Non-Rated eXperimental Bicycles

Designs

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:23:00 +0000

Emailed designer drawings of cabled upright and single tube recumbent over the fall. Thanks for the nice comment.
I've been working on a few things and one of the transistional designs has gone forward where I've managed to envision by lever and tensional cable the rider being able to shift the bike from the upright to the recumbent position, and back again, without losing steering control. Modeling is proving a challenge.
There are just so many features coming forward in just one model that it gets confusing.
Therefore, I feel I need to do a breakout and project spreadsheet to keep up with the necessary changes. Trying to keep them all in my mind - well, it gets to be a bit much as I have to put one aside and pick up another and then,,,, so forth all over again.
I realize I'm being cryptic here but, this is the internet after all.
The transistional frame is first, followed by the expandable cranks, then into the drive train of chain/tube and then the steering/lever.
Part of my problen is in trying to keep all of them going along the same design line without straying too far. I think this is what is making me crazy - trying to control the process. I need to just break them out on their own and let the processes go where they need to go with the confidence that they'll all come together.
Well, I'm glad I had this conversation with myself. Maybe now I can just concentrate one thing at a time! Ugh!

I'm back

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:47:00 +0000

Thanks to Debbie, I discovered my feeds from blogs (James) and have been reading them with renewed interest as others have all of a sudden "discovered" the big blue ocean metaphor of untapped market for bikes(vehicles) but haven't thought to make the transistion from bikes as recreational to bikes as vehicles. U.S. versus Asian concept.
And, as schools of fish swimming around together(using the metaphor) they haven't gone outside the school to ask others not using their product just what they are looking for, and then adapting the bike to fit the asking.

Living with Bumps

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:56:00 +0000

The modeling worked better than expected and there sits one frame which will actively translate from an upright to a recumbent. One part waiting though, is the tensile integrity. The compressional part works and I can make the frame work with compressional members but it will not work correctly if completed in this manner. A number of reasons for this: the tubes used are too lightweight; the compressional members are just there to position points in space but the tensional member not as yet applied will be worked out shortly. In the meantime, there does exist two separate frames presenting themselves as an upright and the other a recumbent using a static tensile system which is acceptable in some circles. If these models have acceptance separately, then it will be yet a small matter to introduce one which moves from one form to the other. Two different approaches have already been worked out for the dynamic tensional system for the translational model but I'm going to just keep it in the box for now. Generally, people just react too strongly to too much change and this new approach will be enough for them to get used to. But, as the two models are built for use, this process will work out any bugs and will give insight as to the translated version's dynamics. There are also the added features of adjustable cranks to be updated as well as new power trains, flex-linked steering and in the farther future; external articulating frames/windscreens with tensegrity.
But, for right now, the honeydo jobs need doing.

Life's bumps in the road

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:04:00 +0000

Here it is today and while the metal bike jig sits unfinished in Guy's shop, or dismembered(?), I've gone and constructed a wooden jig. This allowed(forced) me to make considerations.
Having a frame in one's eye and building a full sized frame(experimental) into reality takes time and money. Being short on both, I opted for the old method of building to scale(somewhat) and out of readily available dimensionalized wood. Parts still have to be made, and some equipment bought but in the end it allows one the freedom to test out concepts with imagination.
So far, I've been able to build the frame work and now the task of including the tensional synergy element falls to the mind. Frame reinforcement is first and then it starts. Kind of like standing upon some cliff over the ocean wanting to dive into uncharted waters.
Linear geometry expanding and contracting while providing tensional integrity.
Things come to me which will allow some things to happen but having them work on such small scale? Plenty of doubts. More than enough to last a life time. Just have to start and make the best of it. Until next time.

NRX Bikes

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 20:15:00 +0000

Today, Saturday, went down to Guy's shop to work on fixture. With many interruptions, we embarked on a novel approach to finish setting the parameters of the fixture/jig using tensional aspects instead of compressional integrity. This is in keeping with our tensegrity design approach of our bike frames. Met a young man named Josh(mechanic) who works there on the weekends and is an ex-worker in the bicycle industry.
It's cold today! This weekend is one of those hunker down times. If you don't have the equipment for the weather, don't play outside.
However, in recounting to Josh about riding in cold weather, it wasn't that many years ago that Seth and I were forced out into minus twenty to thirty weather to bike for groceries. As he was between one to three during those times, I remember being stopped during daylight hours by mothers or just women, to check on the condition of Seth and chide me about having a small child out in cold weather. We learned to go during night hours to bypass the prying eyes of women on patrol for men with young children out in the weather of winter. Women who lived totally removed from the effects of having to survive the cold and dress for winter enjoyment. Once, his mother and I had been biking by the university over in St. Paul during daylight on a winter day with the bike cart behind us off of the beaten path on a quiet side street when a women drove over to us from the main road, lowering her front window and screaming at us, "What is the matter with you crazy people!?" And, what followed was a tirade against us for even being on the roadway at this time of year and how dare we? Get a car!
At her mention of someone acting crazy, we gazed at her behavior and almost burst out laughing. It was even harder holding it in as she gunned her engine and spun her tires of her three thousand pound vehicle and slewed past us turning back to the main road, still screaming out of her window. I wonder now about her political party affiliation. How dare we be on the roads?
Crazy people driving three thousand pound vehicles. What are they thinking?
I tell myself that one day in the not too distant future, I'll be riding in weather as today comfortably without the heavier layers of clothing top to bottom which I used to wear with goggles, face masks and so forth. And, I'll do it with minimal layers on my body using a shell with controlled air entry, with heating for the body and a airflow vent for windshield clearing.
I've thinking about this ever since the very first days of getting back on a bike since those days of being forty-one. How to bike comfortably in winter in Minnesota and Canada?
As the exertion is more, I create more water vapor. The only solution needs controlled airflow with heat applied as it enters a weather proof shell but the shell needs to be a minimal weight. I remember riding behind a clear bubble in a trike during the winter. In the lee of the bubble going into the wind, it was comfortable for those parts of my body inside of the wind shadow. Almost too comfortable. Part of me would be getting cold from the warmer sweat generated by the part warmer and migrating up. I could almost envision a polar tech type of fabric enclosing me with a clear bubble type in front. It would have to be the "wind block" type of polar tech to be able to leech the vapor out of the enclosure else the vapor would build up inside and add to the fog/vapor. The windshield would need to be vented like the one Dave and I worked out for the trike that one winter. It would probably need the new design of the vent from the Chicago site for the intake.
Or, would the wind block material build up ice like the head gear did? Hmm.
Water vapor/ice buildup is going to be a problem to be solved experientially.
Back to the main topic.
The "cage" should allow us to work out measurements for all shapes inside of dimensional measurements of the cage. Being right at ten feet long, this should allow us to construct plugs by "lofting". Or, to take measurements of shapes thrown up and then duplicate them from stations.

