- Joined
- Mar 7, 2020
- Messages
- 12
Hello All!
I am going to get straight to the point and talk about a new kind of vehicle that I have been thinking about.
I suspect that if a vehicle constructed from hobby and bicycle parts which gives it features paralleling an automobile, it would solve a few problems in the dual-standard advocacy between separate cycle routes and vehicular cycling.
On one hand, vehicular cycling uses rules which enables a cyclist to employ a defensive method of sharing the lane with motor vehicles. While that would embolden an advocate’s entitlement to the road it is not hard to see how that can anger some motorists and can cause increased accidents considering a conservatively weighted bicycle of 25kg would be a mere speed bump to vehicles over 1000kg moving over 50kph.
In terms of segregated routes (trailways & greenways) that prevents a majority of the former issues from occurring and where I live, there’s little of anything like that except one several miles to the south. I’d see something like these as places where velomobiles can go as fast as they want, but still have to treat pedestrians and other cyclists (who may/may not use them for leisure) with respect by passing them. Nothing I don’t normally see driving on the freeways, as a matter of fact, but considered debatable.
Regardless, it is clear that when you look at the spectrum of vehicles with wheels, you go from roller skates to large trucks. But one thing becomes evident: there is an apparent class change for an order of magnitude of mass. Shoes, Roller Blades, skateboards and scooters represent the smallest of these (1-10kg). Bicycles slowly give way to vehicles with more, larger and wider tires and above 100kg you get into motorized vehicles territory.
This is extremely important to understand because 2 vehicles in the same order of magnitude will have some damaging or deforming effect (whether that is on the persons themselves or the vehicles) which damages both vehicles. A car —> bicycle will likely result in the cyclist being injured if not being outright killed with no resulting damage to the car’s A-frame. Don’t forget the presence of larger vehicles on a road like semis (>10,000kg) which may also take advantage of a designated cycle lane for services like electrical or garbage collection. Ouch.
Getting past that, my proposal is an ideal vehicle which could be designed with a weight between 50-75kg. I have been looking at many videos lately involving motorized bicycles, very old vehicles from the first days of the automobile and velomobiles, as well as possible power sources for something like this.
The vehicle is much like a velomobile in appearance, but with a few major differences which would allow it to function as well on a interstate highway/freeway as it could on a greenway. I don’t want to set specifics but for that to work it would have to be able to accommodate a license plate since that’s the law around where I live. Another factor is emissions, in case of using a motor or fuel cell. Alsoase you think motorizing a velomobile is insane, A historic vehicle called a cyclecar did in fact place itself between a motorbike and a car like that:
in that case the cyclecar was replaced by increasingly cheap and bigger automobiles due to refinements to the manufacturing lines in car factories.
But hold your horses calling me a gas guzzler! I wouldn’t even think about using gas in it due to it being nonuniform (it’s a slew of different hydrocarbons which make its emissions hard to predict), so I figured a ethanol/butanol blend would be more efficient due to predictability.
As for the method of propulsion if it is mechanical like for an Internal Combustion Engine, the human part of its power would be difficult to implement if both sources go through a common driveshaft. A good example of an engine for an application like this is a predator 212cc with modification for E85.
If electrically powered, it could be hooked to a direct ethanol fuel cell with similar heat coming off of it as an ICE.
What this could allow could potentially be on the realm beyond imagination. Having it set up for fuel efficiency, someone could expect to start with motorbike mileages at 100mpg multiplying through 500mpg! The fairing of a velomobile would improve aerodynamics enough to remain stable at speeds exceeding highway speed limits.
I don’t guarantee it could be made better than a well made bicycle or a refurbished used car, but after realizing that multiple open source technologies like RepRap 3D printing and Raspberry Pis, Arduinos, and the stuff done on here can be used to make a vehicle like this, it might work. Hope to get feedback from it. Cheers!
I am going to get straight to the point and talk about a new kind of vehicle that I have been thinking about.
I suspect that if a vehicle constructed from hobby and bicycle parts which gives it features paralleling an automobile, it would solve a few problems in the dual-standard advocacy between separate cycle routes and vehicular cycling.
On one hand, vehicular cycling uses rules which enables a cyclist to employ a defensive method of sharing the lane with motor vehicles. While that would embolden an advocate’s entitlement to the road it is not hard to see how that can anger some motorists and can cause increased accidents considering a conservatively weighted bicycle of 25kg would be a mere speed bump to vehicles over 1000kg moving over 50kph.
In terms of segregated routes (trailways & greenways) that prevents a majority of the former issues from occurring and where I live, there’s little of anything like that except one several miles to the south. I’d see something like these as places where velomobiles can go as fast as they want, but still have to treat pedestrians and other cyclists (who may/may not use them for leisure) with respect by passing them. Nothing I don’t normally see driving on the freeways, as a matter of fact, but considered debatable.
Regardless, it is clear that when you look at the spectrum of vehicles with wheels, you go from roller skates to large trucks. But one thing becomes evident: there is an apparent class change for an order of magnitude of mass. Shoes, Roller Blades, skateboards and scooters represent the smallest of these (1-10kg). Bicycles slowly give way to vehicles with more, larger and wider tires and above 100kg you get into motorized vehicles territory.
This is extremely important to understand because 2 vehicles in the same order of magnitude will have some damaging or deforming effect (whether that is on the persons themselves or the vehicles) which damages both vehicles. A car —> bicycle will likely result in the cyclist being injured if not being outright killed with no resulting damage to the car’s A-frame. Don’t forget the presence of larger vehicles on a road like semis (>10,000kg) which may also take advantage of a designated cycle lane for services like electrical or garbage collection. Ouch.
Getting past that, my proposal is an ideal vehicle which could be designed with a weight between 50-75kg. I have been looking at many videos lately involving motorized bicycles, very old vehicles from the first days of the automobile and velomobiles, as well as possible power sources for something like this.
The vehicle is much like a velomobile in appearance, but with a few major differences which would allow it to function as well on a interstate highway/freeway as it could on a greenway. I don’t want to set specifics but for that to work it would have to be able to accommodate a license plate since that’s the law around where I live. Another factor is emissions, in case of using a motor or fuel cell. Alsoase you think motorizing a velomobile is insane, A historic vehicle called a cyclecar did in fact place itself between a motorbike and a car like that:
in that case the cyclecar was replaced by increasingly cheap and bigger automobiles due to refinements to the manufacturing lines in car factories.
But hold your horses calling me a gas guzzler! I wouldn’t even think about using gas in it due to it being nonuniform (it’s a slew of different hydrocarbons which make its emissions hard to predict), so I figured a ethanol/butanol blend would be more efficient due to predictability.
As for the method of propulsion if it is mechanical like for an Internal Combustion Engine, the human part of its power would be difficult to implement if both sources go through a common driveshaft. A good example of an engine for an application like this is a predator 212cc with modification for E85.
If electrically powered, it could be hooked to a direct ethanol fuel cell with similar heat coming off of it as an ICE.
What this could allow could potentially be on the realm beyond imagination. Having it set up for fuel efficiency, someone could expect to start with motorbike mileages at 100mpg multiplying through 500mpg! The fairing of a velomobile would improve aerodynamics enough to remain stable at speeds exceeding highway speed limits.
I don’t guarantee it could be made better than a well made bicycle or a refurbished used car, but after realizing that multiple open source technologies like RepRap 3D printing and Raspberry Pis, Arduinos, and the stuff done on here can be used to make a vehicle like this, it might work. Hope to get feedback from it. Cheers!