im more confused as to how someone looked at this scan and said "yep that's good enough to upload, not gonna bother doing it again""
Someone looked at the scan and thought ‘ahh, what the hell, it is only a znap set, nobody will notice.’"
...and NOBODY did notice until today. That set's image has been on the set so long that there are no logs as to when data was modified for the set. So that's what? A decade? @Huw would know more. (Also, please don't fix the image until at least tomorrow or most of the comments here will make no sense.)
*Jack stone enters a dilapidated looking bar*
Nick Bluetooth from Galidor: "Welcome to the neglected products bar, Jack! we serve everything to anyone wishing to dull the pain of the being a failed LEGO product."
Jack: "I'll have a whiskey on the rocks."
*Znap entity enters the bar*
"Znap: "I'll have whatever's the strongest and most likely to kill me... and a mop."
Jack whispering to nick: "Why the mop?"
Nick to Jack: "Because it goes right through him"
*Znap downs a bottle of floor cleaner. It goes straight through his hollow, girder-like body and onto the floor*
Nick: "Told you."
@Binnekamp:
Znap was cribbed from the K’Nex system, which is all the more bizarre. I don’t know if they’re 1:1 to make them compatible, but why would a company that bought the original 2x4 brick patent so they could sue Tyco out of the clone business ever think it was a good idea to rip off another competitor’s less successful active product line?
And to be fair, one constraction theme saved the company, and Mindstorms is a logical offshoot of Technic, and enjoyed a long and successful multi-decade run.
@AustinPowers:
I’m sure their brains were functioning with the same level of precision as that scanner.
@TheOtherMike:
Ironically, I’ve seen at least one comment here in the past week complaining specifically about the fact that modern Technic isn’t “gappy”.
Why was Lego suffering in the late '90s? This. This is why.
@PDelahanty said:
" @anthony_davies said:
" @magmafrost said:
"Regardless of how the scan error occurred, Im more confused as to how someone looked at this scan and said "yep that's good enough to upload, not gonna bother doing it again""
Someone looked at the scan and thought ‘ahh, what the hell, it is only a znap set, nobody will notice.’"
...and NOBODY did notice until today. That set's image has been on the set so long that there are no logs as to when data was modified for the set. So that's what? A decade? @Huw would know more. (Also, please don't fix the image until at least tomorrow or most of the comments here will make no sense.)"
Oh seriously? That misshapen N really was a scanner error and not an attempt a "way cool" logo? It wasn't until I read nearly all of these comments that I caught on that it was a mistake and not just some really bad 90's branding. Crimes against letter geometry were commonplace in the late 90s, so I figured that was at work here.
And yes, most sets from 1998-2005 were pretty bad.
I feel the need to defend the honour of LEGO's 1998 line-up. You cannot convince me that a year that included the first wave of Adventurers, the first wave of Ninja, Stingrays & Hydronauts, Res-Q & Xtreme Team, and a fairly solid Insectoid theme was a BAD year.
However... I will admit that this set makes a strong counterargument.