seized!

[Fabian]

it didnt tell him to disobey his parents, it didnt tell him not to wear a helmet, it didnt tell him not to buy the thing or ride it without brakes...

I agree.

leaving me with one glaring loophole...

whats about external combustion?

And to think that i haven't seen things coming a long time ago, as has been a consistent theme in my threads and posts.
The Warburton Rail Trail (which by it's name) allows you to think laterally.

I've always wanted to run a steam derrived power unit in my bike. The ultimate device would be replication of a traditional steam engine, with steam cylinders and the puff - puff- puff sound, but the are many other ways to skin a cat:

The is no ruling to say that you can't have external combuster nozels igniting fuel and the gasses being fed into a turbine.
The is no ruling to say that you can't heat water and then direct steam into a turbine.
There is no ruling to say that you can't heat water and then direct steam into a turbine which is attached to an electric generator unit, just like a hybrid gas turbine locomotive.

We have many options, but by far, the (compact) externally combusted gas turbine method looks to be the most promising way to get around these laws. Secondly, a gas turbine power unit is relatively easy to silence, due to it's consistent exhaust gas flow.

We still have many options available to us. It just needs someone who has engineering facilities at their disposal to (selectively) make an alternative power unit available to those people are going to operate their bike in a responsible manner.

 

[HeadSmess]

That's the critical difference between the majority of Australians (who roll over to draconian government laws at the drop of a hat) and a large percentage of American's, who are armed to the teeth (particularly in the southern states) and will never give up their freedoms without one huge fight.

remember the farmer from northern NSW that shot some EPA do-gooder a month or so ago?

perfect example of the minority of aussies that will still fight.

they have it hard enough as it is, scratching up a living in this country, without some bureaucrat telling them what and what they cant do on their own land... so they want to take out a few trees...so what... i say good on him

but if the owner had been from the same place these engines come from...they would have turned a blind eye to it all. oh, sure! sure you can clear fell a few thousand acres! go right ahead!

this country is going to

meanwhile, some developer can tear down trees, historical houses, erect a twenty story building in its place, and gets a reward for providing "housing" despite the fact that the "housing" is built like (i know, i have to undo some of that shoddy work...) while the infrastructure to support all these newly "housed" is sadly lacking...no roads, no transport...less and less jobs...

if youre absolutely loaded, toomuch money to spend in a lifetime, like james packer...youre even allowed to build a "foreigner only" casino!

it seems im the only one that believes only one person ever wins at a casino...the owner! im proud to say ive never set foot in one

 

[HeadSmess]

I agree.




And to think that i haven't seen things coming a long time ago, as has been a consistent theme in my threads and posts.
The Warburton Rail Trail (which by it's name) allows you to think laterally.

I've always wanted to run a steam derrived power unit in my bike. The ultimate device would be replication of a traditional steam engine, with steam cylinders and the puff - puff- puff sound, but the are many other ways to skin a cat:

The is no ruling to say that you can't have external combuster nozels igniting fuel and the gasses being fed into a turbine.
The is no ruling to say that you can't heat water and then direct steam into a turbine.
There is no ruling to say that you can't heat water and then direct steam into a turbine which is attached to an electric generator unit, just like a hybrid gas turbine locomotive.

We have many options, but by far, the (compact) externally combusted gas turbine method looks to be the most promising way to get around these laws. Secondly, a gas turbine power unit is relatively easy to silence, due to it's consistent exhaust gas flow.

We still have many options available to us. It just needs someone who has engineering facilities at their disposal to (selectively) make an alternative power unit available to those people are going to operate their bike in a responsible manner.

I agree.

unfortunately, a small scale steam turbine, as you describe, is virtually impossible. small size= many compromises and therefore, extremely low efficiency. look at some of the attempts by model engineers... (steam hydroplane models is a good start)

( oh. you said gas turbine... even more complex! if its a standard jet type...too small to produce useful torque and is still classed as "internal combustion". external combustors raise thermal exchange issues. then the speed they have to spin at... turbine reduction gearing uses some of the most accurate gear finishing methods yet devised. getting 50,000 rpm + down to 500 or so rpm is fraught with complexity! and the metals required are rather expensive)

while the idea is nice...in practise, they dont work when small. labyrinth gland seals? steam leakage passages directed to lower pressure stages? impulse or reaction type? (reaction types need to spin fast and then explode, the impulse type require extremely accurate machining)

it is far better to stick with the standard reciprocating piston...

ideally, something like this...