NRX Bikes

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:04:00 +0000

Last night, I went down and worked on the new jig with partner Guy, and his partner, Doug, who graciously TIG welded the main beams together. Doug is an artist with his TIG welder. Fixtures are next.
Outlined the design criteria for Guy as to the new ideas taking shape of the Bike Concept. Such as overcoming the xforming bike shown in Holland in September '07.
The new ideas reverse the Holland approach while coupling them with tensional integrity and providing power to the frame.
Fundamental to this approach is that the default position is the upright while the recumbent position is the forced position. However, the wheel base is the recumbent position baseline. This provides a controlled transition between upright and recumbent positions, and with the possibility of intermediate positioning.
Noting the length of the jig, my conversation with Doug was as to the original intent of being able to build tandems. The idea then popped into my mind of a tandem xform. Probably doable once the intricacies are worked out for the single. In the meantime, certainly doable for a tensional tandem. Upright, or tandem.
It is going to be fun.

NRX Bikes

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:56:00 +0000

Recently, I checked out a book from the library entitled, "1491" by Mann which revisits was is coming to be known about the inhabitants of the Americas prior to discovery by Europeans through manuscripts written by first hand accounts over the first incursions and by compilation of scientific evidence constantly being gathered and analysed even as this is written.
One of the primary areas which caught my attention was the author's rendering of the Spanish and Inka meeting of culture and technologies. Especially where the Europeans ran up against bridges constructed mainly with tensional components instead of compressional components.
Thinking to myself, I had an "Aha!" moment.
Mann points out the two cultures technological approaches and how they each focused upon different aspects of structure. The Europeans upon compressional approaches and the Inka, tensional components.
So, I said to myself, maybe the compressional approach is inherent in our culture still in most things. Besides bridges, what else, with exception of Fuller and Snelson, have we done with tensional structures?
Why is it that a cabled bike frame made it's first rendition upside down in the 1800's and never appeared again in other designs?
I ask myself over and again. Why am I the only one which sees this as a breakthrough moment? Am I deceiving myself?
And, now that I've gone beyond the original moment, the original change of sight, why can't others see what I see? It is so simple. What don't I see?
Is it that the outward look of our everyday thinking, imagining, is still along the compressional path that we still deviate onto that path of design and sight without realizing it?
For instance, when I first unveiled my cabled steering design for Dave, he had immediately poo pooed it without trying it, while a trained mechanical engineer involved with autos had marveled at its' simplicity?
Guess I had better return to my basement and build at least the next replacement.

Imaging bikes, HPV designs, material research

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:40:00 +0000

Over the last month or so, I've been on the web, the library and where ever the wind takes you when you're not doing parental work, housework or whatever. Most of the time, I've been trying to run down any wisp of info as to what may be coming from over the horizon or what may have been overlooked as to available materials knowledge/products available right now. A lot of the take offs have come from the WISIL site.
Recently, I've been looking into synthetic rope for substituting in place of stainless steel cable. The problem for all of these strategies, and costs, is termination. Steering toward synthetic came from a website pointing to using synthetic cable as opposed to high strength metals for cable in deep sea applications. To make a long story short, synthetic rope/cable make it possible because of many reasons but the top one being weight. Too much cable down reaches the breaking point of the cable due to the cable's weight. Some synthetics are so light as to float. Their tensile strengths exceed that of steels. There are problems, however, which they(rope manufacturer's) continually look to engineer around. Primary, is UV deterioration.
Another good news to me, is about being able to wrap around a winch better than steel. Of course, this may be another idea which I haven't alluded to here, before. Anyway, the synthetic rope approach can simplify and strengthen the design of the cable tensioned frame. Looking at the 1/8" diameter rope of technora approapriately covered would be a good move unless I can find on the market something similar but superior to my own concoction of UV proofing.
And, the problems of termination creap in again. Basically, two types. Mechanical or mechanical/chemical terminations. Then, one must consider the longivity problem or the unforseen need to replace the cable. One would only want to replace the cable and not the higher priced terminations. Plus, as a maker/designer, I would want the consumer to be able to do the cable replacement without adding the cost of new terminals or have them handling messy chemicals. So, I guess the mechanical connections would be the natural choice. Otherwise, I would have to make up the cables with terminations and so forth. Higher costs to both of us.

