really long tandem?



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Joshua Goldberg

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Hi There My wife and I have just about had it with living in beautifull downtown Toronto and have
begun looking at doing a 20,000 mile bent tandem ride next summer. In true Wile E. Coyote fashion I
intend to design the tandem and have someone way smarter than Moi build the tandem for me. My
thought was a space frame in Aluminum with a length of 21 feet X 3 feet wide (tadpole
configuration). Why 21 feet...It will have a rather long Solar Panel (PV) to assist my pedal
assist...I am good, but not 20,000 miles good (I may be insane-but I am not stupid) and no way I am
doing the Rocky Mountains strictly on pedal power. My other thought for the 21 footer was to carry a
solo tadpole in the rear (wheels not on ground). Thiis way people can do Demo rides of my trike (the
one I will be flogging).

At 21 feet a boater friend has suggested I use a folding-telescopic mast and hoist a sail when there
is a good breeze across the Prairies...hmmm wouldn't that be cool, a Prairie Schooner and so much
fun explaining that one in Court.

I have become fat (small Planets may soon start orbiting around me) and my leg muscles are not as
powerfull as they once were since the Osteoarthritis in my knees kicked in....damn old age.

I figure enough is enough, time to take my life on the road and spread my brand of crazy around.
Hell, why embarass my species only in Toronto, time to spread it out. There are sooo many nice car
mirrors just begging me to make contact across the Great White North.

I will get some Corporate Sponsors for this journey, from a testing point of view a 20,000 mile trek
is worth a few Ducats in marketing/promotion....less so if I am squished by a tractor trailer 20
miles out of Toronto. I'd love to get Jack Daniels to sponsor me, but being pulled over every 200
feet by the Police for a breath sample and a search of my Hydration pack for booze might be too
much. I reckon on approaching Solar Panel companies, Rim suppliers etc.

IF this SARS thing gets any worse I may have to run a blocade on the Highway to escape the City.

Hardest part of all this will be convincing my brain that I really won't drop over dead IF I stop
eating Cherry Cheesecake, Danishs, Halavah etc. So I'll have 10 months to prepare...can hardly
wait...hmmm I can hear the Cheesecake saying Eat Me, Eat Me. Oh Great, now my food is talking to me!

Anyone seen any really long tandem plans anywhere on the net, I need some ideas.
 
Joshua: You go, man! You'd better post pics when it's done. My wife and I ride a GTT, which may be
the longest production bent made at about 11.5 ft.

Bon voyage!

Scott

"Joshua Goldberg" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Hi There My wife and I have just about had it with living in beautifull downtown Toronto and have
> begun looking at doing a 20,000 mile bent tandem ride next summer. In true Wile E. Coyote fashion
> I intend to design the tandem and have someone way smarter than Moi build the tandem for me. My
> thought was a space frame in Aluminum with a length of 21 feet X 3 feet wide (tadpole
> configuration). Why 21 feet...It will have a rather long Solar Panel (PV) to assist my pedal
> assist...I am good, but not 20,000 miles good (I may be insane-but I am not stupid) and no way I
> am doing the Rocky Mountains strictly on pedal power. My other thought for the 21 footer was to
> carry a solo tadpole in the rear (wheels not on ground). Thiis way people can do Demo rides of my
> trike (the one I will be flogging).
>
> At 21 feet a boater friend has suggested I use a folding-telescopic mast and hoist a sail when
> there is a good breeze across the Prairies...hmmm wouldn't that be cool, a Prairie Schooner and so
> much fun explaining that one in Court.
>
> I have become fat (small Planets may soon start orbiting around me) and my leg muscles are not as
> powerfull as they once were since the Osteoarthritis in my knees kicked in....damn old age.
>
> I figure enough is enough, time to take my life on the road and spread my brand of crazy around.
> Hell, why embarass my species only in Toronto, time to spread it out. There are sooo many nice car
> mirrors just begging me to make contact across the Great White North.
>
> I will get some Corporate Sponsors for this journey, from a testing point of view a 20,000 mile
> trek is worth a few Ducats in marketing/promotion....less so if I am squished by a tractor trailer
> 20 miles out of Toronto. I'd love to get Jack Daniels to sponsor me, but being pulled over every
> 200 feet by the Police for a breath sample and a search of my Hydration pack for booze might be
> too much. I reckon on approaching Solar Panel companies, Rim suppliers etc.
>
> IF this SARS thing gets any worse I may have to run a blocade on the Highway to escape the City.
>
> Hardest part of all this will be convincing my brain that I really won't drop over dead IF I
> stop eating Cherry Cheesecake, Danishs, Halavah etc. So I'll have 10 months to prepare...can
> hardly wait...hmmm I can hear the Cheesecake saying Eat Me, Eat Me. Oh Great, now my food is
> talking to me!
>
> Anyone seen any really long tandem plans anywhere on the net, I need some ideas.
 
