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HyperBike Has NASA Looking Twice
By Bill Christensen
posted: 22 January 2007
04:47 pm ET
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The Hyperbike is a working prototype created by inventor Curtis
DeForest for a human-powered vehicle that will be faster than a
traditional bicycle and much safer.
(HyperBike)
In creating the HyperBike, DeForest tried to remedy the flaws of the
standard bicycle. For one thing, it has no seat; the rider stands
upright. Also, the arms are used for additional power. DeForest
describes pedaling the HyperBike as "swimming on dry land." Motor
vehicle speeds of at least fifty miles per hour are easily attained.
The wheels are sixty-four inches apart at the road surface and only
twenty-six inches apart at the top of their eight-foot diameter; racing
wheelchairs also use heavily cambered wheels.
One of the most interesting differences lies in the greater
stability of the HyperBike. A conventional bicycle has the center of
gravity higher than the spinning axis of the wheels. The HyperBike
positions the rider in such a way as to put the center of gravity below
the wheel axis.
Apparently, it is the stability and balance of weight relative
to spinning forces that has NASA interested. These factors would make
the Hyperbike a good choice for low gravity environments. The
NASA-funded Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program has invested
some capital in the development of the next model.
Bicycles in low gravity? I think I've heard that one before - don't all the prospectors on the Moon have one? The
solitary [lunar] prospector, deprived of his traditional burro, found
the bicycle an acceptable and reliable, if somewhat less congenial,
substitute. A miner's bike would have looked odd in the streets of
Stockholm; over-sized wheels, doughnut sand tires...
(Read more about lunocycles)
Lunocycles figure in Robert Heinlein's 1952 novel The Rolling Stones.
Check out these other futuristic one- and two-wheeled vehicles:
Via HyperBike: Hype or Hope?.
(This Science Fiction in the News story used with permission from Technovelgy.com
- where science meets fiction.)
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