The thermoplastics with embedded fiber are just coming into their own through automobile manufacturing and/or military products. Mostly what I found was screws and parts, not flat sheet. Most thermoplastics lack the structural strength at the smaller thicknesses and would deform quite drastically when heatwelded so a special approach for setup and jigging would be needed. Plus, to successfully predict the outcome as to thickness throughout the structure of the external faired frame, one would need the expenses for blowmolding/vacuum molding/part injection and so forth.
I'm not abandoning this approach right now because if a flat sheet of x-diminsion could be bent, the tensional force should be enough to overcome the outside forces, and the inside forces. As the height dimensional shape of the frame is the mirro of the opposite side and the largest consistent shape of the overall frame, it should be able to be formed using tortured sheet and then maybe glued to shape using geometric placed rope focal points of connection. This should hold it to formed shape. If I can use the hot air weld, it would be nice.

But, back to the cable tensioned design with the synthetic rope for the tensioned frame. It looks as though using the smaller dimensional twin tubes with the on-fly-adjustable-cranks would be making the unit more complete from the designs which have come at me. The crank slide and crank housing has to be rethought. Coming to me right now. Crank housing doesn't have to be circular, only the opening for cranks and bearings to match existing parts. Mmm. This is truning out to be convoluted. More to this later after it has run its' course.

Fairings - HPVs

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:48:00 +0000

On second thought, I find I need to be semantically correct as I approach this problem/answer. It would be more appropriate to term this end product as an External Faired Frame as the whole or parts toward a full fairing will be used as the integral external frame.

Fairings - HPVs, Tub bikes

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:10:00 +0000

I'd like to thank Reg Rodaro and the folks who put up the WISIL site, http://www.recumbents.com/home.asp and all of those links to the world of data presented in such fine fashion. My gratitude and blessings go out to you.
Mail conversations with Reg have solidified my attitude toward prototyping in weldable plastic with a hot air welder. The proto also took mental form along with the goal. Mainly, to pattern in flat sheets a "tub" bike(using their language) or as I refer to it as, an External Frame-Fairing. I'll use clear plastic of thin sheets to see how thin I can really go, while utilizing a cable tensioner to run throughout the structure and "pull" it together. Else, another approach will be to utilize thin, like material tubes to "hold" compound shapes. (Tension or Compression?) The purpose of this experiment is to find a way to lower the weight of full faired vehicles while not using an internal frame and to improve the strength of the total vehicle.
Currently, a full faired vehicle is acceptable coming in at fifty pounds or so, for practical daily use.
My foundation for this approach goes to Bucky Fuller and Kenneth Snelson for tensegrity. May I forward your thoughts and artifactual foresight into this art-in-fact.

Fairings - Human Powered Vehicles (conti)

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:59:00 +0000

Okay! Been to the supplier - got the fact sheet. Priced plastics hot air welder - basic. The end result design doesn't overlay the beginning or the middle design. Hmmm. Is this a real problem for now? Does the material drive the process? Don't think so. It has to be the mathematics which drive it. The structure, or lack of structure as the case may be in this instance. Keep it simple. I don't need the full body at this point. All I need is the external side panels, the size of wheels, crank assembly, tensional cable, turnbuckles, seat, geartrain, and, oh yes, let's not forget the steering wheel assembly. Contact supplier for raw materials list, availability and so forth. Go down and clean up the workroom. Cut up old bikes and so forth. Clear the area and set up for plastics.

Plastic Fairings

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:22:00 +0000

I wish to thank TDL Plastic's Cody Banks for the help given in researching material for the fairing. This person allowed me to bounce stuff off which may be only theoretical but took it with enthusiasm and good patience.
Indeed, with all of the changes in the world of plastics, polycarbonate still comes out on top for this design. The minus twenty Fahrenheit brittleness comes into play but may be overcome with metal infusion into the design(?).
Hmmm.
Metal mechanical connectors for the PC panels.
Hollow rivets with washers?
Panels sliding in tracks distorting shape?
The concepts/??????? are coming too fast for now. Have to go. Go with the flow.

Fairings - Human Powered Vehicles

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:08:00 +0000

Don't remember where my head was on the Plexiglas material. Long ago I had moved on to polycarbonate. Floating out there, sometimes you just latch onto whatever piece of flotsam comes by, and then you realize, after a bit of research, hey, I've already looked at this!
Running down a supplier today, cleaning up the workshop, etc,,,. Trying to pick the material type, thickness, pick out available tools, shapes to use and so forth. Think I'll have to go toward tensional setup instead of the hardback. That'll be interesting, and mind expanding. Onward. Winter's coming. Anticipation is building as to the fun!

