Awesome Stuff: People Powered Vehicles
from the step-step-kick dept
For this week’s awesome stuff of interesting crowdfunding projects, we’ll take a look at a few attempts to rethink people-powered vehicles. This is clearly a popular concept on Kickstarter as it was just a few months ago that we had a few more examples, but these are all new from that last one.
- First up, we’ve got the Me-Mover, which looks like a cross between a step machine and a scooter. In some ways, it reminds me of elliptical bikes, but actually looks much smaller and more functional.
- Next up is the Paperino, a traditional kick-scooter, but designed to match the style of the classic Vespa motorscooter. While this is still in the concept stage, I actually think these guys may run into legal issues with Piaggio, the makers of the Vespa. I notice that the Paperino team is careful to avoid naming Vespa anywhere, but the style cues are fairly obvious, and most of the scooters they show as their “inspiration” are Vespas. As cool as it looks, you’d think they’d be a bit more careful to not follow the Vespa’s design so closely.
- These next two I’m going to lump together, as they’re both similar… and in some ways equally ridiculous. They’re both pontoon-based water vehicles with propellers. One is powered by a bicycle and the other by an elliptical. The the Seahorse Bicycle Powered Boat and the Aqua Elliptica (should be obvious how each is powered). Both look fairly bizarre, though, the Aqua Elliptica’s presentation is at least moderately more professional.
That’s it for this week. Go for a walk the old fashioned way.
Filed Under: awesome stuff, scooters
Comments on “Awesome Stuff: People Powered Vehicles”
I might fork out for one of those pedal-powered boats if they knocked a zero off the price tag, but for four grand I could buy a passable used cabin cruiser.
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Or get a traditional, and cheap, ore powered boat that would go twice as fast and require less energy. These things are obviously not about getting around on the water, but about techtoy values.
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or oar ?
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Or ore, as in steam powered.
pavement diving
The “Me-Mover” seems like a dangerously idiotic design. It’s tiny front wheel, almost directly under the rider’s center-of-gravity, is going to toss the rider face-first into the road whenever passing over anything much bigger than a sidewalk crack at anything much more than walking speed. Let’s hope it’s not capable of doing anywhere near bicycle speeds.
The pavement-kissing principle is a reason why bicycles have always had large-diameter wheels, and I assume why scooters traditionally didn’t have pedals. Something I don’t quite understand, is that although bicycle makers always show riders wearing helmets, these dangerous kickstarter contraptions never do.
At least Techdirt’s last-month post of a similar price/similar design 3-wheeler, Halfbike ( https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140315/11280126584/awesome-stuff-pedal-power.shtml ) had a somewhat-decently-sized front wheel — still dangerous, but less so.
people powered machines.
If you want to see some outrage’ people powered machines google “Kinetic Sculpture race” These are all peoples powered racers that do a 26 mile course. It was started in Humboldt CA. But now there are races all over.
Yaba daba doo.