A Bicycle Build For… 2.0

Here’s an interesting way to fill the second seat on your tandem bicycle. It seems no one ever wants to be the stoker, so this gentleman decided to build his riding partner. JouleS powers the bicycle from the back using the same motions a human would. It’s not the easiest way to make an electric bicycle but the mechanics that went into it are quite beautiful. See the old boy pedaling away after the beak.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcW-VzpgcE8]

[Thanks Mowcius]

24 thoughts on “A Bicycle Build For… 2.0

  1. @biozz: At first I thought “That’s a pretty sweet idea and build” but after watching the video of a man slowly riding a tandem bicycle with a robot, I couldn’t help but think it is a little sad!

  2. He’s obviously not interested in taking anyone back to his pad…on that note. Contact the RealDoll company and see if they’ll hook ya up with some skins…then you could do the naked bicycle run and have them all play ‘Bicycle Race’, by Queen…I want to ride my bicycle!

  3. it looks like it would really limit the first rider tho, since you can’t pedal faster than the bot. anyone else think that this would be a good day for a CVT? it just needs some way for the second rider to add power to the drive train at any speed. then you could lose the training wheels :P

    or, on the other hand, build another wooden person on the front that steers and leaves the pedaling to the guy in the back :P

  4. while this is a fascinating engineering and machining project, that is a whole lot of 1/4 inch aluminum. the robot rider probably set the center of gravity much higher and further back making it impossible to balance without training wheels. hell if hes spending that much on aluminum why not shell out for some carbon-fiber-balsa composite board, or at least machine some strategic holes to reduce weight. otherwise its still pretty cool

  5. I find it unfortunate that the wording of the article leads us to believe that the man has no riding partner and that is the reason for this build. SPECULATION.

    This is art, and it is amazing. It just needs a speed controller, and for the training wheels, maybe some that flip up like on that Swiss motorcycle thingamabob. EcoMobile I think.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbdkZB9-Sd4 <–that.

  6. Being that this hack is not about efficiency but, rather “because I can” I think it’s great. Totally impractical, inefficient and uneconomical but, beautifully executed.

  7. From a practical point of view this is dumb as a box or rocks. From a hack/art point of view it is just a little short of brilliant!
    The only way it could be any better IHMO would be if the robot was made of brass and was steam powered!
    Over all I would give it a 9.5 on the hack scale.

  8. A higher center of gravity actually makes a bike easier to balance, because it doesn’t fall over as quickly so you have more time to steer the wheels back under the center of gravity.

  9. There was a guy in my town who built one of these a few years back out of mannequin parts, but his didn’t supply power. it just looked cool and moved physically to match the front seat rider’s movements.

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