Conceptualizing Bikes

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 11:50:00 +0000

In summary, the questions are, from a user's point of view, what do we need for our use? What does it need to do? How can it enhance my life? What will it cost? How can one pay for it?
From a designer's point of view, the questions are: What is the "need"? Is there one design which can fulfill the "need" or are there multiple adaptations from a central platform? What are the environmental parameters for the object? What are the environmental needs of the human operator? And, so forth,,,.
It all comes down to the; What? When? How? Why? Where?
Then, we place the word, "Need" into the word equation; Need What? Need When? Need How? Need Why? Need Where? We can rearrange the order as to their logical sequences or not. Or, we can just try and answer the questions.
As most of the science has already been done, "the math" so to speak, pertaining to the efficiencies of the wheel and being able to move objects using one or two wheels, I think I'll not challenge anything in those categories. Nor do I need to address the "Need" part. That's fairly evident.
I think I'll just put this on a personal basis. Right now, I "need" a vehicle that is cheap to operate; is fairly safe; can haul a load of fifty pounds or more; can go up and down hills in the most efficient manner possible; can get me out of the weather; can allow me to go large distances if the need arises; is self locking; is highly visible; is cheap to make. Let's see if I can think of something else to throw into the pot? Oh, yeah, and can either expand or interconnect with another like vehicle to allow another person or two or more to safely travel together. Drafting? Wouldn't that be something? If you could somehow "hook up" behind someone and then actually add your power to theirs? Sort of like flying a tanker? Could you actually make something which would allow a person to run up behind another like bike and hook into a connection that would raise the front wheel off of the ground while providing a solid connection between frames? Now that would be really tricky! But, fun! And, if it were to occur with two or more fairings, you could really put out some serious torque! Or, just use less energy to get to where you are going. Okay, back down to Earth.
Can I make a bike out of a fairing, without the bike insert? Just use the fairing material to be the frame? Can I do this cheaply? If I could use the KSS boat building method to produce a fairing, why not just take available plastic sheets on the market and make them into a fairing shortcutting around the laying out of the FRP and vacuum pumps and all of that costly process? Could I take, say, Plexiglas, and using the cables and so forth, bend it into a fairing and then using a solvent, melt the fiberglass onto the plexi? Or, once bent into the shape I need, hit it with a heat gun and "set the shape"? Once in a shape, I could string the tensioning cables inside to form the seat, seat back, and longitudinal tensioner hooking the axle/drivetrain/crank arms into a tensional unit. Okay, I think I'm onto something here. Off I go to research.

Imagining Bikes - Conceptualizing II

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:00:00 +0000

Dave Krafft and I had this prototype number 3 which we loaned out to people of the MN HPV club to ride and to get feedback. This one time, the guy comes back from a ride with his friends and offers to buy the bike. Dave and I looked at each other and then answered that it was a prototype and not for sale. How would we price it, if it were? Time spent and materials? And, you're talking about guys who never really put something down but carry things around in their heads and multi-task. We even wake up in the middle of the night with an "Aha!" Or, if one finds a new way of making something work and magnify its' usefulness by a factor of two or three while replacing expensive parts and making it simpler? How does one go about making it affordable?

First of all, the bike was thrown together, parts of it worked as to its' gear train but the shifter needed work and we weren't happy over the seat design. It still needed work. I mean, hey, it's a prototype! It wasn't even painted! But the guy was adamant. "Name your price."

We finally just told him it wasn't for sale although we would let him copy it and help him build one for himself. Guess he wasn't interested in doing so.

This brings me to the title of this weblog, NRX bikes.

A friend and I were batting around how one would charge for products which were beyond cutting edge. The concern was, how would one be able to afford one?

Not just that, but as a prototype experimental bike, there are insurance concerns as well as concerns of the designer person and company.

As a consumer/user, what would I want? What would I need?

My Grandfather ended up being many things in life but one job he ended with was as a used car salesman. Yeah, one can laugh over that today. But, if I told you that even though he worked many years in semi-retirement and change dealerships, over four generations of customers from a five state region would find their way to him, would you begin to understand that he was not your ordinary salesman? Even though he never once proclaimed himself as this or that, I noticed fathers bringing their young sons or a new young family from this state or that state to do business with him when I was going to work with him while staying over. I noticed how pissed off his fellow coworkers would get when people would show up asking for him and refuse to do business with any other. So, one day I just asked him why this was so? His response has stayed with me these many years. It was this. "I sell them what they need, not what they want. And, if they're adamant, I just go ahead and sell them what they want but tell them that this car or that car would be better for them and why. In not too long a time, they show back up and then ask for what they need." He never would say,"I told you so," or gloat over it. He would just get on with it as though they had just arrived on their first visit. He would ask about their family, what do they do? What is their daily life like? Are they mechanically gifted or just need the minimum transportation without a lot of breakdowns? Do they have kids? How many? Are they wanting more kids? Do they travel a lot or just around their area? He would ask, and then he would listen. He did the same to the men who worked in the service department. In this manner, first he would have an idea of his product, then he would try and match up his client. If he didn't have anything on the lot to sell them today, he'd tell them so. They'd leave a number, and if something showed up which would suit their needs, he'd call or write to them. If they needed something right away, he might get on the phone and call around, and send them somewhere else. The owner confronted him once after co-worker's complaints, and never again. Sure, today they might lose a sale, but the customer would return to his starting point the next time and besides, everyone has friends and, or, relatives and word spreads quickly as to who to trust.

The owner decided to retire and closed down the business. My grandfather came home and did his usual routine. The next day, he stayed home. When I asked why he was home, he told me. I asked if he was worried about losing his job? No, he said, something will turn up. Less than a week later, the owner of one of the largest Chevrolet dealerships called him up. My grandfather took the call calmly, and after a while he put down the phone and told me who it was, and that he was going to see him the next day.

My grandfather had contracted polio when he was around twelve years old. Being one of nineteen children and a cripple had limited what he could do in life. As it was just in one leg, he sometimes had to resort to using a cane but usually, he just tried to get by without it.

Couple that with his age, and ones sees that today, in this world, he would probably have never work again.

The owner of the Chevy dealership met and hired him the next day. When he noticed my grandfather having a hard time getting around, he went out and bought him a surrey'd golf cart for just him and his customers to use. In no time, his sales off of his used car lot jumped as word got around that he was working there.

One day, he noticed that a couple came in and were looking around at the new cars, and kept trying to get someones attention. All of the new car salesmen acted too busy to help them, so after a while, they spied my grandfather and came over to him, asking for his help. He patiently explained to them that he could only sell used cars but they pleaded with him. He tried to get another salesman to help them but, they were too busy. Finally, he told them he knew nothing about the new models but he would help them. He did, and he sold them a new truck. When the paperwork went through, the head of new vehicle sales just demanded that the owner fire my grandfather. My grandfather just sat and didn't say a word until the owner turned to him and asked his version. When my grandfather had finished, the owner told him he was welcome to sell any car on his lot that he liked.