Joshua,

When you get ready to go, hopefully you will publish and up am itinerary. It would be fun to meet
the man and the machine.

Gary McCarty, Salt Lake City

"Joshua Goldberg" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Hi There My wife and I have just about had it with living in beautifull downtown Toronto and have
> begun looking at doing a 20,000 mile bent tandem ride next summer.

>I am good, but not 20,000 miles good (I may be insane-but I am not stupid) and no way I am doing
>the Rocky Mountains strictly on pedal power. My other thought for the 21 footer was to carry a solo
>tadpole in the rear (wheels not on ground). Thiis way people can do Demo rides of my trike (the one
>I will be flogging).
 
oh okay I am going to tap the brains of the University Engineers to do the Solar end of it. Every
year Universities race their bent solar hybrids in Australia and there has to be enuff data out
there to pull this off. Been thinking of getting my wife to run alongside the tandem with a giant
Magnifying glass to concentrate the Sunlight on the panels...her problem is she is never quite sure
when I am kidding and my problem is trying to figure out how big the Magnifying glass and giant
mirror will be. Images of getting the angle wrong and turning Saskatchewan wheat fields into another
Australian scorched earth landscape. Being chased by hundreds of irrate wheat farmers carrying
sickels sp?...having to pedal faster to keep ahead of the mob and swinging the mirror around and
toasting the mob like in War of the Worlds...I see a movie in this!

------------------
"Gary Mc" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Joshua,
>
> When you get ready to go, hopefully you will publish and up am itinerary. It would be fun to meet
> the man and the machine.
>
> Gary McCarty, Salt Lake City
>
> "Joshua Goldberg" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > Hi There My wife and I have just about had it with living in beautifull downtown Toronto and
> > have begun looking at doing a 20,000 mile bent tandem ride
next
> > summer.
>
>
> >I am good, but not 20,000 miles good (I may be insane-but I am not stupid) and no way I am doing
> >the Rocky Mountains strictly on pedal power. My other thought for the 21 footer was to carry
a
> > solo tadpole in the rear (wheels not on ground). Thiis way people can do Demo rides of my trike
> > (the one I will be flogging).
> >
 
"Joshua Goldberg" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Been thinking of getting my wife to run alongside the tandem with a giant Magnifying glass
to
> concentrate the Sunlight on the panels...her problem is she is never quite sure when I am kidding
> and my problem is trying to figure out how big the Magnifying glass and giant mirror will be.
> Images of getting the angle
wrong
> and turning Saskatchewan wheat fields into another Australian scorched
earth
> landscape. Being chased by hundreds of irrate wheat farmers carrying
sickels
> sp?...having to pedal faster to keep ahead of the mob and swinging the mirror around and toasting
> the mob like in War of the Worlds...I see a
movie
> in this!

Joshua - I envy you. Your imagination is almost as wild as my 3yo daughters. Keep it up!

(Thank god your not thinking of frequenting Denmark ;-) - hey relax, it's just because we have these
awful fences on the bikelanes, where they cross motorized traffic. No way you could get a 21 footer
through them..)

Torben
 
Originally posted by Torben Scheel
"Joshua Goldberg" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Been thinking of getting my wife to run alongside the tandem with a giant Magnifying glass
to
> concentrate the Sunlight on the panels...her problem is she is never quite sure when I am kidding
> and my problem is trying to figure out how big the Magnifying glass and giant mirror will be.
> Images of getting the angle
wrong
> and turning Saskatchewan wheat fields into another Australian scorched
earth
> landscape. Being chased by hundreds of irrate wheat farmers carrying
sickels
> sp?...having to pedal faster to keep ahead of the mob and swinging the mirror around and toasting
> the mob like in War of the Worlds...I see a
movie
> in this!


Joshua, careful with the magnifying glass idea...ever seen the Larsen Far Side with the kid and the glass and the ant, ant say's "sure is getting hot". Makin your wife run beside the 21ft bike, you could be getting serious sunburn! :D

Keep everyone posted. Sounds like the adventure of a lifetime.
 
