The lead skateboarder would steer the entire group but the skateboarders on the following sections would need to anticipate and negotiate turns and banks appropriately lest the entire train get wiped out. Basically a group, multi- section skateboard where everybody has to do their part to keep the thing going.
Could make a simple test of the concept by just getting a bunch of skateboards and tying them in line with a rope. I'd be kind of surprised if nobody's tried that before, at least with a couple of boards.
Might work with snowboards too.-- doctorremulac3, Aug 27 2020 In lieu of a drawing, here's what it might look like. https://images.app....l/rcknk6Bt419LnXEj9Best I can do Blissy. [doctorremulac3, Aug 27 2020] With the spring version... https://images.app....l/3RbLuXMQuBNj6kXD8With the ability for the boards to move away from adjacent boards stuff like this might be possible. [doctorremulac3, Aug 27 2020] Team snakeboarding. https://images.app....l/8SPMZAgNFmaTKGkF8Could be a thing. [doctorremulac3, Aug 27 2020] Bad physics. Crack the whip.-- Voice, Aug 27 2020 Not sure I catch what you're saying, bad physics as in it won't work or it'll work too well? If everybody isn't working together the thing's going to crash. Each skateboard is individually steerable, but that's part of the fun.
But if it's stable and difficult to crash that would be even better.
With the snowboard version I could see everybody holding up lights on a night run so you'd see a silvery light snake winding down the slope.-- doctorremulac3, Aug 27 2020 A cable that holds or tries constantly to form a fair curve might give distance between riders. Therefore giving the boarder more play to steer.-- wjt, Aug 27 2020 Which I think would be more interesting. Although an arrangement that’s basically a snake with wheels that I think Voice was alluding to would probably pose a challenge to the riders as well. Just standing on the thing as it twisted and turned could be tricky / fun.-- doctorremulac3, Aug 27 2020 I used to love to skateboard, now I can't even go an inch without falling. So I love the sport, wish I still had the knack. This is an interesting idea visually.
I grant you a bun, contingent on a stick man drawing of this, at some point. (I think of the famous hills in San Francisco as a great place to try this out.)-- blissmiss, Aug 27 2020 This idea is dangerous, irresponsible, and has huge potential for causing serious injury or death for both participants and bystanders.
[+]-- 8th of 7, Aug 27 2020 //I grant you a bun, contingent on a stick man drawing of this, at some point.//
Hmm, I can try but I think you over estimate my artistic ability.
Another version might not be connected together with rope but rather by springs or bungie cords. This would allow the team to not only more effectively take jumps, but to have more flexibility to draw patterns other than just a snake, like zig zags or something. Then if you really wanted to get crazy, you could have each individual be able to control their rope length on a motorized winder, maybe even centrally remote controlled executing presets for various patterns to be executed. Mmmmmn, naa. Getting too complicated. I like the spring thing though.
And thank you for being nice kdf. I will of course reciprocate.-- doctorremulac3, Aug 27 2020 // And thank you for being nice kdf //
The punctuation makes all the difference, of course.
"And thank you for being nice, kdf" is an expression of gratitude for a single action; the implication being that [kdf] is not generically "nice"*, but this is an acknowledgement of an exception.
"And thank you for being, nice kdf" similarly expresses gratitude, for the existence of [kdf] in general terms, with the adjective "nice" being applied generally.
"And thank you, for being nice kdf" has the same overall implication.
*Observational evidence suggests that this is the correct interpretation.-- 8th of 7, Aug 27 2020 Most people's definition of "nice" is not being an asshole.
Let's stick with that one.
Blissy, I don't draw, but I put some representations of what this might look like for you, hope that suffices. If it doesn't and you take your bun down... I'll be sad.-- doctorremulac3, Aug 27 2020 // Most people's definition of "nice" is not being an asshole. //
But shirey, for some, there is literally such a thing as a... oh. No, let's not pursue that line of thought. It goes into dark places that.... EEEEwwww no that's even worse....
<Thinks happy thoughts about kittens, spring flowers, geography teachers bound hand and foot, and the slow yet inexorable and relentless advance of an Aveling & Porter steam-powered road roller/>-- 8th of 7, Aug 27 2020 But alas, I wrought your linkies, doctor. They are very NICE. I get the just of the idea, I believe. They are awesome and wrought. Don't be sad...EVER!-- blissmiss, Aug 28 2020 Good advice Blissy. :)-- doctorremulac3, Aug 28 2020 <Aside>
[Bliss], you're only supposed to take one tablet morning and evening; two at the same time leads to ... well, just go back and read your own anno.
There's cheerful, and then there's chemically-induced manic ...
</Aside>-- 8th of 7, Aug 28 2020 You keep taking whatever makes you charming Blissy.
If I had any desire to be charming I'd probably take a couple of doses myself, but it's my complete lack of any desire to be charming that makes me so charming. Don't want to upset the balance.-- doctorremulac3, Aug 28 2020 // keep taking whatever makes you charming Blissy //
Our guess is some of Harry Mudd's Venus drug...-- 8th of 7, Aug 28 2020 Just taking pure physics for a moment. If all the boards have the same friction characteristics and the gradient is the same for all places in the line (both big ifs) then the weight differences in riders will cause problems of compression, expansion in lines. Loss of speed usually involves rider making turns.
Although, the boards could have brakes-- wjt, Aug 29 2020 You can brake to some extent on a skateboard by tipping it upwards and dragging the back along the ground and sort of scrape to a stop. You'd have to have some play between the boards to do it that way obviously.
That's why I was thinking this would be interesting. How would the riders negotiate going up and down a hill for instance? The front rider tops the hill and gravity is pulling him down, but not as much as the riders behind him are pulling him back unless they're kicking enough power into their run uphill to keep the whole chain moving. So there would have to be some coordination I would think, and that might be where the skill, and associated interesting part might come in.
The the obvious next step is races. The team most adept and negotiating obstacles together wins the race. As the sport got bigger, the obstacle courses could get more complicated and challenging.
Although this could start at standard skateboard parks that already have lots of hills and curves, those would just make for very short runs. But if this caught on, a few kids would buy doctorremulac3's Snakeboard Link Kit, that secures two boards together, learn some basic tandem moves, then get another, then another as their team grew.
Also be very easy to set up marker poles for and obstacle course for the snowboard version of this. Then you've got the whole side of a mountain to work with. Have the race happen at night, each team wearing a helmet with different colored lights on them so you see two or more "fire snake" looking things racing each other.
Keep in mind, one guy wipes out it would tend to wreck the whole team's run which would make it that much more challenging and therefore interesting.-- doctorremulac3, Aug 29 2020 Clean for 13 years. ( There are herbs and than there are drugs, right?)
8th, you could always borrow some of my whatever, whenever.-- blissmiss, Aug 29 2020 Just occurred to me, for the kit you'd need several skateboard joined together otherwise the riders are just inches from each other which would limit their ability to use their arms to balance.
So you'd probably need say, five or six skateboards per every two people.-- doctorremulac3, Aug 31 2020 random, halfbakery