My grandfather ended up working for that dealership long after retirement age and only part time of the year. But, the owner kept his golf cart in storage, covered, with instructions that no one else was to use it.

My grandfather taught me many lessons but mostly I feel he taught me about value and selling to the ones who will use your product. Foremost, be honest and keep your sense of honor. Give them what they need, not necessarily what they want. The use of something is what brings value, not the want of it. The want of it is superficial and is like the picked flower. It wilts early. Something you need in your everyday life will be used often and return its' value each time it is used. In a consumer society, this fact is often glossed over by selling techniques which manipulate the buyer.

How many times have I gone to a garage sale to find upright bicycles for sale at a fraction of the price they were when new? How many of them basically rusted from little use and no care? We measure how well the bike business is doing by how many units sold over the new year. The cost of refurbishing an old used model is higher than an off of the rack model. In twenty years, the new model will be the old, but little, at this rate of change, will have changed between the old and new. Just the price. The metal will rust, the tires will rot, the plastic will crack, the leather will break down. The grease will coagulate, the bearings will freeze up, and the cables will be immobile. Not always, but many times I've seen this.
So, what is my point?
I don't believe the industry is giving good value. Why do I feel this way? Probably because I feel they've left the honor and trying to people like Pope, who led people astray, manipulated them for his own gains and basically duped them into believing he had engineered a final product while denying any competitors access to the market to give consumers another choice. Besides, he ended up secretly aligning with the internal combustion guys to run the bikes off of the roads.
What niche markets are moving in the bike market place? Where is the growth overall? Probably not in the middle where the safety model is the bulk offered. It is my understanding that a do over of the safety, the mountain bike, has leveled off. They seem to be waiting for the next do over, and it's not happening. However, there is the cabled, tune able frame which I've already done. Don't even know if they'd consider such a thing.
It seems as though the bike manufacturers are part of this huge flywheel that is turning and the most weight is in what is offered by the manufacturers which is where they have most of their capital tied up in fixtures of the safety model. I priced a fixture the other day for turning out the safety model. It varies but the upward figure is around ten grand without add-ons. With the price of frames being what they are, how many frames would I have to sell at what price to make a profit? If I had to compete with Asian manufacturers or even Latin American, well, one can see the problem. The large manufacturers produce the versions of the safety.
The problem of the gear train stagnation is all about Shimono.
All of this brings me back to giving people what they need. Too many times, big business dictates to the market place as to what will be offered based upon their profit, not what the people need. Not just that, but the most profit. For this reason, once the capital investment is made as to the kind of fixtures to build the models, a certain number of units has to be made over the life of the fixture, over a certain length of time. For this reason, the large amount of capital involved comes off as being conservative as to change once the model which provides the most profit is chosen.
How many of these large monied investors ride a bike every day and use it for their main vehicle of choice? I would venture to say not one has the experience.
For my financial model I would say not to sell bikes of a prototype model. Lease them.

Imagining Bikes - Conceptualizing

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:43:00 +0000

When I first started down this road, there was the sound of someone saying "What is the question?" Not that I was hearing voices, but I had heard someone or read somewhere of someone pointing this out. It's not the answers one should be looking for but the actual question. The answers become self evident once the true question is brought into the light of mind. In practice, this has proven correct for me over the years.
Now, if anyone ever reads this other than myself, let me just point out that I'm all for intelligence. I've met some very intelligent people, and I've met some intelligent enlightened people. Then there were others that I would fondly call those that have access to knowledge and delightfully dance upon the light. Very special people.
I used to have to sit in management meetings and listen to people brainstorming, or attempting to, and in frustration finally ask just what is the question they were asking? Then I would point out that the topics they were viewing as negative weren't necessarily negative if they could see other parts to the question. Just trying to get them to "do the math" so to speak of melting a problem down to its' smallest components and then disassemble the smallest parts one at a time. Then, keeping an eye of the larger end product, create the components. Sort of like mapping.
Then, if you can come out of a meeting like this with something in hand,, a road map of where you are to go and what you need to do, then it has been a valuable meeting. If this doesn't happen, it has been a waste of time. In the usual hierarchical structure of corporations and smaller companies even, uttering these words will get you the door. As it did me many a time.
People may be intelligent about some subjects but usually not about all. Few can dance upon the light, and I'm not one of those.
I would guess, at this time, at this point in time, it is more important for me to develop maps in my mind for operating day to day. For instance, I had a teacher in my senior year in high school that managed to get me out of the clutches of a provincial system inside of the school, and into his class, college prep English. Ruffling feathers all of the way, he even personally "appropriated" an extra desk by himself, hauling it up three flights of stairs so that I could attend his class. As school had already been in session for some period of maybe a month or so, my schoolmates were kind of surprised to suddenly find me amongst them but didn't speak of it. Mr. Pearson then directed me to the school library to check out a book called, "Thirteen Common Fallacies of Logical Thinking", by Stuart. As I had worked in the library for a couple of years, I hadn't recalled ever seeing this book. Going to the library, the head librarian questioned why I was out of class, and I told her why. She looked at me quizzically, I remember. Upon finding the book, I was piqued at the small book and looked at the copyright date. It was in the 1800's or maybe earlier. As I checked myself out, I looked up the history of the book and found that it had never been checked out. Puzzled further, I returned to class with book in hand.
Mr. Pearson informed me that I was to read the book and report to him the next day. He was planning on quizzing me. I thought, okay, another test and no big deal.
The next day, the class was having a discussion on the homework assignment given to all and Mr. Pearson stopped the discussion, and said, Mr. Coleman, what is going on with this logic? In front of everyone, I had to recall, and explain, the illogic behind what was being said. Once I had done so, he would then turn to the class, and say, "Please continue", only to stop them when they steered off of the path of logic into another pitfall and "quiz" me again. So it went for the rest of the school year.
I have too older brothers who could do no wrong when we were growing up and they had attended Mr. Pearson's English prep course but in remembering the history of the book, it had been in the library for years and had never been checked out. They had never mentioned it nor had I seen them bring it home. A small booklet really, more like a hardbound thick pamphlet. It is still in print today.
When we envision a bicycle, what do we see in the mind? What is our question? Do we see automatically the safety bicycle? Are do we see the question of how to get from here to there in comfort, in the most efficient manner our technology can bring us? The given to the equation is the human body can produce, measured, a quarter of a horsepower for short periods of time. Other "givens" are that over eighteen miles an hour, you begin spending more energy pushing air than going faster; inclement weather happens; hills, for most of us, happen; wind is a constant factor; for many of us for part of the year, we need light to see by; wheels spin up debris; for most of us, we ride on paved roads; many of us, if we depend on human power, need a way to haul loads; most of us have to share the road with motorized vehicles.
If we take these premises and apply the last hundred year's advancement of technology, forgetting the notion that the safety bicycle design is the end of its' design cycle, what can we come up with?
Will we apply the latest knowledge of say, a charged skin on an object can create a slipstream effect for a vehicle? Can we apply stand alone energy systems for power assist when needed without weight? Can the latest in drive trains be incorporated? Can the latest in coating technology be applied to wear surfaces? Can the maintenance cycle for bicycles/tricycles be extended, and if so, how far for the cost? Could we use ceramic bearings with the latest in high strength stainless steels? Could we create and manufacture cheap HPVs? Can the nanotechnology advances apply the surfaces or coatings which would shed dirt as in the lotus petal design?
In short, can we effectively sever the chains of comment that the safety bike is the finite of the design of the bicycle and move/apply technologies to apply for consumers waiting for product?
I feel we can, if we have a plan. And, financially, we can pay for these advances.