"Torben Scheel" skrev

> (Thank god your not thinking of frequenting Denmark ;-) - hey relax, it's just because we have
> these awful fences on the bikelanes, where they cross motorized traffic. No way you could get a 21
> footer through them..)

He probably neglected to mention the battering ram mounted up front. ;)

M.
 
"Joshua Goldberg" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> oh okay I am going to tap the brains of the University Engineers to do the Solar
end
> of it. Every year Universities race their bent solar hybrids in Australia and there has to be
> enuff data out there to pull this off. Been thinking
of
> getting my wife to run alongside the tandem with a giant Magnifying glass
to
> concentrate the Sunlight on the panels...her problem is she is never quite sure when I am kidding
> and my problem is trying to figure out how big the Magnifying glass and giant mirror will be.
> Images of getting the angle
wrong
> and turning Saskatchewan wheat fields into another Australian scorched
earth
> landscape. Being chased by hundreds of irrate wheat farmers carrying
sickels
> sp?...having to pedal faster to keep ahead of the mob and swinging the mirror around and toasting
> the mob like in War of the Worlds...I see a
movie
> in this!

Not that I'm an engineer but I doubt you are going to get much assistance from solar cells on a
large tandem like that
 
"Mark Leuck" <[email protected]> wrote in news:qyXJa.8018$3d.4841@sccrnsc02:

>
> "Joshua Goldberg" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...

>> sp?...having to pedal faster to keep ahead of the mob and swinging the mirror around and toasting
>> the mob like in War of the Worlds...I see a
> movie
>> in this!
>
> Not that I'm an engineer but I doubt you are going to get much assistance from solar cells on a
> large tandem like that
>

Apparently there are some people that disagree with you ( : If these cats can make a vehicle powered
entirely from solar for 2000km, surely Joshua could use solar assist. Well...maybe not Joshua, but
someone who knows what they are doing.( ; I'd suggest a panel as long and wide as the trike mounted
like a surrey top.

http://www.sbu.ac.uk/solarcar/page_02a.htm http://www.cpsolarcar.com/ http://www.prisum.iastate.edu/
http://www.engin.umich.edu/solarcar/ http://www.aurorasolarcar.com/main_frame.html and on and on...

rorschandt

--
<A HREF="mailto:postmaster@[127.0.0.1]"
 
On Tue, 24 Jun 2003 08:24:50 -0500, rorschandt <[email protected]> wrote:

>"Mark Leuck" <[email protected]> wrote in news:qyXJa.8018$3d.4841@sccrnsc02:
>
>> Not that I'm an engineer but I doubt you are going to get much assistance from solar cells on a
>> large tandem like that
>>
>
>Apparently there are some people that disagree with you ( : If these cats can make a vehicle
>powered entirely from solar for 2000km, surely Joshua could use solar assist.

On the other hand, the Greenspeed people seem to think that human power is better than solar power:

http://www.greenspeed.com.au/WSC.htm

Ken Kobayashi [email protected] http://solarwww.mtk.nao.ac.jp/kobayashi/personal/
 
"Joshua Goldberg" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi There My wife and I have just about had it with living in beautifull downtown Toronto and have
> begun looking at doing a 20,000 mile bent tandem ride
next
> summer.

20,000 miles would make a nice summer ride on a tandem with the wife. Going anywhere special?

skip
 
Op een dag krabbelde Ken Kobayashi het volgende:
> On Tue, 24 Jun 2003 08:24:50 -0500, rorschandt <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> "Mark Leuck" <[email protected]> wrote in news:qyXJa.8018$3d.4841@sccrnsc02:
>>
>>> Not that I'm an engineer but I doubt you are going to get much assistance from solar cells on a
>>> large tandem like that
>>>
>>
>> Apparently there are some people that disagree with you ( : If these cats can make a vehicle
>> powered entirely from solar for 2000km, surely Joshua could use solar assist.
>
> On the other hand, the Greenspeed people seem to think that human power is better than
> solar power:

Also found this one on the greenspeed page: http://www.greenspeed.com.au/special.htm. Solar power
assisted trikes...

--
Mike aka No plan B http://www.ligfiets.tk
 
Toronto to Halifax, Halifax to Toronto, Toronto to Alaska, Alaska to Vancouver (maybe Oregon)
and back to Toronto. 120 days max. Lots of little side trips in between to visit bicycle/bent
and EV shops.

