Human powered vehicles, a way to travel, conserve fuel and get exercise

[Kat Kanning]

Oooh, that'd be cool.  I'd like to see you cram Jim -n- Lauren's bike in a hotel room! 

[Jim Johnson]

That would be fun, but my vehicle has the same wheel base as an old army jeep.

[jaqeboy]

That would be fun, but my vehicle has the same wheel base as an old army jeep.

Right, I believe I saw that rig at your place. OK, let's get a huge room, then for all the fun stuff! 

[Recumbent ReCycler]

Maybe I could bring my trike.  I've been able to mount it on my car for transporting it longer distances.  I could park my car a few miles away and pedal in the rest of the way.  That would free up a parking spot too if parking is an issue.

[coffeeseven]

Maybe I could bring my trike.  I've been able to mount it on my car for transporting it longer distances.  I could park my car a few miles away and pedal in the rest of the way.  That would free up a parking spot too if parking is an issue.

I was trying to figure out how I would transport a Rhoades Car on my car. Then I realized I was looking at it backwards. I could pull my Geo Metro with it. 

[Kat Kanning]

LOL!

[Recumbent ReCycler]

Maybe I could bring my trike.  I've been able to mount it on my car for transporting it longer distances.  I could park my car a few miles away and pedal in the rest of the way.  That would free up a parking spot too if parking is an issue.

I was trying to figure out how I would transport a Rhoades Car on my car. Then I realized I was looking at it backwards. I could pull my Geo Metro with it. 

You could just get the electric motor option and drive it there.  I noticed that if you get all of the accessories, it costs about twice as much as the base model.

[Seamas]

That is an awesome HPV.  Recumbents are much more efficient than "normal" bicycles (so much so that they are banned by the idiots who sanction bike racing; although your Ron Paul sign has to be killing your aerodynamics) but the width and lowness has always concerned me.  I used to commute on a Trek touring bike and I rode on about 4" of space on the far right of the road while being able to see over all but the tall trucks.  Your HPV would seem to take up about a yard of space and be well into the area that cars would be passing by you in.  Hopefully you are lucky enough to ride in light traffic with low vehicle speeds (as I did when I bike commuted).

Not to be a killjoy but I'd never want to rely on drivers paying any attention.  I ride a motorcycle these days and have developed a sixth sense for what drivers are about to do because despite a 60W halogen high beam, bright tail light, reflective jacket, etc.  they "don't see" motorcycles very frequently.  Hell, I often travel by bus (I don't own a car) and fairly regularly a driver cuts off the bus.  I guess it's hard to pay attention when one is putting on makeup, reading a newspaper, talking and gesticulating on a cell, smacking one's kids in the back seat; all things that I've seen while traveling.

P.S. Probably you got water in your cables and it froze.  I bet that if you put the HPV inside so that the ice melts and put a blob of grease over where the cables go into the sheaths you will be good to go.  I used a powder graphite lube on my bicycle's cables but that won't stop the water (but it works better and is lighter; the holy grail of the bicyclist).  I guess if you are as anal as I obviously am, you could put graphite lube into the cables and cap them off with grease after the ice melts.

Cool   Do you worry about being hit, when you're so low?  Do you have a flag or something?

I don't worry too much about getting hit.  I have a flag that I sometimes mount on the trailer, but I have to take it off for it to fit in my little trike garage that I made since my wife won't let me park it in the house.  I have several tail lights, 3 headlights (and one backup which I only turn on if the other lights lose battery power) and a bunch of reflective tape.  If someone doesn't see me, they aren't paying attention to the road.  I'm a lot more visible than a dog or small child.  A few days ago I was turning into a parking lot while some lady was starting to run a stop sign.  After she crossed the stop line she saw me and stopped, then yelled "that's so dangerous".  I think what is dangerous is running a stop sign without looking both ways to make sure it is safe to proceed.  Some lady yelled at me to "get off the road before you cause an accident", but I'm guessing that she didn't know that it is illegal to ride on the sidewalk.  I would prefer to ride on some of the sidewalks, as I rarely see anyone actually walking on them, but I don't want to get a ticket for riding on an empty sidewalk.  The other day I realized that I should have greased my cables before installing them, because now my cables are mostly frozen up.  I'll have to remove them, clean them, then grease them so that I can continue to ride this winter.  I would have taken the trike this morning if it weren't for the cables freezing up.  Saturday the trailer tipped over when I pulled into my driveway.  Fortunately my son was buckled in with a 4 point harness and it has a roll cage, so he didn't get injured.  If I take him for any more rides, I'll have to explain to him that he needs to lean into the corners.

[Recumbent ReCycler]

Fortunately most of my commute is on roads wide enough for me to ride next to cars without having to go all the way into the breakdown lane, which in some areas is really rough or impassable.  I have decided that I will replace my cables with teflon coated cables and put grease in them as I'm putting it back together.  Unfortunately my wife won't let me bring it into the house, so I have to work on it outside or bring it somewhere else to work on it.  The Ron Paul signs actually don't seem to have any noticeable effect on my aerodynamics.  I am trying to figure out a way to mount a pair of 2'x4' Ron Paul signs on my trike over my seat so that when it's parked in the rain (or snow) the seat stays fairly dry and when I'm riding it doesn't obstruct my view but gives me some shelter from the rain or snow.

[coffeeseven]

I am trying to figure out a way to mount a pair of 2'x4' Ron Paul signs on my trike over my seat so that when it's parked in the rain (or snow) the seat stays fairly dry and when I'm riding it doesn't obstruct my view but gives me some shelter from the rain or snow.

Sounds like you're seeking protection by the Constitution. 

Bad jokes our specialty.

[coffeeseven]

This is a cool website.

http://www.velomobiling.com/gallery/OtherVehicles/WeirdStuff/

There is a guy pulling a sailboat. See? I could pull my Geo Metro!!

[Russell Kanning]

I say drive with the cars to avoid the junk on the side of the road.

advice for a recumbent on hills .... imagine you are Lance ... spin spin spin

[Russell Kanning]

Has anyone had any first hand experience with a Rhodes Car?

http://www.rhoadescar.com/

I wanted one but wife was not enthused. Can't have a two seater with one seat empty.

Russell owns one.

I liked mine. I used it as my only car for a while in CA. I was alone most of the time, but having someone along is very fun.
I would recommend a trike though. I bought the Rhoades Car cheap used. They had too many custom parts. I would think a smaller trike with normal components would work out better. It was heavy.

They are hard to transport. Back of a pickup works great, but no way on a car.

[coffeeseven]

I would recommend a trike though.

Trikes carry a certain.......stigma. Not the recumbent trikes, the old folk sitting up going real slow trikes.

[Jim Johnson]

This is the race that Lauren and I did 8 times.  It's 3 days long and 48 miles of road, sand, mud and open water.

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