Imagining Bikes - HPVS

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 23:23:00 +0000

If you've never ridden in an HPV you should. Just about all of the ones I've ridden in had an internal framework with a body(fairing) added over it. Most seem to run in the fifty pound range. Also, most seem to be not quite workable for the day to day trips and run into big bucks. There seems to be a few ways of working around the two wheeled HPV problem of "how do I do this by myself!?" of standing still or getting rolling?

Also, there is a problem of noise control while inside and rolling - the lack of. Does anyone else notice this? Just with a front fairing(clear bubble) there is this booming sound when you hit a hole or bump. It is either in the connection points, lack of stiffness or something similar because when you take a heat gun and lose some of the smooth bubble, it lessens.

Once, I took a heat gun to some discarded imperfect bubbles and made them into bug thoraxes. Even spray painted a few with contrasting colors. The booming went away and the colors really caught people's eyes. When you're on a tadpole trike, you need for people to see you. Doubled up, they also served as good bumpers!

Mentioning tadpole trikes, when I worked at making parts of the Dragonflyer trikes with a couple of guys, I mentioned to the (what should I call him?) designer that the trike had a problem of pedal steering and this needed to be overcome. Brushing off my comments to possible fixes(we parted company shortly thereafter) he later just appeared with gussets off of the main tube to the connecting tubes between the front wheels. Maybe the final straw came for him when I said out loud that this won't fix anything! And, it didn't. Anyway, others later on have pointed to this situation as just part of the problem with two wheels in front and so forth. But, I beg to differ. Just as we've been able to straighten out the frame flex problem of the LWB recumbent, so too will this tensioning member straighten out the frame steering problem of the recumbent tadpole trike.

I watched some wonderful videos of the HPV racers out in Nevada on Youtube. I'll have to find and list that here. One of the things which caught my eye was one vehicle that seemed to succumb to pedal steer and didn't recover.

One of our work projects over at Dave's was making a foam and plaster HPV plug for attempting to pull plastic vacuum molds. It didn't go well with the person doing it, so we ended up taking FRP off of the repaired forms. During this episode, another Aha! moment came when we were cutting all of the openings for this and for that. I had been following a guy from New Zealand who had perfected his way of getting around the expense of turning out faired FRP multihulled sailboats. Called the KSS method, it is my thinking that using his method of construction on a smaller scale, one could break down the HPV shell into components and bend the components over a form and join them together clamped into place doing away with the molds all together.

Another way would be to form them into yet smaller pieces and let these pieces slide on small tubes like fish scales which would interlock and you could then pull, or tension them to a rear part of the bike allowing one to make a convertible HPV and/or a side hatchway.

But, why stop there?

Why does one need an internal frame in an HPV? Why not make the frame the fairing? Take a piece of flat FRP formed using the KSS method and draw it together using a high strength stainless steel cable. Take one of similar size and mirror image and use another cable to bend and shape it along a longitudinal axis. Joining the two halves together at the ends basically would give you an aerodynamically shaped form. Put a bubble on the front end, join a front wheel steering assembly along with a crank assembly joined to the tensioning cables, place hard points for sliding up a rear wheel assembly, slip on your chain, fasten your seat to the tensioning cables,,,. What frame? What plug?

Think about it. Could we dare go another step forward and make the HPV totally able to be disassembled and assembled on a whim? Could we make it fit within a suitcase? Why not?

We can fly objects to Mars, land and go exploring but we can't revolutionize a form of transportation that has been around for over a hundred years?

