pairing two bikes to row?

Hollo,

I am planning to attach two bikes in parallel to mount a rowing
mechanism in the middle, I think it will be more realistic that a
"standard" row bike; for instance I will be able to turn by padding an
oar faster than the other.

In principle the device is simple, one string to pull, another to
recover, just tying them to the two pedals. But I would like to know
about similar machines, to get better ideas. Any pointers?

Alejandro Rivero

PS: if it works, I will use lateral wheels to center the device in an
abandoned railway.

Does the abandoned railway still have its tracks? You could build some
sort of rowing locomotive. You could even have carriages with
passengers. That would be cool.

A

PS I volunteer myself as conductor and/or signalman.




wrote:
Hollo,

I am planning to attach two bikes in parallel to mount a rowing
mechanism in the middle, I think it will be more realistic that a
"standard" row bike; for instance I will be able to turn by padding an
oar faster than the other.

In principle the device is simple, one string to pull, another to
recover, just tying them to the two pedals. But I would like to know
about similar machines, to get better ideas. Any pointers?

Alejandro Rivero

PS: if it works, I will use lateral wheels to center the device in an
abandoned railway.

Alistair Potts wrote:
Does the abandoned railway still have its tracks? You could build some
sort of rowing locomotive. You could even have carriages with
passengers. That would be cool.

Hi Allistar,

Yep, most of Spanish abandoned railroad has been removed (using biking
as an excuse for private interests, but that is another history) but
fortunately there are there extant railways in Castilla, all the three
over 100 miles. I could even to combine bike and electric bike -with a
dynamo to load battery- in order to keep speed while resting.

The only problem is to keep the bike wheels in the track. An standard
train uses conical wheels, that works because of the weight of the
train, but it could not work with a light vehicle.

In article .com,
says...



Alistair Potts wrote:
Does the abandoned railway still have its tracks? You could build some
sort of rowing locomotive. You could even have carriages with
passengers. That would be cool.

Hi Allistar,

Yep, most of Spanish abandoned railroad has been removed (using biking
as an excuse for private interests, but that is another history) but
fortunately there are there extant railways in Castilla, all the three
over 100 miles. I could even to combine bike and electric bike -with a
dynamo to load battery- in order to keep speed while resting.

The only problem is to keep the bike wheels in the track. An standard
train uses conical wheels, that works because of the weight of the
train, but it could not work with a light vehicle.


I thought trains used a combination of a flange on the inside edge of the
wheel combined with a conical shape. I didn't think that the weight was
needed for the conical shape to help, I recall seeing a demo many years
ago which I think mentioned the larger diameter of the wheel as the
auto-centering mechanism rather than the weight of the train, but my
memory may well be faulty. The different effective diameters of the wheels
would tend to centre the train between the tracks with a fixed axle system
at least.

Douglas

"Douglas MacFarlane" wrote: (clip) The different effective diameters of the
wheels would tend to centre the train between the tracks with a fixed axle
system at least.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
As the train rounds a curve, it tends toward the outside, placing the
smaller diameter part of the wheel in contact on the inside of the curve,
and the larger diameter on the outside. This acts as a "differential," to
let the wheels roll without slipping.

Seriously, it would be great to do it on the track. Because then you'd
have something really unique. Maybe you could find one of those bogies
that are manually-powered with a sort of see-saw device. That would be a
good start.



Leo Lichtman wrote:
"Douglas MacFarlane" wrote: (clip) The different effective diameters of the
wheels would tend to centre the train between the tracks with a fixed axle
system at least.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
As the train rounds a curve, it tends toward the outside, placing the
smaller diameter part of the wheel in contact on the inside of the curve,
and the larger diameter on the outside. This acts as a "differential," to
let the wheels roll without slipping.

Alistair Potts ha escrito:

Seriously, it would be great to do it on the track. Because then you'd
have something really unique. Maybe you could find one of those bogies
that are manually-powered with a sort of see-saw device. That would be a
good start.

Actually, you can do a see-saw bogie by attaching an axis... to the
pedals between both bikes! Very simple. Then you attach a vertical bar
to this axis, and ready to pump.

Alejandro

In article .com,
wrote:

Hollo,

I am planning to attach two bikes in parallel to mount a rowing
mechanism in the middle, I think it will be more realistic that a
"standard" row bike; for instance I will be able to turn by padding an
oar faster than the other.

In principle the device is simple, one string to pull, another to
recover, just tying them to the two pedals. But I would like to know
about similar machines, to get better ideas. Any pointers?

Alejandro Rivero

PS: if it works, I will use lateral wheels to center the device in an
abandoned railway.

maybe you could get some ideas from the Sun Quadribent
http://www.beststuff.com/images/articles/072205a7.jpg

Suggest you take a look at www.wekapassrailway.co.nz/jiggers.htm.

Scroll down to 3 wheel Hand Operated Velocipede. This is the way the
railways of old did it.

The fettler powered it used a vertical lever actuating around the
centre onto a crank. The crank drove through a gear onto the axle. The
arms and legs are used. A bit like rowing but the arms pulled and the
legs pushed at the same time.

In some old Western movies (Blazing Saddles) you might see the pump
action trolley which was "rowed" standing up using arms and backs
largely.

To clear up some misconceptions, tapered wheels are used on trains to
centralise the wheel /axle set between the rails to reduce flange wear,
weight is not a factor. In turns, yes, the flanges scrub, this is the
bane of railway bogie designers.

It is entirely possible to build what you are after out of bike parts
plus a lot of ingenuity, Good Luck.

Google 'railbike' and you will find plenty to be getting on with.