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Build Your Own Monowheel

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the need-something-quelled dept.

glengineer writes "Just when you thought it was safe to buy a Segway, Popular Sci has an article on the Monster Monowheel, an 1,100 pound single wheel 'scooter'. From the article: '...works on the hamster-in-a-wheel principle: Move a wheel's center of gravity forward and the wheel turns.' It has an 80cc four-stroke Honda scooter engine and 80 pounds of lead for ballast. Scary part: the driver's seat is in the very front, and the seat scrapes the ground when braking really hard." The builder's website is theriotwheel.com.

7 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. See also... by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Someone linked to this when we had the article about the Bombardier Embrio, another cool concept employing segway-type gyroscopic action.

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  2. What impresses me MOST... by YankeeInExile · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ... is that they have a version that is licensed as a motorvehicle in California.

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  3. Ummmm by cybermace5 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm not so sure that it's a good idea to ride a vehicle that, if it fails at high speed, will run the driver over. All it takes is for something to seize up a little bit.

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  4. Nifty! by FrYGuY101 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When I read the summary, I thought "Oh, like the one on Monster Garage". For those of you who didn't see the one they featured (briefly), there was a monowheel with a Caddilac engine, and the rider rode on the inside... at high speeds it was unstable until the designer added Stabilizing fins...

    But, for those of you who don't RTFA: You ride in FRONT of the wheel. It's *really* fuggin' cool looking.

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  5. Crazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Check out www.zekewheel.com too, if you want a non-motorized wheel to ride inside of downhill.

  6. This is new? by Deadstick · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There's a vehicle out there that really IS a monowheel -- it has no axle at all. It's a one-wheeled motorcycle with the driver inside the wheel...I've seen it demonstrated at motorcycle shows. The frame, holding the seat and engine, runs on a circular steel monorail with a tire around the outside of it, about 6 feet in diameter.

    It's also a very retro-looking thing, built sometime around the early Thirties.

    rj

  7. Re:The Bikers know how do to it by Etcetera · · Score: 4, Interesting


    Here's a video link from a link from the article. It's described as what "must be the first operational V8 monowheel."

    Nifty! Though I do like the RIOTWheel too...

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