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One "Bungee Chord" (or similar elastic material) runs from a cuff in the pants just below the calf behind your leg to a cuff just above your knee. The opposing Bungee Chord runs from the cuff above the knee past both sides of the knee cap down to the front of the cuff below your calf.
When on a bicycle,
the chords exert minimal force when you have both feet and pedals equidistant from the ground.
When you begin to move in a circular motion, the oscillation begins so that when your right foot and pedal are at apex, the chord wants to contract and assists in the downward motion. The left leg, being extended at the time the right leg is at the apex, will have an assisted contracting force by the chord.
My assumption is that though oscillation pants might require more effort to accelerate, they will require less effort to maintain constant speed.
80MPH+ human powered bike = inspiration
http://www.fortebikes.com/Diablo.htm
81 MPH speed record is just 1 MPH short of claiming the decimach prize of around $23K USD. (They adjusted the MPH due to altitude, as I believe the MPH required is only 75 MPH below 4000 ft.) [Zimmy, Sep 13 2005]
[link]
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If I read the rules to the decimach challange correctly, something like this is allowable, but may fall under the judges discression to disallow it. |
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Yes, Yes! I want one! anything to make this biking thing easiear!
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(Hmm, that Diablo looks pritty) |
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Can Anyone think of why this won't work? I read it takes around 5 min's to reach the 80MPH mark. |
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I was thinking that if you had "spring assist", perhaps that time period would be shorter. |
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Thermodynamics? Do you mean Conservation of Energy? Aww, you're probably right. |
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Going up, yes; going down it will have this extra 'twang'. It will take some time practising to release your pull in exact timing with the twang but at least in my mind it will feel like its easier. |
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I did a couple of thought experiments (I forget what Einstien called them) on this problem: |
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Take a 5 pound ball with holes drilled through at its equator N to S, E to W. The N to S hole will have a rod running through it. The E to W holes will have pins stuck in them attached to a stirrup type hinge allowing you to slide the ball weight back and forth along the rod. |
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The work you do sliding the weight back and forth will be much less if you can bounce the weight off of springs on either side as you do not have to de-cellerate the weight. |
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I also Imagined standing next to a wall on one leg with my hands supporting myself on the wall. On the free leg I have a spring that goes between my leg and the wall. Between my calf & thigh I also have a spring. It seemed to me that the work I needed to do to oscillate my leg back & forth would be less due to the lack of energy spent on de-cellerating my leg to reverse direction than if I performed the same motion without springs. |
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As I imagine the motion you make in cycling, I wonder if there is a subconsious de-celleration that your muscles submit to in the motion. If so, this idea might work. |
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