Hey, Gang,

I'm Jitenchakun. It kinda means "Bicycle-Boy" in Japanese, though I'm a native of California. (I just like Japanese culture too.)

I'm a big bicycle rider! Actually, I've always been a pure "sweat & muscle" cyclist, but now, since I'm a mechanical designer & a machinist, I wanna get creative. I wanna build crazy cool stuff, like a recumbent with a stirling engine in the back, or maybe even a nutating disk engine that runs on steam. Lots of ideas.

I'm here looking for wisdom & inspiration. Where can I read up on augmenting a pedal-driven system with motor-power in a smooth & efficient manner? Has anyone built a steam-aided cycle? What about chemical rocket boosters? (Is that over the top? )

In any case, I've already been finding good info here since this morning. I look forward to hearing thoughts from all of you with more experience than me.

Best,

Jack

freewheeling frank said:

how bout a recumbant qith a pulse jet

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LOL, it's not as crazy as it sounds! There's a few guys out there making hydrogen peroxide thrusters for bicycles. Plus, tacking on a few large hobby rocket engines would be very simple, even though they burn out & need to be replaced after each boost sequence.

I may end up starting with that kit McBikerton is looking to buy; much more straigthtforward. Yet I'm really kinda itching for the tinkering end of machining a simple engine in the shop & testing it out on my rig. Probably a single-cylinder free-piston air-cooled stirling engine running on propane. I could kmanage that, I think...

ferball said:

There is a jet bike out there, look for it on you tube it is wicked cool. It looks like you would need to be insane to ride it though.

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I looked & found out Frank wasn't kidding; there are actual pulse jet bicycles out there! Amazing, if a bit loud.

msrfan said:

Cool ideas. Sterling engines were mainly used for water pumps, fans and things with very low power requirements. Maybe you can get mega power yield from one with a new design. Keep us posted.

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You're right. This would be a small boost, more of a novelty than anything else. Unless of course it were paired with a battery & electric motor like Dean Kamen is working on. This is what got me looking at other designs, like the nutating disc; that would have some punch to it, though it would be much more challenging to design & build. OTOH, it could run on steam!

BiMoPed said:

Steam? Lots of very creative builders here. Fishguts is something else.
http://motorbicycling.com/f41/something-new-kinda-sorta-100-years-23307-32.html

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Great thread for me to start with; thanks, BMP.