I saw a guy go down in an HPV doing at least thirty miles an hour and I mean he went down hard due to a mechanical failure. The important thing here is that due to it being an open shell design, he did get some scrapes to one elbow before he pulled it inside of his fiberglass/foam shell but little else. He ended up next to the curb on the roadway but basically little worse for wear. If he had not been in his shell, he would have had some nasty road rash and worse. The shell? The fiberglass was a little worn in some places but easily fixed.
I feel that if I can get the weight/complexity problem sorted out as well as the production method, HPVs could be a viable form of transportation. Of course, that is saying that the problem of being able to stop and start without assistance gets solved. There is more than one idea for doing just that with available technology.

Imagining Bikes - Biking Minnesota

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:40:00 +0000

It has been stated that to try and forecast the weather in Minnesota due to three climate systems coming together in the middle of the state is like a crap shoot. Now, throw in the effects of climate shift and, boy-oh-boy, it is any one's guess. My Dad, who was a meteorologist, used to be able to predict locally based upon the lay of the land when they lived in southern Georgia. I think this place would have challenged him greatly.
Working outside in the Western U.S. for around four to five years, frequently in the middle of nowhere, forced me to carry three sets of clothes and two sets of foot ware along with other necessary survival gear for any type of weather conditions, plus a sleeping bag. One even stashed emergency rations anywhere and everywhere.
Your experiences should teach you to plan for overcoming the last miserable challenge and your survival may depend upon being able to effectively imagine the possibilities. One hopefully learns to overcome the circumstances and learns to use the past similar to tools in the toolbox. Of course, one can't afford to lug around all fixes to all possibilities so one must melt it all down to the smallest possible denominator - what can one afford to carry with one's self? What will it cost in weight? How does it perform in the worst conditions of cold, wet, dark and muddy? And, if your tools fail you or can't do the job with those tools? What if the whole thing is out of commission? Can you effectively carry it or push it?
I rode for years in all types of situations, mostly on the safety. Then, I learned on both the long wheeled base recumbent after an experience on a short wheeled base recumbent. Before those times, I had the situation of having to ride a tadpole trike both with, and without, a front fairing through winters.
There are drawbacks to every available model out there, but none that can't be overcome. Just like life.
I would like to take this time and space to acknowledge a friend who built many of the recumbent bikes and trikes I've ridden over the years and who has been a mentor, employer and business partner, Dave Krafft. It was while working with Dave on his housing makeover that we fixed his long wheel based single tube recumbent model after the tubing we had bought had failed due to the thin walled material. He was going to cut the failed part out and braze a thicker walled tube into the frame when I stopped him and proposed an alternative. (Here is where the oilfield experiences kicked in.) I told him to just put a steel cable between the front crank and the rear crank housing with a turnbuckle, and take the stress off of the tube. A trip to the hardware store, a little metal fab and it was ready for service.
We didn't just end up fixing a collapsed tube. Four prototypes readily proved we had found a solution to the dilemma of frame flex robbing power to the drive train and a host of other problems such as pogoing for that model frame and controlling frame flexure along vertical and horizontal lines without adding member framing, i.e. weight. With the long wheel based (LWB) single tube model, my feeling was that the frame became the suspension. We had to repair the hardware parts many times until we upgraded to better fixtures and cables, plus we learned we had to run the cables all the way to the back to be more effective.
Since those days, both studying why these things worked and other people's art/science of structure, I've come away with more understanding and have built a model applying these same principles to the upright, or safety bike. It works the same as far as I can tell. The biggest kick comes from understanding that the frame can be "tuned" to fit the riders weight at the time. Want a cushier ride, just loosen the frame up.
On a test ride for our first redone prototype, I alarmed Dave when I took these horrendous railroad tracks crossing the street full bore. I mean, these holes around the tracks could flatten your tire and twist your frame into a pretzel! But, nary a thing happened. I didn't even get thrown off of the bike. The bike ran true. The same for hitting sand on the trail. You just aim the bike and power through it.
Now that I've read Buckminster Fuller and viewed the work of Kenneth Snelsen, I find it completely remarkable that no one has understood basic physics when it can be applied to the problem of frame flexure for bikes or other structures. It is all about force vectoring. There was another gentleman that pioneered "tortured plywood" in building catamarans on the West Coast back in the Fifties. I think "Pile" was his name? It's the same principle. You build in, or apply force which can't be overcome by the motion which gives you the problem to begin with. Of course, one has to make sure that the structural member has enough strength range to endure the problems it will face later on through use.
Imagine an upside down bow. The connecting tubes between the front wheels and the rear wheels(axle) are now held in tension with the rider sitting on the top of the compressive member. The more movement vertically results in more compression which results in tension. As the tube at static has very little bend, it is just seeking to return to its' normal condition. The rider's weight(gravity) is counteracting the bending moment of applied tension. Place an adjustable connecting member underneath the rider, and now you have two triangles between two wheels, which give ever so slightly. I refer to it as using the frame for the suspension system.

Imagining the bicycle.

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:04:00 +0000

Well, that was a first time adventure - writing a blog.

Over the years, riding my bike daily to and from work, shopping and even raising a family, I've watched others do their things as well through walking, driving an automobile, taking a bus (as I drove a transit bus and school buses) and biking. I watched the rise of the exercise gyms for the non-bikeriders. There is not a memory of a biking person needing a gym workout.

Anyway, as I watched others, myself and my family on bikes it was with the thought of how could we do this better? My new wife came with a bikecart, an aluminum Burley. Now, that was one piece of equipment which saved us so much effort, and eventually, the life of our newborn son.

