Cool bike generator idea

[Bicycle Bob]

Gosh, are you psychic? I can't load that initial link, but this showed up today:
Biking Downtown Could Help Power The Bus That Gives You A Ride Home | Popular Science

[AmpEater]

This is a terrible idea.....

Take exactly the same hardware, but wire it up to offer an assist to the rider, and you have a bike that might actually encourage people to use it.

I bet the power generated would barely even cover the juice to run the kiosks to rent them. You would think the developer would have an idea about just how much power it takes to move a 10+ ton bus.

But you guys already know this.....

[i_am_socket]

25 MPH is definitely not the upper limits of human output. An average fit adult can manage 18 MPH easily over an hour or so (depending on your definition of fit) on a standard road bike and serious bikers can do way better. Pop on some fairings and you're good to go!

If I had access to a give and take system like that I'd be riding the bus every other day

[Christ]

25 MPH is the fastest sustained running speed for a Human, IIRC.

PA's legal limits for "motor driven cycles" are based on human limitation - 1.5 HP and 25MPH.

[Bicycle Bob]

25 MPH would give a 100 - yd dash in 8.18 seconds, but the official record is 9.2. 15 MPH is a 4-minute mile. Not many of us can do even that on foot.

[MadisonMPG]

Are we talking about bikes or on foot?

[Christ]

I didn't mean "sustained" there. I meant just the fastest recorded speed.

Not that WikiAnswers is an authority...

And another testament -

Originally Posted by Hypertextbook.com

As of June 2000, the fastest running human is Michael Johnson, the American track and field star who on August 1, 1996 set the world record of running 200 meters in 19.32 seconds. Johnson, by doing this, won an Olympic title in Atlanta, Georgia and broke the longest standing field record of the time; Pietro Mennea's 1979 record of 19.72 seconds. Johnson's record can be calculated to equal 10.35 m/s or 37.267 km/h. Johnson's events also include the 400 meter run which he ran in 43.18 seconds ranking him number one in the world in 1999. This broke the 11-year old record of American Butch Reynolds (43.29s). In this category, Johnson was undefeated throughout his career with forty four consecutive victories. An interesting fact to know is that in the animal kingdom Michael Johnson would be considered relatively slow; the cheetah, one of the world's fastest land animals, can sustain a top speed of about 30 m/s or 100 km/h -- three times the speed Michael Johnson can achieve.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by MadisonMPG

Are we talking about bikes or on foot?

On foot... I've personally seen people passing cars on bikes in the city.

[NiHaoMike]

Originally Posted by Bicycle Bob

25 MPH would give a 100 - yd dash in 8.18 seconds, but the official record is 9.2.

Also take into account acceleration time. It is not instantaneous.