10/1: Monocycle

Oh yeah! This guy's name is Kerry McLean, and his vehicle is powered by a 40hp engine. He claims it's road legal.

His top speed so far is 57 mph but he hopes to reach 100. He can steer easily by leaning. He spins a little when he stops or accelerates but hopes to solve that problem.

i wouldn't guess that it's particularly safe though. crikey. i'd never ride a motorcycle on the road for the same reason. it's cool, but if you get hit in that thing...

also, bet it's gotta suck in bad rain

Yeah, but how do you make a u-turn?!

Also, did this guy consider roadkill as an issue... I mean, one deer and you're dead... what about headlights?!

DID ANYONE THINK ABOUT THE HEADLIGHTS?!

But yeah, that looks pretty fun...

Chronos... are you Jerry?? If not, sorry, but we had an old Cellarite named Chronos...

Reminds me of the guy who attached his lawnchair to a weather balloon and took off for the stratosphere. I don't think he thought about the details of what he was doing either. As I recall he only took a BB gun and a six pack of beer.

Nope, not jerry.

NOW YOU HAVE 3 SUNRISES TO GUESS MY NAME, MORTALS, OR YOUR FIRSTBORN SON IS MINE!

MWAHHAHAHAHAHAH!@#@#$

er, That's rumpelstiltskin, wrong story.

Anyway, Jerry I am not, I am really new here.

That was just version 1.0!

Evidently this guy Kerry has a passion for making things go fast. Not only did he take the record for the fastest bar stool at the Budweiser sponsored race on the salt flats but he has also improved upon the monocycle idea. After all BIGGER is better! You can find out more about him at http://www.americanroadshop.com/Bull...etin_board.htm

allllllright!

That Rocks!

Judging from his helmet choice, I'd say saftey is way down the list. Picture this... a grand scale skateboard type park populated by dozens of monocycles, big smooth curves knobs etc... I wonder how an endoro model would behave? Thats it, time to bag this ...I'm going mtn biking. later g

you know. in that second picture, it looks like he's got a pretty nice shop to be doing all this stuff. which means he's probably well financed. which means he can probably produce a few of these and sell them. could you imagine seeing people riding these around?

anyway... like i said, i don't think i'd ever ride it on the road...but on a track or something, sure... looks like it'd be fun, although i'd be concerned about stopping... guess you have to really come to a stop... if you get cut off in one of those things and the person in front of you slams on their brakes, you're fooked...

WOW

Oh man, that looks so cool! I want one just like it for myself.

The shop space that is.

Couple issues with the "bike" or whatever it's called.

1) no windshield.
2) no clear view ahead. What a blind spot!
3) suspension?


Then again, it may be safer than a motorcycle in a front-end crash. Is there an off-road version with a big knobby tire?

THing tha got me is how easy it be to tip sideways and rip all the flesh off your arm/side.....

v8 version

check this one out from the BB site:
http://www.americanroadshop.com/Bull...rryV-8-1_L.JPG

oh ya one more thing:

What happens if you lock the brake?

In an ordinary multi-axle vehicle, stopping the wheels transforms the vehicle from something that can roll to something that can't. You slide instead, quickly using up stored energy.

In this thing, you lock the brake, but the vehicle can still roll. So there you are, stuck to the inside, going around and around, using up almost no stored energy! You couldn't stop!

You'd be stuck to the seat from the incredible G-forces caused by spinning. From that perspective, you're still level although a tad heavy, and *the rest of the world is doing flips around you*. It would scare the cr*p out of you if nothing else.

So there you'd be...
just spinnin' and pooin', spinnin' and pooin' ...

Don't look for those things at your local dealer anytime soon...

<i>So there you'd be... just spinnin' and pooin', spinnin' and pooin' ...</i>

Haw! Good 'un! I'm just glad I wasn't drinking milk when I read that... *snort*

the spinnin' and pooin' thing was a reference to the picture you posted of the mule deer on the ice... i was at work when i read it, and i laughed out loud... i think it was sapienza that made the comment...

The basic physics of this thing is pretty wierd. It seems to me that the only way this thing could possibly move is if it's basically a big roller bearing and the engine pushes the outer race relative to the inner (where you sit). The only thing keeping the rider from rotating is the inertia of himself, the engine, and the other mechanical bits -- it's like a big gerbil wheel that's not attached to anything!

i gotta get me one of those.....