Upper-body-powered vehicles?

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Pastychomper
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Upper-body-powered vehicles?

Post by Pastychomper »

While reading through some old posts about the benefits of 'bents, I got to wondering if many cycles these days use the upper body as an extra source of power.

Wikipedia has an article about "rowing bikes," which make use of legs, arms and most of the muscles in between, and I've found a few reviews of some upright machines with cranks instead of handlebars, but to my untrained eye they all look like they'd be hard to steer safely.

Some of the comments pointed out that people can exceed their aerobic limits using legs alone, so using extra muscles wouldn't necessarily improve speed, but it seems to me it would improve peak power and spread the fatigue over a wider area, possibly increasing range. I wouldn't expect a huge increase, especially for someone with my T. rex - like proportions :wink:, but can imagine it being worth the extra weight and complexity for some.

Has anyone here ever tried such a machine?
Everyone's ghast should get a good flabbering now and then.
--Ole Boot
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Cunobelin
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Re: Upper-body-powered vehicles?

Post by Cunobelin »

Varibike:

Image


Allegedly a 30% increase in power.
amediasatex
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Re: Upper-body-powered vehicles?

Post by amediasatex »

I have ridden various machines that are powered by only the arms/upper body, but nothing that uses legs as well.

A friend of mine who is a successful wheelchair marathon racer also has a small collection of vintage handcycles (as well as her modern racing recumbent handcycle), which all use various propulsion methods ranging from 'normal' cranks with pegs instead of pedals mounted in front of the rider, through levers operated with a back and forth action.

They're great fun and a little different to normal :-)
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pjclinch
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Re: Upper-body-powered vehicles?

Post by pjclinch »

The Thijs Rowbike seems to be something of a gold standard, with people putting in serious times in big sportives against racing bikes. Check them out at https://rowingbike.com/en/. I'd love a go on one, but I'd lay pretty good odds that they're not the best in traffic!

As for peak power, it's worth noting that the IHPVA don't care about how you power your HPV, as long as it's a humans providing all the Whizz at the point/time of delivery, but as far as I'm aware nobody has had a serious go at the flying 200m "Blue Riband" with anything other than leg-power. I'm guessing, but I suspect a lot of that is about aero, because at 80 mph wind resistance is very much the big problem, and getting in a whole extra set of transmission while keeping the streamlining and frontal area optimal may well be a "non-trivial" exercise.
Add in that I've seen reports from the riders that they were on the edge of passing out in any case, and I further suspect that adding hand power to the mix too just doesn't give enough power boost to be worth it.

For long range I think most people chug along aerobically, so as long as you can add fuel you can keep going until you fall asleep. Walking with poles is popular to spread load, but a lot of that is load forced on you by standing up, which of course is a non-issue on a bike, and especially on a 'bent. My legs are a lot more trashed by all day on foot compared to all day on the bike.

Pete.
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
amediasatex
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Re: Upper-body-powered vehicles?

Post by amediasatex »

Well the Womens 200m record for hand power alone is actually held by the I friend mentioned above :-)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-37395538

Nowhere near the leg powered speed but the dynamics and available power are vastly different, and as you note I think combining the two would probably have more downsides than upsides.

If you ever do get a chance to try a handcycle or other 'non-leg' HPV I'd seriously suggest you grab it, it's great fun but also surprisingly hard work, I mean i'm sure you realise it's hard work, but I mean it's really hard work, and fatigue sets in much much quicker than you think.
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Pastychomper
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Re: Upper-body-powered vehicles?

Post by Pastychomper »

Thanks for all the replies.

The closest I've come was a stationary "hand bike" at a hotel gym which I tried a couple of times while on a business trip. It was good enough as a form of exercise, but of course I wasn't trying to propel my own weight. If I do get the chance to try the real thing I'll have a go.
Everyone's ghast should get a good flabbering now and then.
--Ole Boot
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