YAY! i didnt just accidentally click the wrong thing again and undo everything i just wrote this time!

remove the fake plugs. retain the compactness. a motorised bike has no need for reversing gear. use fixed cutoff rather than adjustable cutoff, though adjustable has its benefits...


steam is excellent as it produces much the same torque, irrelevant of speed of rotation. its all based on piston area, stroke, and steam pressure.

the issue becomes the boiler required... and lubrication!

our society is spoilt, and requires, demands! instant power!

ive had the luck of being taken for a spin in an old stanley steamer...theres a ten minute starting process. the same person owns a steam shovel, three sentinel lorries, and numerous other steam engines...even his workshop uses overhead shafting with a steam engine out the back! unfortunately he is (insert transport ministers last name here) and one cant feel safe in his presence...

you need fuel(pumps). you need feed pumps. you need lubrication. you need drains, pressure relief valves, and a thorough understanding of the engine itself...

i live near hornsby model engineers... http://www.hme.org.au/ when i enquired about membership, showed some interest, but a desire to do something besides make scale models of existing locomotives...i was politely told to go shove it! they have no imagination... skills aplenty, knowledge in abundance...but absolutely no desire to "break the mould"


aforementioned steam enthusiast is the only person who was interested in a genuine small size steam engine, rather than a mere "scale model". ie... something industrial, rather than "authentic". simply to run the feed pumps on his 80ft steam launch...wow, those engines he had were HUGE!

 

[lazylightning@mail.r]

Wow! I had so much damage to my cylinder and piston but the compression is quite high and it runs fine! I tried using 1mm rings with a modified piston, but the rings just scraped of alot of cylinder coating in just a short ride. Later, a brand new stock ring gut hung on the exhaust port for no clear reason and snaped and damaged the piston and cylinder. Soooo....my cylinder is looking like chop suey and runs just fine. I just used a small file to clean off the sharp edges (especially the exhaust port edge that had been able to catch a ring). So I would say in non-bearing related siezure's, you can just clean up the cylinder and maybe the piston and ride on.

 

[lazylightning@mail.r]

Whoa! Banning motorized bicycles in Australia? Holy Schmidt! Come on guys! You got to all get out on the streets together and protest!!! Those dumb stick sucking politicians just want to make a scapegoat out of motorized bicyclists! Make the call guys. Call out to everyone to come out on their bikes and make protest rides! There's a number of possibilities here. For one there could be an age limit here. But don't mention that until you're well into the strikes because your going to need the help of all those young people. You could have protest rides that end up with blocking of streets. At one point bikes could even just have cardboard pictures of engines on them, but the kids could be out there blocking highways. That way if the bike gets destroyed or confiscated during the protest, it was just a rusty old bike with a cardboard model of an engine.
Here in Russia, there were literally tens of millions of motorized bicycles on the roads. Every man over 50 years of age had one in their childhood. They became popular in the thirties and were widespread until the breakup of the USSR. They are something like apple pie and mom to Americans here to Russians. We feel confident that they can never be banned here. We offer our solidarity and respect to our Australian biking brothers. In case of long drawn out conflict, we will be glad to offer partizans reactive artillery systems Grad and Smerch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BM-21_Grad, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BM-30_Smerch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BM-30_Smerch). Automatic grenade launchers AGS 17 and AGS 30. Lite arms, Ak74s and RPG's of different types. Anti-tank rockets Coronet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k_wHDleXio
Well, you guys should try the grassroots demonstrations first. It will be best if you can catch the politicians with their pants down and expose them for what they are. You might be able to get a comprimise. With an age limit of 18 years of age, perhaps a scooter class liscence or something like that.

