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DannyLoco says, " we can use a lighter weight long wheel base chassis from a junk yard, the rest should be light weight aluminum and a keg holder with an extra long tap hose, dude we can totally set this bitch up and run it on Hollywood BLVD."
well, I have a bit of experience building things.... especially things made with and from bicycles... a project like this would be cool, however, I think we should do it facing inward, with a bar in the middle.... true midnight ridazz style.
anyway, steel and aluminum can both be used, we would just have to do some cold fabrication at some point (i.e. rivets, bolts, etc). A lighter steel could be used than the heavy steel bedframe tubing they were using, say bicycle tubing, I know there's places where you can buy the tubing used in bike frames in raw lengths, and old bicycles are fairly easy to find.
I'm just trying to think of a more efficient way to do the drivetrain, it seems like they had a lot of excess parts, but then again, not seeng it in real life makes it harder. if there were a way to do it without having to do a 90 deg turn on the drivetrain it would be better, but then everyone would have to be facing front or back... unless we made a giant viking ship/bike thing, it would look kind of weird, and might limit the number of people to a smaller number.
I love the idea of facing each other like a Bar. There was a Bar Bike post way back that started a discussion on this idea. I'd like to help in the making if there's enough interest.
Lets build it! Spare no bar, great idea about the lighter is better Fuz, borfo delete this and lets start all over on a new bus cycle post,
Fuz I'm putting you in charge of engineering, make a list of things we would need for the chassis.
JoeBorfo your the executive producer so get us a chassis and come up with a name for the bus mobile.
Oh me I'm good with tools, background in autobody, paint sceme I'm thinking manu chao, lots of fiberglass on the front end, lights and a sound system, I will provide battery and sound system. need a place to park it just an advance thought, of course we can park it at my place but I live in Long Beach, also lets make it easy to tow, my truck has a tow hitch
aye, like that thing,
On that, it looks like they built their own chassis, which seems like it would be easier and lighter than converting an existing car chassis (although there's something about THAT, conceptually, that is making me smile like an idiot).
I think we could do it, but even cooler, hmm, I'll work on some designs.
we could use a trailer chassis, they have a good load rating but we would have to make the steering, the van chassis idea is great cause your taking a car and making it a bike, plus the steering is there already.
if we make one, we need to make it different... cooler somehow
double decker?
I dunno, something.
As the biggest hurdle to something like this is steering, that can be figured out, I still think building a frame could result in a lighter design, however, the load tolerances probably would be a little more questionable as compared to a vehicle chassis, which could be functional, an would probably have the whole steering thing worked out already....maybe even the drive shaft issue...
hmm, these sites not only gave me some steering information but some CRAZY ideas... i'ma bust out my sketchbook, and maybe come up with something to show y'all on sat night.
I've been trying to think of a way to make a very unique LA type one of these and I think I got it. If we build one of these, we build it along the same structure as the bus bikes shown, however, we do our best to make it look like a redcar, maybe our one can be green... we could even do the seating side by side, facing front, small walkway down the middle, make it look like a miniature red car from the outside... not only would we have an awesome busycle, we could make a kickass statement with it.
we could make the body/fairing with lightweight materials, plastic or something, paint it all up and shit...
I'm probably just getting carried away, and blowing smoke, pipe dreaming or whatever, as I cannot afford to build any sort of project like the ones seen above, but I would love to help if one was being built.
we have to build it first, I have a long driveway where it can rest.
Fuzz is a red car a like a SF cable car?
As far as cost, this is a large project, I think if we collectively work on getting the parts donated, chassis, fiberglass, tubes and so forth it would only cost us the parts modify, We could have party/rides and raise the money, so far I have a CAR battery and stereo/ speakers,
I have access to a areo-space fabrication company all we need is CAD files for the parts we need made.
The Red Cars were the old streetcars that used to run everywhere in LA, until it was decided about halfway through the 20th century that all of humankind would spend the rest of its existence sitting in traffic and/or circling around looking for places to park.
They have some restored Red Cars running down here in Pedro, if you want to see one up close. It's kind of a line to nowhere, but the cars are nice.
I was just thinking (I know, I know, not such a hot idea sometimes) of something. How about having the cranks aligned front-to-back, like on a regular bicycle, but to the front (front meaning front of the vehicle) of each swiveling barstool? That way, when it's time to pedal, we all simply swivel to the left or right so that we face front--you can still rest your elbow on the bar and your drink will still be right there--and pedal away. Then when the vehicle gets to one of its destinations, everybody can swivel back to face the bar, or whoever they were talking to, or whatever.
Could this work? It seems like it would eliminate the 90-degree turn in the drivetrain; and the minor inconvenience of passengers having to swivel from time to time could be reconceived as a neat little bit of group bonding. "We're all turning around at the same time! Whee! Isn't doing stuff together fun?"
that is a really good idea, I'm glad I thought of it,
Need to know how many passangers and what kind of grade we want to be able to climb so I can get help with the gears, also I think we should go with a van chassis. Any thoughts.
This was recorded 26 October 2007 in downtown Toronto, Canada.
Michel de Broin, an artist, had totally stripped down a 1986 Buick Regal and outfitted it with 4 independent pedal and gear mechanisms. This was part of 'art' piece being exhibited at the Mercer Union Gallery (24 October - 8 December).
Anyway, the police noticed the car's test drive and thought to pull it over and check it out.
No tasers were employed, but it did cost the occupants an expensive towing charge.
They should have done gotten into a chase! Now that's art!
I would like to suggest if you guys are really thinking of building a car and putting an LA twist on it, contact the builders of the previous cars built and ask them questions. Ask them for example was their end product what they had in mind in the beginning? What was their biggest hurtle? If they had to do it over, what would they do differently? Etc, etc Also this would be way cool on the streets, that is if you don't get hassled. So obviously I would find out if there's going to be any problems.
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Ridazz Roulette!
OMG!
bow down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
we could use a trailer chassis, they have a good load rating but we would have to make the steering, the van chassis idea is great cause your taking a car and making it a bike, plus the steering is there already.
Man. I'm looking forward to seeing bikecar tomorrow night.
this is it
student from the Netherlands built this mo-fo
this is bigger than I thought, HONDA is working on a human powered bus, that's that small pic above,
Delighted to be of assistance.