Steam Bike (steam powered bicycle)

[StinkySQL]

What a great Son.

[MrTpengineer]

This guy must have a car with a v8 steam engine in it lol

[magnesium111]

a man of class

[oeyesea]

I'm thinking the bad thing about steam engines is; you could run out of boiler fuel and water supply. I would be curious to see what one of those tankless waterheaters or hotwater-on-demand type things would do though. To my best knowledge the electric engine is the most efficient engine ( I'm counting nuclear reactors out ).

[edwardschlosser1]

@oeyesea Electric engines run on coal. Coal is used to generate most of the energy in the US, so when you plug it in, you are essentially running your electric car on coal.

[pivotous]

Your dad is and was a steaming genius, dude.

[AustralianPyro]

and thus steampunk was born.

[j241865]

long live the steam engine!!

[TSR1989B]

I remember a Similar example being covered on "BBC-Top Gear" once.

(Although that one was british in origin)

They discribed it as...

"Someone who's taken one Ancient Technology... one Outdated technology... & he's combined them to create something genually Useless"

(Of course "Top Gear" is a Car review Programme which views Bicycles rather Negitively so it's a bit of a mute point, all historical technological quirks & innovations should be celebrated i think).

[fizzguts]

@ArchangelVsWorld

Good point and of course hot rock/geothermal as a heat source. Should have said "external heat source" or qualified fuel with "in mobile applications"

Cheers

[disneylandfreak98]

is that a SHAY locomotive @ 1:53 theegr1, do you know what happened to it

and what gauge/scale it is?

[CaneFu]

This is interesting but an even more efficient way to use that bicycle is just to pedal the damn thing.

[kdc43]

@CaneFu That's like saying an even more efficient way to use your car is to install pedals and pedal the dang thing....why? Both bike and car have engines.

[CaneFu]

@kdc43

You're wrong & have missed the point entirely. The bicycle already has pedals & works just fine without an engine & keeps the user in shape. The vast majority of people today don't receive enough exercise because their fat asses prefer to drive a car everywhere instead of walk or bicycle - judging by the comments on your page you're probably one of the those fatties who just sits on his computer trolling all day. Leave the bicycle alone as it's already perfectly efficient as is.

[BaronVonBlood1]

a portable steam generator would be ideal for outdoor persuites you could go camping and as long as you have access to wood and water you could power a light or maybe even a portable tv ....nice lol

[Forgefire5]

@BaronVonBlood1

Ya, but make sure you have an ax

[rukus100821]

steam is the best, not oil. steam and water power is the way to go.

[ryan50ryan]

filmed 2 years before i was born.

[kdc43]

@ryan50ryan UR old

[le238man]

This is indeed a very gifted and talented man! Beautiful work!

[BIGCAL50CAL]

Pipe-bomb on wheels.

[creaturebotman]

Steam engines are great but there is one great flaw.

Weather...

Imagine:

You take your steam powered car out on the town...fun...no problem..Its a little chilly out side but what the hell. The town is only about 20 miles away.

You park your steam powered car, go to the bar, have a beer and pick up a few hoes.

Then, outside...it turns from chilly to freezing cold, Your car is a block of ice and you gotta walk back home.

Should of bought a horse.

Steam power isn't practical

[felderup]

@creaturebotman except, that steam cars didn't fill up with steam, then go somewhere, where they cooled and stuck, they made it while running. although filling up with steam for short trips would work perfectly fine.

[creaturebotman]

@felderup

Perhaps you are right.

[fizzguts]

@creaturebotman "Steam power isn't practical"

Well over 20,000 steam cars were built and sold before 1930 The reasons for steam disappearing have to do with fuel efficiency (they were thirsty) cost (they were expensive) and the delay starting from dead cold (maybe one minute for the best steam cars) and finally the driver had to know really well what to do

Freezing? no more a problem then freezing the block and radiator on a gas car

[creaturebotman]

@fizzguts ok

[HJMC3345]

Oh, he was found in the wreck with his hand on the throttle, a scalded to death by the steam.

Oh, and don't forget to keep your eye on the sight glass as well.

Cheers mate!

[gardneross]

That's awesome!

[solboard]

I wanna buy this great guy a beer

[dogggy09]

hey artard steam engines dont use fuel thats why there called STEAM

[fizzguts]

"steam engines dont use fuel thats why there called STEAM"

Wrong

Steam engines use steam from a boiler heated by fuel

[vitraxx]

or coal :)

[ChiLLaXN1337]

@fizzguts you can heat a boiler with sunlight if you can focus some light on it

[Forgefire5]

@fizzguts

Wait, you're actually correcting someone?!

