Recumbent road racer

[jkv357]

Not an Eco vehicle, but it could be -

Homebuilt Recumbent Motorcycle Racer Competes in MRA Sanctioned Event



Interesting quote from the article -

"No, I'm not giving away any design or building advice. Nor am I asking for any."


He also built an electric recumbent - http://rohorn.blogspot.com/2006/11/m...nt-design.html

His website - http://rohorn.com/

[Fat Charlie]

That is awesome!

[kYLEMtnCRUZr]

So instead of flying off and getting banged up in a high side event, you simply stay inside of this machine and break your neck :/

Cool for MPG, I wouldnt race it unless it was fully enclosed. Actually I wouldnt race it!

[RedDevil]

I doubt it that would highside.
That only happens when most of the weight is on one wheel, and caused/aggravated by the mass of the riders body moving in another direction than the bike (maybe oversimplifying it here...) Not likely in this setup.

So it is probably relatively safe to race, even more so since because it cannot put all its weight on the rear wheel like other bikes those will accelerate away from it and likely brake harder too. It will be alone on the track.
Even at the traffic lights other bikes will jump away from it, I bet it will struggle to out-accelerate the faster cars.
It looks spectacular but I fear it may be no fun to ride...

[jkv357]

I could see your leg getting stuck in-between the bike and the ground in a low-side crash.

I'd have some sort of significant slider on the sides to prevent that sort of thing.

[Daox]

He already put it down once:

The bike is extremely easy to roll into a turn, which makes it all too tempting to turn in far later than normal, late apex it, then drive out without needing the whole track. Great fun, and feels safer than it is since I felt like I was never in danger of running out of track at the exit. The real danger comes from lowsiding while rolling it in stupid late, which hadn't happened to me, yet. Next time out, I was rather happy with the much smoother way I entered/apexed/exited turn 4, only to not stay focused and completely blow my entry point going into turn 5. I tried to tighten my line and dive harder towards the apex, only to lowside hard onto our left side. We slid to the outside of the corner, hit the dirt, then rolled over onto our right side and slid some more. I got a jolly good beating, felt really stupid, but had no broken bones, abrasions, dislocations, or any other of motorcycle racing's occupational hazards.

[Michael Moore]

Most any bike will highside if provoked enough. Get the rear sliding, chop the throttle so it regains traction suddenly while you are sideways, and "to the moon, Ethel!" time.

Royce Creasey has had several prangs on FFs and he says you just brace yourself and keep all the sticky-outy bits tucked in tight and wait for the tumbling to stop. You aren't assured of being injury-free, but hopefully the vehicle body takes the road impacts.

Of course, it all depends on the crash you have. Some people have died in 10mph crashes while others fall off at 170mph+ and walk away.

cheers,
Michael