Motorized Human Transportation other than bicycling

[SimpleSimon]

do you have a picture of this thing?

That was 30+ years, 5 houses, two wives, and 3 careers ago. I don't even have a college graduation picture from back then. When my first marriage ended I left the house in the clothes I was wearing, on foot. I never went back.

 

[sunshine apathy]

bummer.

 

[bluegoatwoods]

The only problem is that almost any vehicle you could come up with would automatically be illegal on our roads. I'm sure that the only reason bikes are allowed in is because they are narrow.

Perhaps we ought to pressure the next administration to pressure the DOT to put further pressure on States and localities to allow alternatives to autos on our roads. Withholding federal grants gets a lot done.

Of course, there will be resistance from those who still feel that the auto is, and should be, king. but maybe expensive fuel will take a lot of the wind out of their sails.

 

[sunshine apathy]

i think the thing that really gets me about it is -- as mentioned before -- is we are adults but cant put a simple engine on a bicycle w/out all kinds of laws and such -- i mean i do love bike riding in the orignal non motored sense ... but i ride my rode bicycle faster than i ride my MB most the time ...

 

[bluegoatwoods]

Well, the reason for all of these law is that home-made vehicles would restrict the flow of traffic and be dangerous. In a collision with a car, for instance.

I've never really felt that that was justified. If people wanted to get around their neighborhoods on golf carts or something like that, then they should be able to do so. Will this force autos to slow down? Then those autos should slow down until they get out onto the freeway. But until recently nobody agreed with this. Ideas like this were something like a bicycle trying to take on a Hummer.

But high fuel prices have helped us out a lot.

I wonder if we shouldn't drop the notion of getting MB friendly laws and instead concentrate on laws that open up our roads to virtually anything? Maybe we can keep the limited access highways open to autos only, but open up our neighborhood streets to anything that works. And the remaining autos should slow down and avoid running people over or go to jail. I think life would get a whole lot better for everyone.

 

[sunshine apathy]

that last part is a REAL good idea ... in small rural town here in texas its not unusual to see go carts and quads, dirtbikes and go carts, even the occasional horses being used as transportation...

as far as the flow of traffic thing .. i understand thats "the argument" but i see it as exact same as a bicycle ... just less work

 

[SimpleSimon]

that last part is a REAL good idea ... in small rural town here in texas its not unusual to see go carts and quads, dirtbikes and go carts, even the occasional horses being used as transportation...

as far as the flow of traffic thing .. i understand thats "the argument" but i see it as exact same as a bicycle ... just less work

Sounds like things haven't changed much. In the early 1980's I lived near New London in east Texas, Overton was "town", as that was where the Piggly Wiggly and the Brookshires markets were. It was very common to see folks on the road through town on everything from shank's mare to trail bikes to gas powered trikes. One guy had what he called the smallest car in Texas - took a go-cart, put a 90 cc engine on it, replaced the wheels with 20" motorcycle wheels, and put a horn, headlights, turn signals and tail lights on it. The Rusk county DMV office inspected it, and issued him a VIN#, title/registration, and a license plate. He drove it to work in Palestine most every day. The body of it was just an open steel frame 2 feet by 6 feet.

 

[Donald M. Haney]

My personal favorite is the compression fired diesel pogo stick, fueled with propane. Get good, and you can go down the road a 40+ mph, and jump over a car to pass it.

Yes! The diesel pogo stick. With potato guns strapped to each foot peg!

 

[Tinker1980]

Some thoughts... Golf carts...

A few years back, in the town of Claremore, Oklahoma, (NE of Tulsa about 40 miles, a town with 20,000 people and NOTHING TO DO.) there was a disabled man who worked in town, and would drive his golf cart across town (I think it was a little over a mile trip) to get to work. Well, Claremore police being the <<Expletive Deleted>> that they are, harassed him, told him he could not drive the golf cart, etc. He made a court case out of it, he couldn't drive a car but had to get to work, along those lines. And now, in the state of Oklahoma, it is legal to drive a golf cart on surface streets.

Also, in this state, it is legal to drive an electric motorized wheelchair down the sidewalk even if you are not handicapped.

I've had thoughts in the direction of a motorized unicycle. There are examples to be found on the internet, where people have built unicycles with controllers and pendulum/gyroscopic accelerometers that will stay balanced (front to back) to the tune of $1,500 for the parts. I can't help but ask myself: Why do you need all that? Batteries, a variable speed reversible motor controller, and a 1 horsepower electric motor on a friction drive. Attach the throttle to a long wire to hold it in your hand, build your hand controller so that when you can run the motor any speed in either direction, with the movement of your thumb, and you can reverse it easily. You don't need a special accelerometer and controller. The controller is in your head, and everybody has a 3 axis accelerometer in each ear! It would take practice, but if you can pedal one, you can motorize it. You wouldn't want one that could exceed about 10 MPH, because you want to be able to land on your feet when you fall off. (You almost always land on your feet when you fall off a uni.)

-Mark

 

[loquin]

I've seen motorized roller blades for sale. Also, a little single wheel, motorized 'pusher' on a bar that you can strap on. You can use it with roller blades, push scooters, skateboards, skis, etc.