Donorcycle

"Donorcycle" is hospital slang for a motorcycle, since so many viable transplant organs come from the victims of fatal motorcycle accidents, who are generally young, in good health, and die suddenly. But this is a donorcycle of an altogether different sort. Couriers in Copenhagen, and now in Seattle, deliver human sperm on bicycles that have appropriately shaped tanks of dry ice! Up to 30 samples can be stored in the special vacuum container that keeps them cooled with liquid nitrogen as they are ferried to fertility clinics. "Once they figure out what it is, they're either shocked or they think it's a hoot. But definitely everyone who walks by turns their head," notes Gary Olsem of Seattle Sperm Bank. The attention-getting custom-designed bikes are almost 10' in length, 120lbs when fully loaded, and are motorized, but are more environmentally-friendly than traditional 4-wheeled vehicles. "It's getting a lot of looks....It is not only cutting CO2, but I think it’s really getting the word out about the need for sperm donors," says Olsem. The sperm bike was adopted in the U.S. after it debuted at the sperm bank's parent company in Denmark, whose owner is a cycling enthusiast. "A lot of thumbs up, a lot of car honks, a lot of smiles from the bus stop," says Angelo Allard, another Seattle sperm-wrangler.