"If you convert your bicycle to become a Cycloscope, folk who see you riding by will be treated to the spectacle of seeing the frantic hare that perpetually pursues the casual tortoise."
"Is that so Stefan?" his old friend Gustaf exclaimed, eyebrows raised quizzically. - I’d like to see that”. "I'd better explain it all to you then."
To get started you need a copy of Eadweard Muybridge's book of photographs "Animals in motion" and make copies of the running hare and the crawling tortoise.
You then need to transfer the sequences unto metal sheets and cut out the individual animal frames with a piercing saw. Once you have cut them out, you space the hares out equally and attach them to the spokes of the rear wheel in a circle just inside the edge of the tyre. You do the same with the tortoise on the front wheel.
The second installation consists of two small strobe lights which are attached to each wheel, and are directed towards the point of contact of the wheel and the road. These are synchronised to flash once as each animal is at the lowest point in its circular travel. This results in the animal being illuminated like a film reel.
Everything is now in place for you to demonstrate your new Cycloscope. Now as you cycle along, the flashing strobe will have the effect of creating an animation of both the tortoise and the hare, but forever separated by the fixed space between the front and back wheels.
For really dramatic effect, attach it all to a penny-farthing style bike. The frantically running hare on the tiny rear wheel then pursues the sedately confident tortoise, ambling along on the gently turning large orbit of the front wheel.
For even more fun, chose other animals: eg a giraffe can be seen chasing a leopard, or a small naked man can run after a large pigeon.-- xenzag, Mar 09 2007 Eadweard Muybridge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muybridgehuman figure and animals in motion [xenzag, Mar 09 2007] Penny Farthing http://www.museumso...m/knock/knock27.jpgwould look good on one of these [xenzag, Mar 09 2007] The MonkeyLectric Video Pro M464Q http://www.monkeylectric.com/m464q.htm//The system displays moving full color images filling the space of a bike wheel// [pocmloc, Jun 10 2010] Pac man and ghost version http://blog.makezin...nimated_pacman.htmlDIY job from 2006 [pocmloc, Jun 10 2010] RevoLights http://www.kickstar...lution?ref=categoryreminds me of this [simonj, Feb 22 2012] Actually, if you cycle at night in a well-lit city, you won't need your own strobe light as gas-discharge streetlights strobe (in the UK) at 50Hz.-- hippo, Mar 09 2007 I know that, but you need to synch the flashes with the speed of the bicycle so you do need the strobe. If you relied on street lamps, the wheels would have to turn at 50 revs per sec and be equipped with a shutter mechanism..... this is rather impractical.-- xenzag, Mar 09 2007 Not really - you don't need a shutter mechanism because the streetlamp is a strobe light. If you travel 10mph on 27" diameter wheels your wheels rotate almost exactly twice per second so the images spaced around your wheel will appear animated but also racing around the wheel as you travel.-- hippo, Mar 09 2007 small ...... naked .....man......running .... after......a....... pigeon???????-- the dog's breakfast, Mar 09 2007 you could be right Hippo... wouldn't be too hard to test it out - I already have easy access to all Muybridge books. Strobe would provide intense focus on one area though, and create illusion of figures running along at ground level.-- xenzag, Mar 09 2007 I once stuffed a magnet in the spokes of my bike and taped a magnetic reed switch to the forks to get a signal each time the wheel rotated. (I took wires up to a calculator, soldered them across the "=" button, and had it constantly add the wheel circumference to make an odometer.)
You could stick an LED inside each cutout and have it flash.
This idea is clever and would look great. [+]-- baconbrain, Mar 09 2007 Slotted full wheel covers would work in daylight, the cutouts would 'strobe' as they passed the slot. You could even have different animals on the wheels spaced as different radii. Moving the slot closer or farther from the axle would select which animation to run.-- nuclear hobo, Mar 09 2007 This is awesome wow [xenzag] +-- phundug, Mar 09 2007 It's great, and the strobe will help with vis at night-- GutPunchLullabies, Mar 09 2007 [Ian], I just re-read your anno, again. That was beautiful. (I should have said so earlier.)-- baconbrain, Mar 10 2007 I love this.
Can I have running hamsters on mine?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Mar 10 2007 Epic! Gimme Ms. Pacman giving chase to ghost. [+]-- Letsbuildafort, Jun 10 2010 LBF, well I'll be...How the hell are you???
And you are right. One great idea.-- blissmiss, Jun 10 2010 Excellent Idea.
I'll have an animation of some ridiculously complex steam powered mechanism which appears to be driving the wheels, please.-- Twizz, Jun 10 2010 [Fort]! So good to see you again. That "Monkey Lectric" video rox - I want one. Or two.-- normzone, Dec 24 2010 A flentiferous classic.-- Alterother, Feb 22 2012 (marked-for-tagline)
"this is rather impractical"-- normzone, Feb 22 2012 been on FB too long, I was looking for the like button.-- po, Feb 22 2012 Welcome back Po :-)-- xenzag, Feb 22 2012 just wondering how large the wheel would have to be if you wanted to show the whole of The Matrix?-- not_morrison_rm, Feb 24 2012 //A Small Naked Man Persuing A Large Pigeon// Sp.: perusing.
Or possibly preusing.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 24 2012 random, halfbakery