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Whirling Twirling Propeller Trike

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the mit-students-with-to-much-time dept.

hankmt writes "A student at MIT has built a tricycle that applies force to a giant rear fan, instead of directly to the wheels. The effect...well, it's best to look for yourself, but it would be pretty useful on the post-apocalyptic roads of the Australian Outback. The blades of the trike even have built in LED lights which display colored patterns...and also warn pedestrians of their impending deaths."

12 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Crazy by grub · · Score: 4, Funny


    Those crazy MIT guys are lucky that Massachusetts just made health insurance mandatory!

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  2. First prize for impracticality by trolltalk.com · · Score: 2, Funny

    From the looks of it after watching the vide, its terrible at transforming pedal energy into forward motion, and I'd really hate to see what would happen in any sort of wind. At least a "real bike" you can get off and walk. Add bird strikes to the blades, the excess width, etc., and you've got a real problem.

    Unless,of course, you're Wiley Coyote, and ride it off a cliff - you could autogyro down, I guess.

    --
    Kevin Smith on Prince
    1. Re:First prize for impracticality by timeOday · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh well, millions of people per year spend good money on devices that do nothing *but* waste energy, such as elliptical machines, treadmills, and exercycles. And you can't even hack people to pieces with those.

    2. Re:First prize for impracticality by trolltalk.com · · Score: 4, Funny

      But in this case, he'd autogyro down, with that big sh*t-eating grin on his face, holding up a sign saying "PHEW!" and just as he gets to ground level - BAM! a truck driven by the RoadRunner runs into him and creams him.

      --
      Kevin Smith on Prince
  3. Re:Dumbass Rolled Up Pant Leg by Dan+East · · Score: 4, Funny

    You know what also is funny? The way he rolls up one of his pant legs to be 'in style.' Real original, is he an MIT gangsta?

    Actually, the bike pulls to the right. So by rolling up his right pant leg that side creates less drag, which helps trim the bike back to the left.

    Dan East

    --
    Better known as 318230.
  4. Pfft.... by Digitus1337 · · Score: 4, Funny

    That thing blows.

    1. Re:Pfft.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Technically, half of it sucks.

  5. I can't believe Slashdot. by pclminion · · Score: 5, Funny

    This guy builds a trike with great glowing, whirling blades of death on the back and actually manages to ride it around for a while without getting shipped to Gitmo, and people just complain how it's not practical?

    You people fail utterly at nerd-dom.

  6. Re:Reminds me of a pilot... by pcnetworx1 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Only old Koreans would lean to turn a C172. It's all the rage now to do it in an Antonov, n00bs maybe can get away with a Starlifter

  7. Re:Fan cage? Fully enclosed... by flyingfsck · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hmm, if he fully encloses the fan and adds a vacuum pump, then the fan will spin much easier and his forward speed will be pretty much the same...

    --
    Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
  8. Re:No science by hotdiggitydawg · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can I hire that thing to get rid of my evil enemy Mr. Naughty? Well, Hans Reiser is otherwise occupied, so yeah, why not go with Plan B?

    (cue the smell of burning karma courtesy of humorless mods)...
  9. From TFA.... by argStyopa · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I spend a month a year working on a commercial fishing boat with a loud diesel engine, and the greatest sound in the world is to hear it turn off," says Damon Vander Lind, the creator of a soothingly quiet trike"

    As opposed to a normal trike, which operates with ear-shattering volume?

    --
    -Styopa