[kawuggie]

that was actually very helpful to me. gave me search criteria. I want to obtain a small steam engine for my Steampunk moped.

[VoodooZmija]

see what happens when we don't have tv or the internet

[scoobydog411]

we need some plans to build it ..

[yourinurine2]

cannot believe this guy is not a millionaire now,and this was back in the mid 80's just more proof the government wants us to be dependent on oil,,heck we would even send thousands half way around the world to die for it,,anyway i liked this video

[fizzguts]

Quote "cannot believe this guy is not a millionaire now,and this was back in the mid 80's just more proof the government wants us to be dependent on oil"

Dude steam engines use fuel, lots of fuel especially ones like this.

It's the fun of doing it, not some weird dark conspiracy.

You can by the plans for the vesuvius steam bike and spend a lot of time and make one.

It's for fun OK?

[litningrod74]

Have to agree here. The process of heating the water to make steam is not very efficient fuel use. That being said, if there were some way create the steam in a much cheaper fashion, steam might become viable.

[TSR1989B]

@litningrod74 Of course a lot of people Forget the "Sterling Engine".

(Very similar to a conventional Steam engine but both Lighter & far more Efficient as well)

She was featured in the Automotive Technology Manual which was manditory to have at the Training Centre where i was based a few years back, Along with all the Conventional Petrol & Deisel Engines / "Wankel Rotory Engine" / "Gas Turbine" etc it pointed out the "Sterling Engine" too & gave it a very detailed & Positive Coverage.

[emaciation]

@fizzguts never heard of an electric boiler? honestly, think before you speak.

i've been studying steam propulsion and LTA flight for some time now, steam balloons have twice the lift of a hot air balloon and in conjunction with a steam engine you can have an insanely efficient airship. electric boilers are extremely convenient for low weight steam vehicles and, particularly using the EV-1 car battery advances which were quickly squashed down by the government, extremely long lasting.

[fizzguts]

@emaciation

FACTS

Battery boiler steam engine = maybe 30% efficiency plus greatly increased weight

Battery electric motor = 90% efficiency

EV-1 battery technology has been far surpassed by Lithium ion

Steam has a greater lifting ability than hot air but the membranes are heavy & the technical problems are huge. How do I know this? I supplied a custom laminated membrane to a steam balloon project.

Helium is much better but costly

Dirigibles are a brilliant solution to a non existent problem

[UprightsRule895]

@fizzguts Hello , Where can I buy the plans for this Vesuvius steam bike? I'm interested in building a steam bicycle, then motorcycle if the bicycle works out. Thanks in advance, Tony Mann

[fizzguts]

@UprightsRule895 Coles Power Models used to have the castings and plans. Currently catalog has the Vesuvius as N/A.

In 2005 Errol J Crammer was selling the kits

Go to the Steam Automobile of America Site search the Forum for the "Vesuvius Steam Bicycle" thread. Address and phone numbers for Errol as of 2005 are there. Sorry don't have any links more recent than that

[PerogiXW]

It doesn't just run on water. You need to have a boiler which would use things like coal to boil water and produce the steam. Unfortunately it's far more expensive than today's engines.

[MockStoneLLC]

well steam power is using coal. and i belive it be environmentalists that dont like the coal to start with. America has tons and tons and tons of coal but the environmentalsits say its to dirty, it may smog up there hybrids...

[woodward9594]

Wow! I am so impressed by that. I agree that the old brass machines were incredibly beautiful. There's something innately fascinating about being able to see all the moving parts. Brings out the curious kid in all of us.

[prcty]

Awesomes!

[gingahayta]

hey theegr1 i am logan anita's son .uncle bob was awesome .were is that awesome bike anyway! i wanna ride if it still works..well thanks reminding me of uncle

[Aspire198]

your dad is awesome he must have some real skill to be able to build steam engines from scratch. Next he should make a steam powered RC car then a full size one lol.

[IronicallyVague]

Your Father was one of the few people left on Earth that made us all look kool.

[CrazyAlvis]

Good stuff, thanks for posting!!

[doncirelli]

I'll bet you had some awesome toys when you were a kid. What an interesting guy your dad must have been. Great video, thanks for posting it.

[thecamraman]

Wow thats neat the homade organ is great as well, what a cool man.

[Smith1775]

That's brilliant!

[Charles2337]

Pretty clever.

[sb6lb3]

lol thats one of the coolest bikes ive seen thanks alot for posting

[rayunseitig]

Great Stuff, Thanks.

[turdtrousers]

Awesome. It must have a tonne of torque.

[jennify]

what a great guy! Thanks for posting!

[adminontrollgubben]

Haha cool!!

[largefilipino]

That rules!