Comments on: Quad Quadricycle

Quad Quadricycle

Kronos_to_Earth — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:09:22 -0800

Destined for display at this year's Burning Man, a very impressive quadricycle is out and about in an early appearance. (via)

An explanation of the machine's name is in this article.

By: Confess, Fletch

Confess, Fletch — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:17:14 -0800

Not really as impressive as this.

By: clearly

clearly — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:22:40 -0800

I'd ride it.

By: clearly

clearly — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:24:33 -0800

Great use of the HPV tag.

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:39:46 -0800

One wheel drive? Is that a good choice over sandy terrain?

By: Confess, Fletch

Confess, Fletch — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:41:52 -0800

One wheel drive? Is that a good choice over sandy terrain? As a member of the winningest Boulder Kinetics team ever I would have to say....no...

By: Kronos_to_Earth

Kronos_to_Earth — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:48:08 -0800

*blushes* Excuse me. Got rid of the tag.

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:49:19 -0800

Sure, sign me up, I'll pedal.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:55:40 -0800

Sweet! I like this one better, though.

By: Artw

Artw — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:55:48 -0800

I'm impressed by the lack of tacked-on shite.

By: TheJoven

TheJoven — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:03:48 -0800

I'm always torn on these homemade contraptions between the 'hey, awesome, you made something" and "holy shit that thing is HEAVY". I need to find a good beginner structural design book that covers the basics, so that at least they can be heavy and effecient instead of heavy and still weak because of the random 'hey, lets put a speed hole right here where the highest stress is!'

By: delmoi

delmoi — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:05:08 -0800

I like how they built their whole frame out of wood first. It would have been pretty cool if they'd left it wood too.

By: supermedusa

supermedusa — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:22:26 -0800

thank you for giving my husband some sort of burningman-invention-nerdquake-artcar-newwheel-inspired aneurism.

By: Sublimity

Sublimity — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:07:12 -0800

How does it steer?

By: punkbitch

punkbitch — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:18:52 -0800

it is steered by hope.

By: mannequito

mannequito — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:26:20 -0800

& fear.

By: Kronos_to_Earth

Kronos_to_Earth — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:29:27 -0800

I've got to type faster. The front left-hand rider has his hand on a tiller-like device in the photo at the top from the second link.

By: Artw

Artw — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:31:13 -0800

These wheels have chains that run straight to the soul of man. The right wheel, friends, the wheel of love.

By: jouke

jouke — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:43:19 -0800

Indeed Confess, when I encounter the bierfiets in Utrecht with a loudly cheering & beering & pedaling lot it always makes me smile. These californians know nothing.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:13:10 -0800

Hey, I could slack off and the other three people wouldn't notice! That beats a tandem bike anyday!

By: mosk

mosk — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:46:01 -0800

I like it, and find it to be an impressive piece of fabrication...but that steering linkage is straight Rube Goldberg. Christ, that's a lot of exposed chains and gears! I wonder why they went nutty on the steering when they did such a nice job with the drive train? I hope they all put their hair up and keep their hands in their laps, or someone is going to come home missing a finger or two. Apart from the steering, I think this is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. Thanks for posting this.

By: roygbv

roygbv — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:05:52 -0800

Needs more carbon fiber.

By: b1tr0t

b1tr0t — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:42:12 -0800

There will be blood.

By: flaterik

flaterik — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:04:37 -0800

Yeah, well, my "art" car needs an engine, but it shoots snow. So there. I've been working on it every free moment for a month, forgive me if I'm a bit single minded.

By: waraw

waraw — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:37:03 -0800

Ok, I am no engineer. Could someone explain to me why it's better to have the spokes go to the center of the rim than to the outside?

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:57:48 -0800

That's the way it works with convnetional bicycles, too. The spokes make triangles, the strogest shape.

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:18:37 -0800

> That's the way it works with conventional bicycles, too. Radial spokes are more likely to flex when there's torque applied to the hub. (This is why you might see radial spokes on the front wheel of a road bike, but never the back). Spokes that traverse the depth of an imaginary cylinder described by the rim and hub make the wheel more resistant to deflection. It looks like where the spokes cross are also welded. Dunno if that helps, but it can't hurt. I'm trying to suppress jokes about Detroit iron here because this is a really cool vehicle, even if it's not particularly practical.

By: damo

damo — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:45:23 -0800

If you watch this video you can get an idea of the kind of forces at play (albeit on a completely different order of magnitude). Pay close attention to the tires a little way in. I totally do this on my folding bicycle all the time.

By: mandal

mandal — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:53:02 -0800

Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey.

By: acro

acro — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:38:18 -0800

It looks like the moon rover, for the 21st century.

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 09:09:56 -0800

It looks like where the spokes cross are also welded. Dunno if that helps, but it can't hurt. Tied and soldered used to be popular, particularly for track wheels, but Jobst says don't bother.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 09:37:01 -0800

It looks like where the spokes cross are also welded. Dunno if that helps, but it can't hurt. Only if they're re-tempered, IMO.

By: oneirodynia

oneirodynia — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 09:39:55 -0800

Knobbies are a huge pain in the ass if the playa gets even a little bit wet. Better to go with steel, IMO.

By: isopraxis

isopraxis — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:39:52 -0800

It needs more rust . . . and a jacob's ladder or two would't hurt either.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:15:39 -0800

Needs more flair.

By: yeara

yeara — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:52:02 -0800

It Looks way heavier than four pairs of bicycles put together. How are they going to get it up hills?

By: ryanrs

ryanrs — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 03:58:33 -0800

Hills?

By: Quinbus Flestrin

Quinbus Flestrin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:15:20 -0800

It's cool and all, but my reaction that nest of over engineered structure was "simplificate and add more lightness." Unless they are going to hang a lot more than four people on, it I can't quite see why they would need that quite that much steel.