If the Segway Wasn’t a Hip Enough Method of Transportation…
Published by travis August 21st, 2007 in Vehicles. Share This
…comes the Hyperbike.
The circumference of an eight foot diameter wheel is roughly twenty-five feet and cadence, or the rate at which a person pedals, is most comfortable at a rate of 13 beats every 15 seconds. Gearing that allows an operator to rotate the wheels four times each pedal cycle, or at a 1:4 ratio while at the comfortable cadence rate will produce a speed upwards of 50mph.
Traveling at 50 mph, completely exposed and sandwiched between two 8-foot diameter wheels? At least your misfortune will make for a sweet Youtube video.
And just look at those tiny, tiny brakes. Assuming you could attach a lever long enough to generate the force required to stop those humongous (if light) wheels, the brakes would overheat and fail really quickly. If disc brakes are the best option (they are) then the best solution would have been to have much larger diameter discs mounted further out on the wheels. That would at least provide adequate cooling.
I’m with Mike B. on the brakes, but did you notice the front forks? Looks like your standard MTB front shock, only those things aren’t meant to be deployed near horizontally… Looks cool, until the stem snaps off after you hit a bump. Guess you could steer using the individual handbrakes, but that raises another issue… At 50 mph, you better be putting the exact amount of pressure on both sides or you will turn… fast…
This is awesome and I want one.
anyone else think that it looks like wil weaton is driving it?
Neat!
What about the tires? They’re duct taped on! That’s not something I want to test drive.
armchair designers eh?
@Mike B. correct me if i’m wrong but isn’t that the size of your average motorbike disc brake? “cooling”?? clearly you have expectations of speed and repeated hard braking the disgners may not have.
@edesilva. think you have a point about steering but given the amount of cable around don’t you think they may have an “all brake” option (like motorcycle) and potentially some are gears?
i wanna try one. maybe just so i can burn the brakes, snap the fork and crash whilst braking like the boys think!
one more thing.
@burstaneurysm
do Bike Shed carry wheels that size?