Posts by jadehound5

Patrick King7 said:Look, there are plenty of cheap cameras out there shooting in Full HD now! Like from Toshiba Amillo, or whatever! We could just get someone to mount one on him. Even if things go south, a memory card should survive the impact. Think of it as a little "black box"—except this one would actually be black! That way, once we track down the wreckage, we’ll have a clear record of exactly what went wrong. At least then we can say he died for science!
If he hits the ground and shatters... well, fine! For all that effort and the sheer terror involved, he might as well leave us with a "black box"!

Thanks guys, no sweat, I've got an HD camera ready! 😉
When (or if) I take off, I'll definitely record it and send you the links! 😁

ruggedharbor77 said:The issue is when you're minding your own business, eating a snack, and then—BAM—lightning strikes you out of nowhere.

Look, it’s common sense: don't go flying if there's a storm brewing. Just don't.
If you get caught mid-air when the weather turns, you drop down immediately—before the actual storm hits—and you should be fine. 🙂

Patrick King7 said:So, a Carbon frame, Carbon components, everything else out of titanium, or maybe magnesium...

I’m 100% with you—if you want this to work, the build has to be featherlight. 👍
But where am I supposed to find all that stuff? Honestly, I have zero clue where to source high-end Carbon or magnesium if I'm just trying to run some simulations. 🤷 😕 If you've got a lead, let me know!
So, that’s the plan: build the kite frame in that classic V-shape.
And obviously, the frame needs fabric, which is yet another thing I need to track down... 🙄

Later on, I'll just crunch the numbers to see how much lift I get per square meter of fabric.
I need enough surface area to carry about 180lbs. (That's my bike at 22lbs + me at 132lbs 🙂 + whatever extra gear, like a backpack, you mentioned, say 15-20lbs 😂).

Alright, enough talk. Time to build this thing!

I’ve read some Alan Ford myself—solid stuff.
Basically, yeah, the propeller sits horizontally just like on a plane, except this time it's slapped onto the back of the bicycle.
And man, those wings definitely need to be bigger, I'm with you there. If we're looking at an 8kg bike plus the weight of the wing structure itself... wouldn't I need a 2.5-meter wingspan per side? That puts us at 5 meters total.😁

Alright, look. I don't know if anyone has ever actually tried this—not just here in America, but anywhere in the world—but flying a bicycle. It sounds totally nuts, I get it, but if you really sit down and chew on the idea, maybe it isn't half bad... right?
Basically, here’s how I’m picturing it..
Imagine adding an extra chain to the rear sprocket of the back wheel, connected to a second, smaller gear (no energy loss, less pedaling effort required), and then mounting a propeller onto that smaller gear. We're talking a massive propeller, though, because we actually need lift. 🙂 So, that propeller would be mounted right over the rear end of the bicycle to push it forward. The bike would also have wings. I was thinking something like a paraglider rig basically welded directly to the handlebars, so when you turn the bars in mid-air, you turn the whole glider and change direction!

That’s the gist of it... I might post a sketch of my own later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbC8crk2msY
(By the way, this is the closest thing I've found to someone actually taking a bike into the sky.) 🙂

Cheers!