Mounted on the handle bar, this single-serving slow cooker simmers while you pedal. As you ride, it cooks. Succulent stews, savoury soups, even fondue! When you arrive at camp after a long day of bicycle touring, your dinner is ready. No wasting money at restaurants, no fumbling with a clumsy camp stove, and (best of all) no waiting.
How it works:
In the morning, fill the slow cooker with meat, potatoes, carrots, a little salt, and some water. Screw on the secure leak-proof lid with integrated steam-release valve. (The lid is made from transparent Lexan so you can watch your supper cook.) Hop on your bike and start riding.
A strong permanent magnet is attached to the hub of the front wheel. As it spins it induces a voltage in a coil mounted on the fork. The coil is wired to a resistor built into the bottom of the cooker. The voltage causes a current through the resistor, which heats up and cooks your food. (It slows down your bike a little, but the extra pedaling effort pays off come dinnertime.)
The resistor is adjustable via a dial, so you can control the rate of cooking and the mechanical resistance on the front wheel. While struggling up hills, you can flip a switch to open the circuit for the least amount of mechanical resistance.
When coasting downhill, turn the electrical resistance down for maximum cooking power. Your soup will boil like crazy, and you’ll save wear on your brakes.-- AO, Jul 14 2003 Bike Generator http://users.erols....mshaver/bikegen.htm [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004] Mmmmmmm....(+)-- silverstormer, Jul 14 2003 Sloooooooooow cooker.-- phoenix, Jul 14 2003 Wow, the title alone let me know this was a genuine, grade A, 100% natural [AO] specialty. +-- k_sra, Jul 14 2003 Perhaps a winepress in the saddle too, might as well put those bumps to good use.-- silverstormer, Jul 14 2003 ahem, watch yourself, silver. treading dangerous ground :)
+1, nice one AO, this sounds so doable!-- po, Jul 14 2003 I know, what can I say? You inspired me.-- silverstormer, Jul 14 2003 you silver tongued charmer you <g>-- po, Jul 14 2003 All the better to taste saddle wine with.-- silverstormer, Jul 14 2003 [px] I don't think too slow, as long as it's well insulated. Surfing around it looks like slow cookers are generally in the 200 W range, and the guy in my link says that you can handle up to 300 W with bike power. With good insulation, you'd just have a bit of a load at the beginning while you're warming the thing up - after that it's cake! (mmm.... bike cake)-- Worldgineer, Jul 14 2003 big phoe, is not criticising, he is just in sloooooow mode today. fancies hisself as John Wayne, I think <g>-- po, Jul 14 2003 And why hasn't it been posted here as an idea?-- Worldgineer, Jul 14 2003 If a regular uninsulated Crock-Pot uses 200 watts for 4 servings, I figure an insulated single-serving version could run on 25 watts, or about 20% of the total power generated by a medium-level bike tourist. You would arrive at camp an hour or two later than an equivalent non-cooking cyclist; but the extra time would easily be compensated for by your supper of stew, gumbo, curry, or even pot roast.-- AO, Jul 14 2003 Yes! Could be augmented on sunny days with a parabolic reflector on a ball joint, for ongoing alignment--just requires rider to wear welding goggles and gallons of sunscreen. (in the 6th grade, we heated a pot of beans to a simmer in a standard crock pot painted black with a 4 ft aluminum foil/cardboard reflector in just a few hours)
+-- oxen crossing, Jul 14 2003 Here on the prairie, functions as the bicycle bacterial incubator!-- n-pearson, Jul 15 2003 This idea turns mechanical energy into electricity, which is then used the create heat. Seems like a lot of waste heat is generated by a bicycle anyway. I propose a crockpot which captures the waste heat and uses it to boil beets. No additional work by the biker will be necessary. You could also use it to boil things besides beets, maybe.-- bungston, Jul 15 2003 Hence [MrB]'s gravy tires.-- Worldgineer, Jul 15 2003 some of the waste heat is generated by the rider as well--capture that. yum.-- oxen crossing, Jul 15 2003 The wine press saddle will capture some of this heat. It should help to ferment the grapes.-- silverstormer, Jul 15 2003 Attach a small compressor to the front wheel, run refrigerant through a specially adapted drysuit to cool the rider, and transfer the collected heat into the pot. The suit could incorporate a Camelback(tm) arrangement to cool the saddlepressed wine.-- egbert, Jul 15 2003 Yes to the Camelback ™, and not only to cool the wine but, of course, to drink it.-- oxen crossing, Jul 15 2003 To drink from a camelback. 1. Mount camel 2. Use drill to make hole 3. Insert straw 4. Drink-- silverstormer, Jul 15 2003 You forgot the bricks.-- egbert, Jul 15 2003 + Could also work with an exercycle, so you can burn calories while making a nutritious meal.-- sartep, Jul 16 2003 [egbert] Try Start -> Run and type "charmap". You can have all the symbols you want from there.-- silverstormer, Jul 16 2003 Why not use the powerful magnet to power the bicycle? It's on the drawing board for monorails, no?-- NotSoQuick, Aug 23 2003 random, halfbakery