From the posts I can see no one understood what I meant by the Solar Panels assisting my assist. The
Assist will be an ETEK or Crystalyte E-Motor capable of a sustained speed of 30 mph...more with
pedal use. I will be towing a Kaboose which will contain the E-Motor to Power the trailer, plus an
AC/DC generator to power up 3 Ni-MH battery packs stored on the trike section. The Solar Panels will
assist with the battery charging...not be a direct source of proplulsion. The idea is to have the
trailer push the trike. This way we can unhitch the trailer and use the tandem as HPV for side trips
and hope the trailer is where we parked it.
----------------------------
"skip" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
> "Joshua Goldberg" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Hi There My wife and I have just about had it with living in beautifull downtown Toronto and
> > have begun looking at doing a 20,000 mile bent tandem ride
> next
> > summer.
>
> 20,000 miles would make a nice summer ride on a tandem with the wife.
Going
> anywhere special?
>
> skip
 
> > My wife and I have just about had it with living in beautifull downtown Toronto and have begun
> > looking at doing a 20,000 mile bent tandem ride
> next
> > summer.

20,000 miles? How long are the summers where you live?

Bruce Shannahoff Los Angeles CA - where summers are 3 months long
 
"Joshua Goldberg" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Toronto to Halifax, Halifax to Toronto, Toronto to Alaska, Alaska to Vancouver (maybe Oregon)
> and back to Toronto. 120 days max. Lots of little side trips in between to visit bicycle/bent
> and EV shops.
>
> From the posts I can see no one understood what I meant by the Solar
Panels
> assisting my assist. The Assist will be an ETEK or Crystalyte E-Motor capable of a sustained speed
> of 30 mph...more with pedal use. I will be towing a Kaboose which will contain the E-Motor to
> Power the trailer, plus an AC/DC generator to power up 3 Ni-MH battery packs stored on the trike
> section. The Solar Panels will assist with the battery charging...not be a direct source of
> proplulsion. The idea is to have the trailer push the trike. This way we can unhitch the trailer
> and use the tandem as HPV for side trips and hope the trailer is where we parked it.
> ----------------------------

Sounds like a plan Joshua. Have you told your wife yet?

skip
 
In Toronto Canada (as of late) we have 2 seasons...winter which lasts 9 months and summer that lasts
3 months LOL

My wife works at the University of Toronto. School ends in mid-April and starts up again Sept.07ish.
She gets the summer off about 120 days total.

We hope to find a new place to live (on our trip) and not return to Toronto. I have had it with
riding a gauntlet of traffic everyday on my various bents. I want to get out and find the PERFECT
well paved hill, the ideal rural road etc. I have pushed the envelope many times riding in
Toronto and now I suspect the motorists missing driver side door mirrors know my route...just
kidding (I hope).

I have gone on a few 300 mile rides on back country roads and communed with nature and memories of
doing that have been making me want to get back to those quieter rides again. I am tired of turning
a city street corner and finding a big friggin Greyhound Bus coming at me. "Bruce Shannahoff"
<[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > > My wife and I have just about had it with living in beautifull
downtown
> > > Toronto and have begun looking at doing a 20,000 mile bent tandem ride
> > next
> > > summer.
>
> 20,000 miles? How long are the summers where you live?
>
> Bruce Shannahoff Los Angeles CA - where summers are 3 months long
 
"rorschandt" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Mark Leuck" <[email protected]> wrote in news:qyXJa.8018$3d.4841@sccrnsc02:
>
> >
> > "Joshua Goldberg" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
>
> >> sp?...having to pedal faster to keep ahead of the mob and swinging the mirror around and
> >> toasting the mob like in War of the Worlds...I see a
> > movie
> >> in this!
> >
> > Not that I'm an engineer but I doubt you are going to get much assistance from solar cells on a
> > large tandem like that
> >
>
> Apparently there are some people that disagree with you ( : If these cats can make a vehicle
> powered entirely from solar for 2000km, surely Joshua could use solar assist. Well...maybe not
> Joshua, but someone who knows
what
> they are doing.( ; I'd suggest a panel as long and wide as the trike mounted like a surrey top.
>
> http://www.sbu.ac.uk/solarcar/page_02a.htm http://www.cpsolarcar.com/
> http://www.prisum.iastate.edu/ http://www.engin.umich.edu/solarcar/
> http://www.aurorasolarcar.com/main_frame.html and on and on...
>
>
> rorschandt

I've seen those but it doesn't sound like thats what Joshua is wanting to build, especially a loaded
down tandem?
 
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