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We Built This
orton1966 - 10/1/12 at 06:34 PM

Just though i would share a pic of something some friends and i have built over the last few months

lewis - 10/1/12 at 06:43 PM

loving this!

blakep82 - 10/1/12 at 06:45 PM

i remember something similar on south park

that looks like fun! (yours, not the south park one..)
is the wheel on the front to stop it rolling over when you brake?

ashg - 10/1/12 at 06:47 PM

does it shove a probe up your ass like the one on south park? if it does then I'm afraid I can't invest (unless the dealership is in Brighton)

orton1966 - 10/1/12 at 06:59 PM

quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
i remember something similar on south park

that looks like fun! (yours, not the south park one..)
is the wheel on the front to stop it rolling over when you brake?


Yes the wheel at the front touches down when we brake. We’ve only had it fully running in the last month or two, most of that time has been trying to get ballast in the right place to make it rideable.

Sunday we had our best session yet, finally started getting some decent feet up rides, we’re only hitting about 25mph (limited by gearing) but now we seem to have the basics mastered we’ll gear it for a bit higher top speed.

In theory there is a speed record for a monobike (one wheeled motobike) it’s currently about 60mph we’d like to think we can develop this until we get close to beating that!

ReMan - 10/1/12 at 07:05 PM

Well done that looks really well made too.
I've always had an interest in them myself, since I think the late 60's when there were in a "futuristic" type transport feature, along with the cars that take s to maars etc. Would love to do one one day.
Can I ask what you used for the "tyre?

MikeRJ - 10/1/12 at 07:07 PM

What is the (blue and black) outer tyre/wheel made from? Does it use a friction drive?

scootz - 10/1/12 at 07:08 PM

orton1966 - 10/1/12 at 07:18 PM

quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
What is the (blue and black) outer tyre/wheel made from? Does it use a friction drive?


Outer Wheel is made from 50mm polyethylene water pipe, welded into a hoop, on this we’ve stuck a rubber strip cut from a tractor inner-tube to act as a tire. Drive is friction, originally by squeezing the wheel between rotating rollers, now we paired the outer two rollers with a belt that increases friction by acting like a short “track drive” against the rubber surface of the tire.

bigdrew - 10/1/12 at 07:20 PM

I remember these being done on scrapheap a while ago. Top effort, looks mental

bigdrew - 10/1/12 at 07:22 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ry8mBPbCvM

The full episode on youtube..

Ninehigh - 10/1/12 at 07:37 PM

If you was wearing (for example) roller skates, would it still count?

GeoffT - 10/1/12 at 08:06 PM

Although I guess the front wheel isn't braked, it still looks like it could pitch over it under braking/deceleration - any reason why the front wheel can't be projected further forward to help prevent this?



[Edited on 10/1/12 by GeoffT]

orton1966 - 10/1/12 at 08:24 PM

quote:
Originally posted by GeoffT
Although I guess the front wheel isn't braked, it still looks like it could pitch over it under braking/deceleration - any reason why the front wheel can't be projected further forward to help prevent this?



[Edited on 10/1/12 by GeoffT]


Yes we could move it forward, however ideally we will remove it all together and just ride more smoothly. Just like currently although there are small wheelie wheels at the back we vary rarely touch these down

Oh and currently the only braking force is friction of the drive mechanism plus one mountain bike “V” brake operating directly on the outer wheel, so not much to pitch us over!

[Edited on 10/1/12 by orton1966]

Riskyshift - 10/1/12 at 08:39 PM

Looks really good - can we have a video of the next test?

ian

orton1966 - 10/1/12 at 08:49 PM

Here's a picture that better shows the workings of the machine


TAZZMAXX - 10/1/12 at 08:57 PM

That's quite impressive due to its simplicity. Please don't end up like the guy with this V8 version.

http://youtu.be/K4YmVP6i4qw

Xtreme Kermit - 10/1/12 at 09:22 PM

nick205 - 10/1/12 at 09:26 PM

That's chuffing ace that is

What's the deal with using it on public roads - presumably as it's motorised you'd have to consider registration, tax and insurance etc? IVA?

orton1966 - 10/1/12 at 09:47 PM

I don’t think any of us would be comfortable on public roads…..yet!

The road we’ve tested on so far is the private industrial estate where I have a unit, on a Sunday almost all the business are closed giving us a straight 600m with no traffic and no parked cars to worry about!

However we could do with a bit more width, now, so that we can practice turning etc. anyone know a safe, legal, cheap location in the Nott’s, Linc’s or Leicestershire region?

TAZZMAXX - 10/1/12 at 10:12 PM

How about Langar? (when they're not letting planes take off).

orton1966 - 11/1/12 at 06:03 AM

quote:
Originally posted by TAZZMAXX
How about Langar? (when they're not letting planes take off).


It's quite local so worth a try, anyone else ever got permission to run there?

TAZZMAXX - 11/1/12 at 06:45 AM

Just a thought, but when I took my HGV test, part of the tuition was on some land that was next to the main area at Langar (from memory). We did braking exercises there but I can't remember exactly how to get to it. I vaguely remember driving alongside a lot of agricultural buildings and it opened up to all these tarmacced areas. There were several HGV learner vehicles there at the same time so maybe ring some local driver training companies up to find out? I took mine with Sterling Training in Nottingham but I don't know if they're still going. Hope that helps.

jeffw - 11/1/12 at 08:35 AM

Never trust anything with an odd number of wheels.....as shown in the V8 video