 

[lazylightning@mail.r]

I suggest you find as many people as possible in Australia and other countries through these forums and get them to sign a petition to the government.

I just sent a complaint to the NSW Transport at this link:

http://www.transportnsw.info/en/contact-us/feedback/walk-cycle.page?

What I wrote:

Dear Sirs or Madame,

I would like to object to NSW Minister Duncan ***'s efforts to have all motored bicycles banned from roads in NSW. Obviously the concerns about young drivers is legitimate. However, drivers that are 18 years of age and older and have a proper liscence to drive a moped should not have their rights violated by this populist political hysteria. If a driver is obeying posted speed limits, they will have no problem braking in time even when using the most primitve of bicycle braking systems. Moreover, not wearing a helmet and trying to flee from police patrol vehicles is an act of wrecklessness and extreme danger that cannot be presented as an example of the result of people using motorized bicycles.
I would like to ask your representative's of government to please take into consideration the transport and cultural needs of mopedists in NSW. After all, the motorized bicycle is at the root of the history of all motorized transport. Such vehicles are also very convenient for a certain type of transport needs. Please consider the different options available for restricting the age group riding on the streets in the first place, and perhaps requiring some kind of moped liscence for the users of these bicycles.

Best Regards,
Paul Spangler

 

[troyg]

I suggest you find as many people as possible in Australia and other countries through these forums and get them to sign a petition to the government.

I just sent a complaint to the NSW Transport at this link:

http://www.transportnsw.info/en/contact-us/feedback/walk-cycle.page?

What I wrote:

Dear Sirs or Madame,

I would like to object to NSW Minister Duncan ***'s efforts to have all motored bicycles banned from roads in NSW. Obviously the concerns about young drivers is legitimate. However, drivers that are 18 years of age and older and have a proper liscence to drive a moped should not have their rights violated by this populist political hysteria. If a driver is obeying posted speed limits, they will have no problem braking in time even when using the most primitve of bicycle braking systems. Moreover, not wearing a helmet and trying to flee from police patrol vehicles is an act of wrecklessness and extreme danger that cannot be presented as an example of the result of people using motorized bicycles.
I would like to ask your representative's of government to please take into consideration the transport and cultural needs of mopedists in NSW. After all, the motorized bicycle is at the root of the history of all motorized transport. Such vehicles are also very convenient for a certain type of transport needs. Please consider the different options available for restricting the age group riding on the streets in the first place, and perhaps requiring some kind of moped liscence for the users of these bicycles.

Best Regards,
Paul Spangler

That's one of the nicest and coolest gestures made.Though truly positive in action, I believe it's a wasted effort, I doubt AU would care about what other countrymen think or care, and also doubt they care what their own countrymen think, AU is kind of a done deal, a "canary in the cave" to let the rest of us know what to watch out for as far as government overreach.

 

[lazylightning@mail.r]

That's one of the nicest and coolest gestures made.Though truly positive in action, I believe it's a wasted effort, I doubt AU would care about what other countrymen think or care, and also doubt they care what their own countrymen think, AU is kind of a done deal, a "canary in the cave" to let the rest of us know what to watch out for as far as government overreach.

Yes, but we should try to use peaceful methods before we start the weapons shipments from Russia to the Australian Revolutionary Militias. ;-)

 

[Fabian]

Most Australians are so weak that even if they did get their hands on weapons shipments from Russia, they would take them to the nearest police station, so the police could confiscate the weapons and resell them on the black market.

Those very people would then be charged with weapons offences and thrown in jail, or maybe sent to Guantanamo Bay.

 

[lazylightning@mail.r]

Most Australians are so weak that even if they did get their hands on weapons shipments from Russia, they would take them to the nearest police station, so the police could confiscate the weapons and resell them on the black market.

Those very people would then be charged with weapons offences and thrown in jail, or maybe sent to Guantanamo Bay.

Of course I was just jokin ;-) With time perhaps, some rights can be re-instated. Maybe the motorized bicycle will be allowed on the roads again someday. What about off-road driving though?