A Bicycle Can Cut Friction in Half, called "Half Bicycle"

People like bicycle, do not like tricycle or quadracycle--4 wheels
bike, because on bicycle only two wheels touch the ground (minimum
friction), also is easy and safe to be ridden.

Ideally cyclist should like to ride a unicycle, because friction only
existed between one wheel and the ground (cut friction in half compare
with on a bicycle), but ride a unicycle need special skills and not
safe.

Based on a normal bicycle, this "Half Bicycle" modified some parts:
Cyclist’s set is moved backward (also hand-bar is extended backward),
to make sure centre of gravity of the bicycle is around on back wheel
B.

wrote: (clip) This means friction between
wheels and the ground is cut in half. In other words this bicycle only
needs half amount of human power to travel in same speed (or same
distance) as a normal bicycle.(clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Air friction doesn't count?

wrote:

People like bicycle, do not like tricycle or quadracycle--4 wheels
bike, because on bicycle only two wheels touch the ground (minimum
friction), also is easy and safe to be ridden.

Ideally cyclist should like to ride a unicycle, because friction only
existed between one wheel and the ground (cut friction in half compare
with on a bicycle), but ride a unicycle need special skills and not
safe.

Based on a normal bicycle, this "Half Bicycle" modified some parts:
Cyclist’s set is moved backward (also hand-bar is extended backward),
to make sure centre of gravity of the bicycle is around on back wheel
B.

Cyclist can ride this bicycle as a normal bicycle by moving centre of
gravity toward front. If road condition is good, cyclist want to
increase speed, he can move centre of gravity backward little bit and
make sure the centre of gravity is on back wheel B. At the same time,
front wheel A will be left from the ground, the bicycle becomes a
unicycle, only wheel B touches the ground. This means friction between
wheels and the ground is cut in half. In other words this bicycle only
needs half amount of human power to travel in same speed (or same
distance) as a normal bicycle.

Oh, where to start?

OK, to address your last statement first, you assume that the friction
of tires on the ground are the only source of loss for a moving
cyclist. If only it were so! None of us here would ever have to
resort to the use of a motor vehicle.

Second, you seem to assume that rolling resistance is proportional to
the number of tires in contact with the ground. That is not correct.
Gross rolling resistance varies more directly in proportion to the
load being carried, almost irrespective of the number of tires
carrying that load.

A third thing you seem to have missed is that tire friction losses in
trikes and quadricycles are mainly due to disagreements between wheels
as to their orientation versus their direction of travel, especially
in turns. My sidecar wears out its rear tires very quickly due to
major tire scrub, because any time it is moving in a non-straight
path, the two rear tires are traveling along substantially different
radii while pointing in the same direction. There is no getting
around this tendency with a vehicle that has directionally fixed
wheels riding in separate tracks.

http://datribean.com/chalo/images/chair1.jpg
http://datribean.com/chalo/images/chair4.jpg

In the case of this vehicle, making a tight turn with a load in the
sidecar is tantamount to applying the brakes.

Chalo

On 10/1/2008 2:10 PM wrote:

People like bicycle, do not like tricycle or quadracycle--4 wheels

PLONK

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"

On Oct 1, 2:10*pm, wrote:
People like bicycle, do not like tricycle or quadracycle--4 wheels
bike, because on bicycle only two wheels touch the ground (minimum
friction), also is easy and safe to be ridden.

Ideally cyclist should like to ride a unicycle, because friction only
existed between one wheel and the ground (cut friction in half compare
with on a bicycle), but ride a unicycle need special skills and not
safe.

Based on a normal bicycle, this "Half Bicycle" modified some parts:
Cyclist’s set is moved backward (also hand-bar is extended backward),
to make sure centre of gravity of the bicycle is around on back wheel
B.

Cyclist can ride this bicycle as a normal bicycle by moving centre of
gravity toward front. If road condition is good, cyclist want to
increase speed, he can move centre of gravity backward little bit and
make sure the centre of gravity is on back wheel B. At the same time,
front wheel A will be left from the ground, the bicycle becomes a
unicycle, only wheel B touches the ground. This means friction between
wheels and the ground is cut in half. In other words this bicycle only
needs half amount of human power to travel in same speed (or same
distance) as a normal bicycle.

More detail and pictures onwww.freelights.co.uk/bike.html

This is absolute nonsense. When riding a wheelie, far more energy is
expended maintaining balance than could possibly be lost to rolling
resistance.

Chalo wrote:

wrote:

snip absurd claims of halving power and your correct rebuttal

A third thing you seem to have missed is that tire friction losses in
trikes and quadricycles are mainly due to disagreements between wheels
as to their orientation versus their direction of travel, especially
in turns. My sidecar wears out its rear tires very quickly due to
major tire scrub, because any time it is moving in a non-straight
path, the two rear tires are traveling along substantially different
radii while pointing in the same direction. There is no getting
around this tendency with a vehicle that has directionally fixed
wheels riding in separate tracks.

http://datribean.com/chalo/images/chair1.jpg
http://datribean.com/chalo/images/chair4.jpg

In the case of this vehicle, making a tight turn with a load in the
sidecar is tantamount to applying the brakes.

Chalo

With the sidecar wheel staggered forward from the rear wheel,
there can never be a common center of radius for all three wheels,
except in a straight line (infinite turn radius). But if the rear
wheel and sidecar wheel were on the same line perpendicular to
forward travel, you would not have this scrub problem. It may not
be practical to do this and still keep the center of gravity safely
well within the triangle of tire contact patches. Interesting
vehicle.

Dave Lehnen

someone wrote:

People like bicycle, do not like tricycle or quadracycle--4 wheels
bike, because on bicycle only two wheels touch the ground (minimum
friction), also is easy and safe to be ridden.

Ideally cyclist should like to ride a unicycle, because friction
only existed between one wheel and the ground (cut friction in half
compare with on a bicycle), but ride a unicycle need special skills
and not safe.

Based on a normal bicycle, this "Half Bicycle" modified some parts:
Cyclist’s set is moved backward (also hand-bar is extended
backward), to make sure centre of gravity of the bicycle is around
on back wheel B.

I think you have your telecope on backward and are seeing spooks where
they are not. Bicycling has two significant losses, that of wind drag
and climbing hills. Rolling along on flat ground is close to
effortless until speed aprochaes aeroynamic losses. Wheel bearings
and road contact represent trivial and insignificant losses that only
becom significant in competition where riders travel about three or
more times as fast as transportation bicyclsts.

Cyclist can ride this bicycle as a normal bicycle by moving centre
of gravity toward front. If road condition is good, cyclist want to
increase speed, he can move centre of gravity backward little bit
and make sure the centre of gravity is on back wheel B. At the same
time, front wheel A will be left from the ground, the bicycle
becomes a unicycle, only wheel B touches the ground. This means
friction between wheels and the ground is cut in half. In other
words this bicycle only needs half amount of human power to travel
in same speed (or same distance) as a normal bicycle.

More detail and pictures on www.freelights.co.uk/bike.html

Spare me the exercise. This whole idea is based on incorrect beliefs.

Jobst Brandt

wrote:
People like bicycle, do not like tricycle[...]

Hey, I have been declared a non-person!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19704682@N08/2661128680/

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
If my posts in general annoy or offend, please kill-file.