Flywheel Bicycle Demo.mov

Flywheel Bicycle by Maxwell von Stein. Courtesy the Cooper Union.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Flywheel
• Bicycle
• Demo
• low
• res

[jdmaccord9396]

same question here as td12funk: does that relatively small flywheel actually give significant boost, and how is the gyroscopic effect when riding the bike at normal or high speed? is it hard to turn the bike? is it hard to dodge road obstacles at normal or high speed because the bike "wants" to go in a straight line because of the gyro effect? anyway, great implementation of a great idea that's been kicked around for a long while in the bike mod community, nice work!

[brent3190]

Great concept, don't know if it is practical to tote that extra weight around. Either way, the design is well thought out. After all of the work you spent designing the bike and building it, I wish you would have spent a little more time to do a useful demo. Cool work, though.

[junkano]

didn't see you increasing speed really..

[stopglobalswarming]

Not sure if it's really faster or not, but if it's fun you will bike more, so that is a good idea.

[mojokiss]

@DDDyson or just charge a large capacitor on breaking, with magnetic resistance and keep the bike lighter weight, etc. but also use a torsion spring to help bear the load of braking, also recursive, so maybe a combination. i was just thinkin of the capacitor idea today. not sure... would be high voltage tho potentially.

[TheOriginalEntz]

@jdmaccord9396 so long as you don't turn while breaking hard you should be fine. you can be still or pedal and turn - the fly wheel is s tationar.

[Apjooz]

@TD12Funk

The energy requirement for this isn't huge. 200-300 watts could already be a significant boost, and used for 3 minutes only requires 36-54 kJ of stored energy.

[Apjooz]

@TD12Funk

I disagree! Heh. Most of all I think that the flywheel would come in handy on uphills. I personally get frustrated when I bike travel an hour and those 3 or 4 uphills, that I clear in 5 minutes total, takes most of my energy. And then on downhill I have to wear out my brakes, if only that potential energy could be stored to flywheel and then used on the uphill.

[laferriere78]

who made the CVT?

[manouchk38]

I love the concpet but the video is not very convincing!

[cyberpine]

Awesome work and demonnstration!... But wiish you had done your test in a straight away and not pedaled during recovery. Also, is there any energy cost during pedaling? Certainly some cost in added weight. It would seem you need a much bigger flywheel. Thanks.