People, even in the Minneapolis area are somewhat spoiled by the personal vehicle environmental controls. They seemed to have lost something of themselves in the process. For instance, when one is traveling to and from the grocery store in the dead of winter when it is thirty below farenheit with your infant in the bike cart, people try and stop you, especially if you're a man, and try and find out if they can possibly call child protection on your behavior. They have no concept of existing out of doors and dressing for the weather. As I used to spend my work time in the oilfields from the Canadian border to the Mexican border out West, I know a little something about having to live and work in extreme environments. But, most don't have this experience and when they see just you out there, they just think you're some kind of nut. When they see you out there with an infant, they want to intervene and have your child taken away. We went once in daylight on a bright winter's day and after that experience of being besieged in the parking lot once on arrival and then again on departure, we went in the cover of darkess. Invisibility can have dividends.

Plus, when you live off of your bike and you have a family, you plan accordingly with the weather in mind. By the time the inclimate weather hits, you and yours are ready to just enjoy the moment.

However, having lived this way, and knowing enough of manufacturing and material science to get into trouble, one can't help but try and imagine what-ifs and why-nots as to this problem or that problem. You know, the challenges.

For instance, ever have trouble in thirty-below weather of pulling up to a stoplight and just when you start to get the green light, your goggles fog up? And, just trying to breathe sometimes in the frigid weather without the right type of coldweather mask is a real problem. Then, try it behind a clear fairing. Not too bad except for the fogging problem when the wind is just right,,, or not.
Rain, always a problem if you don't have the right gear if the weatherperson was wrong. Or, if you don't always carry it with you? If you have an HPV and it rains/snows, trying to see through it? Another fun thing along the same line is getting muddy water, freezing rain or oily water on the windshield and trying to clear it without tagging on the machine an electric motor.

Two wheeled biking in winter versus three wheeled biking. Upright versus recumbent. Sliding on ice. Twenty inch wheels versus twenty-seven or more. Slicks versus off road. Long wheel base versus short on recumbents. Fairings versus none. Enclosed systems of HPVs versus open air. Bike shoes versus other.

Challenges - and how to meet them head-on with a better than even chance of overcoming them.
I guess if you've never tried these adventures and were thinking about getting into biking here or elsewhere, the challenges would be daunting.
The World of Bicycles has opened up and while the upright safety bike was the anchor for over a hundred years, every anchor has a chain. Time to let go.

Imagining Bikes

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Coleman) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:58:00 +0000

Sept,28,'07
I'm just getting around to writing what I've been thinking/feeling/visioning since around 1988 or so. I've read a lot which came my way, listened to others and saw what they created for bikes. I bumped into people, contacted people and even tried hanging out with a group of people who rode and, or, built different bikes for their own pleasure, and others. Life happened while this was all going on, but, I always thought of bikes ever since pricing a car after having ridden a bus or relied on a motorcycle for getting to and from work. The divorce, and expansion of my job made me consider getting yet another car. After looking at my finances, and looking at the costs of owning an automobile, I realized that no matter how I cut it, there was a minimum it would cost one. Then, there was the company's prodding. Buy new, they said. Where is the increase in pay to cover this adventure, was my reply? No increase, they replied. I jumped anyway, with the thought of economic slavery simmering my mind. And, for days, this thought would stay on the back burner working its' way through.

In the coming days, of driving to the new manufacturing place I was setting up, and driving back and forth to meetings, and to suppliers and vendors, back and forth, and back and forth,,,. There has to be a better way! Mass transportation? Done in long ago by General Motors and associates. The buses never run where you need to go, and when you need to be there. Not in the U.S. Bikes? Having riden motorcycles for around a year, they had their drawbacks as well.

A co-worker bicycled in the better months in Minnesota, and rode the bus during inclimate weather. When he needed a car, he rented one.

Looking at bicycles, I decided to get one and try it out as I'd not ridden since I was a kid - and I was then in my forties. One of the guys that I'd hired, biked, and during lunch hours, we'd head out. Having ventured into design and materials, I was struck by the inefficiency of the mountain bike. Reading up on bikes at the library, I became interested in two things which leapt off the pages. 1) The Safety bike was at the end of the design cycle. 2) The design came from the late eighteen hundreds. Then I stumbled upon the recumbent bikes and then the Human Powered Vehicles. Which is to say, we have to name them something else besides just "bikes" because they won't let us play in "their" game.

Another claim to fame of the safety bike boys was to not allow advances into the certified races other than the safety model as "it's about the riders, not the bikes themselves." Or, some such nonsense because the first thing the riders do now is to come out with their own line of bikes or bikes with their names on them. Gee, I guess it is not about the bikes after all?

Maybe it was more about capital investments in mass manufacturing jigs and fixtures rather than improving the advancement of design for bicycles?

Schwinn, at one point, could brag about the frame costing just a little over a dollar to make? Don't know when that was as to where the dollar was valued. Now, Schwinn is just another name of a brand carried by Target stores. Manufactured where?

Anyway, life gave me the chance to explore and research the world of bikes by getting a layoff notice after filling a wharehouse of goods. Not needing my car, I parked it. Later, after my bike was stolen, I bought a better one.

Then I ran across, in an old book, where the bicyclists each gave a dollar to lobby for paved roads. Still much later, I ran across how the head of Columbia bicycles, Pope, had run most everybody out of business through the court system and the bicyclists' group which gave the money was his organization. Hmmm. And, Pope was involved with the internal combustion engine shinanigans while he was using his organization to lobby Congress to pave the roads. What a sell out. What a crook. With sterling people such as this leading the bicycle industry and dictating what the consumer is going to get,,,, leads me to this point.
I got on a bike and started biking year around in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area to find out how the bike could be improved. Why (was the question) weren't more people purchasing and riding bikes?
These questions plagued me over the years which included finding a wonderful person, getting a ready made family and raising a family on bikes and public transportation,,, in Minnesota.
Getting into specifics will have to be the next thing.