Poll: For science!

[Souplex]

People keep on talking about how explosiveness is an issue however they forget one thing... It will be a flying bicycle! Nothing on it could be reasonably expected to trigger an explosion.

Yes but if you float into power lines....

Also its a half-decent idea but it has way to many flaws, also whats controlling lift? How are you supposed to land the thing once its in the air?

Post 37 explains how I plan to control altitude; the whole point of this thread is for people to find and correct flaws.

 

[joystickjunki3]

Just sounds impractical.

 

[Blackadder51]

Post 37 explains how I plan to control altitude; the whole point of this thread is for people to find and correct flaws.

Fixed..

So you land on the propeller?

 

[Souplex]

So you land on the propeller?

There will be a box frame around it to prevent it from breaking against the ground or cutting your legs. You will simply land on the frame.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I'm totally for it, but ditch the bicycle form, switch to a polycarbonate or other polymer based kayak-form, supplant the pedal-to-wheel system for one favoring a medium length wing comprised of the same materials we use to make stiff kites, keep everything mechanical, and we've got ourselves a plan. Though, you're thinking too base with helium. There's other means of lift, other substances that can be mixed to yeild a steady supply of lighter-than-air gases to provide lift. By adapting the hot air balloon chute system, you could control altitude and descent, and by using something like the zeppeling design instead of the balloon design, or a combination of the two, you could streamline so that you get more speed. You could coat the fabric in a lightweight epoxy resin solution, to stop people like our dear friends Cowbell40 and Neonbob from having at their devious fun. Wouldn't stop bullets, but if you were to carry some extra resin and some spare yardage of fabric, a quick patch should fix that, if it came up.

 

[Cliff_m85]

Hydrogen is very very dangerous, after all hydrogen is what they used to make the atomic bomb.

 

[somekindarobot]

On mythbuster's they made a fully grown man on a lawn chair fly 100ft with just a number of weather balloons. It should only take minor modification to fall in line with your idea. Especially if you only want to hover 5 or 10 feet.

The biggest problem would be altitude control I think.

My plan is to have the combined weight of pilot and vehicle be as light as possible while still being positive. There will be a vertical propellar *I know I spelt it wrong* underneath the bike and a horizontal propellar on the rear and instead of a gear shift there would be a mechanism that lets you switch between or use both propellars. If you were to not pedal the thing would begin to descend.

If someone could draw up some concept art to help people understand what I am talking about that would be nice.

Actually it would be more efficient to lose the extra weight of the bottom propeller and use elevators instead. Those will be attached to the horizontal fins. The main problem with this is it would be quite bulky, perhaps more than people are willing to deal with. Also it would be rather expensive.

 

[TheLastCylon]

Mad Max would love this.

 

[Souplex]

Hydrogen is very very dangerous, after all hydrogen is what they used to make the atomic bomb.

Hydrogen is the most abundant substance in the universe. They use uranium and plutonium to make your standard A-Bomb, you are thinking of the H-bomb and that requires very specific conditions.

Snip

Actually it would be more efficient to lose the extra weight of the bottom propeller and use elevators instead. Those will be attached to the horizontal fins. The main problem with this is it would be quite bulky, perhaps more than people are willing to deal with. Also it would be rather expensive.

Yes but then you would only be able to go up when you go forward. I would like to be able to go up from a standstill.

 

[Cliff_m85]

Hydrogen is very very dangerous, after all hydrogen is what they used to make the atomic bomb.

Hydrogen is the most abundant substance in the universe. They use uranium and plutonium to make your standard A-Bomb, you are thinking of the H-bomb and that requires very specific conditions.

I think you're thinking of the nuclear bomb.

 

[somekindarobot]

Hydrogen is very very dangerous, after all hydrogen is what they used to make the atomic bomb.

Hydrogen is the most abundant substance in the universe. They use uranium and plutonium to make your standard A-Bomb, you are thinking of the H-bomb and that requires very specific conditions.

Snip

Actually it would be more efficient to lose the extra weight of the bottom propeller and use elevators instead. Those will be attached to the horizontal fins. The main problem with this is it would be quite bulky, perhaps more than people are willing to deal with. Also it would be rather expensive.

Yes but then you would only be able to go up when you go forward. I would like to be able to go up from a standstill.

Well it was YOUR idea to use an airship design, and lets face it, they're hardly the most nimble of aircraft. Also you haven't addressed the issue of bulk. Sorry if I sound harshly critical.

 

[Souplex]

Also you haven't addressed the issue of bulk. Sorry if I sound harshly critical.

Don't be, the point of this thread is to find and correct the flaws.

 

[Souplex]

It seems we have been beaten to the punch...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANAt0e_J9aY
It doesn't fly but still...

 

[blaze96]

Hydrogen is very very dangerous, after all hydrogen is what they used to make the atomic bomb.

Hydrogen is the most abundant substance in the universe. They use uranium and plutonium to make your standard A-Bomb, you are thinking of the H-bomb and that requires very specific conditions.

I think you're thinking of the nuclear bomb.

No the Atomic Bomb relies on Uranium-235 to split the nucleus of an atom, that causes a chain reaction of exploded atoms until the energy falls below that required to sustain a fission reaction. You are thinking of the hydrogen bomb, which instead uses hydrogen to jump start a fusion reaction. The fusion reaction occurs between isotopes of hydrogen and then fissles into a fission based one for a majority of the explosion. Both of these weapons fall under the category of nuclear weapons. So it goes like this (imagine lines connecting upper to lower)

................................Nuclear Weapons

......Hydrogen Bombs(fusion)........Atomic Bombs(fission)

There are other types like Boosted fission and neutron bombs, but these can fall under fusion or fission generally speaking.

 

[Xaryn Mar]

Is helium really That expensive? Also, hydrogen is cheaper and I am fairly certain it is more buoyant. The reason it is not in blimps is the whole explosiveness thing however I don't see that as a problem on bikes. Also, not all of the buoyant gas needs to be overhead, a smaller portion can be in that area where people put their drink holders.

Helium is expensive (haven't got any numbers though) and much more expensive than Hydrogen. One of the reasons for Helium being expensive is that it is quite rare here on Earth (in the universe it is another matter. It makes up around 24% of the matter, Hydrogen being 75% and everything else combined around 1%) and there is no way to keep Helium on Earth once it is produced.
If released into the air it will escape the atmosphere and leak into space, since Earth is not massive enough to hold it. The same actually goes for Hydrogen.

 

[notsosavagemessiah]

quote="Souplex" post="18.128777.2771376"]People keep on talking about how explosiveness is an issue however they forget one thing... It will be a flying bicycle! Nothing on it could be reasonably expected to trigger an explosion.[/quote]

so when it did explode it'd be kinda like this? http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2003/hetherington/final/images/hindenburg2.jpg

BUT WITH BIKES????? OH THE HUMANITY!!!!

 

[akIceman]

There wasn't a poll answer for me so I just voted not really. Really of course it could work, but to what point? What would make it any better than just riding in a balloon or hang-gliding or some other cheaper, more reliable form of flying?

Powered Hang-gliding?