- The problem with cycling is all the ups and downs... Half the time you have to pedal hard cos you're going uphill, then the next 5 minutes you're hardly pedalling at all cos you're going dowhill. The trick of a better bicycle is decouple the input drive from the output drive so you can smooth out the peaks on troughs. So that the bikes speed is consistent regardless of the road incine etc and you can also pedal at a constant rate.
- One way to do this decoupling would be replace the chain with a hydraulic system : the pedals would be connected to a input piston so increasing the pressure inside the hydraulic chamber (inside the bicycle frame) and an output piston would be the connected to take energy from the chamber through valves connected to a handlebar throttle, with mechanics meaning the whee spins at a constant rate regardless of inclne. Downhill the hydraulic chamber pressure would be increasing, but uphill you wouldn't have to pedal harder as some of the stored pressure would be utilized.
- Braking would also be regenerative to increase hydraulic pressure instead of losing the energy .
- (If you made the vertical tube of the bicycle frame the input piston could you make a new way of pedalling ie your feet stay in one position and you move your arse up and down ? Would that be more or less efficient ? If you also coupled in the handlebar it could be like a rowing machine action)
- Now in practice hydraulic systems are often problematic, but good engineering should conquer that
- Now if you made the bicycle into a tricycle you could still be pedalling everytime you are stopped at traffic lights or a junction.
- .Why not electric bike ?
- You could go for a dynamo/battery and motor system and it would be easier to build, but I think the losses would be bigger than hydraulics and the big problem is the weight of the battery ..the hydraulic fluid could be light like compressed air.. Unlike a battery it would lose most of it's compressed energy after being parked for a while.
- Also dynamos are either on or off .. It'll difficult to alter the hardness of turning them.