Exercise Bike Actuates Your Download Speeds; Messes With Music Playback

We’re not featuring this project because it involves the tiniest exercise bike in the world. It’s on the front page because the speed-control features which this dynamic duo added are hilarious. They call it the Webcycle and it’s actually two hacks in one.

Way back in 2009 [Matt Gray] and [Tom Scott] slapped an Arduino on the bike and used it to measure the revolutions of the cranks (how fast your feet are going in circles). This was hooked up to the laptop which is fastened to the handlebars. This way you can surf the Internet while you work out, but the bandwidth is directly affected by pedal speed. If you want to watch video you’re going to have to sweat…. a lot. Check it out in the clip after the break.

This March they pulled the Webcycle out of storage so that it may ride again. This time it’s connected to the sound system in their exercise room. A record player motor is the victim in this case. You guessed it — pedal speed dictates the rate of the turntable, modulating the pitch drastically. Make sure the boss isn’t around when you watch this clip because it will be hard not to guffaw.

These guys really have fun with this hacks. It was [Tom’s] birthday that prompted that hacktacular mini golf course.

Bandwidth control:

Music speed control:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCAkkf5UZNk

[Thanks Tom]

7 thoughts on “Exercise Bike Actuates Your Download Speeds; Messes With Music Playback

  1. typo

    If you want to watch video you’re going to have to sweat

    watch a video – would be correct..
    watch videos – would also be correct..

    you want to watch video? you fail

      1. Grammar Nazi board application rejected.

        “Video” is both a Mass noun and a Discrete noun. You can watch videos(a series of individual clips of moving imagery) or you can watch video(a raw mass of moving imagery).

  2. I imagined the audio system was hooked up to other persons headphones that why they yell at you if you’re messing up their music when you start slacking off. free personal trainer/motivator!

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