Thursday, May 15, 2008

How did you get that there?

People often ask how we got Unwheeldy to wherever we are.
The preferred way is human powered transportation--after all, that's part of the point of it all. Simplest of course is riding it. But since the max speed is about 4-5 mph, a slightly faster way is better. For a while, we used a quadricycle which goes around 7-9 mph pretty easily when towing, plus it's clearly heavier than unwheeldy. But we've decided to go for even more speed and use a normal bicycle:



Fewer people makes it a little harder to tow, but not much--we just do it relay style and switch off when tired.

So far, the bicycle is the fastest way yet. If you look back at the pictures in the archives of this blog, you'll also find out how it can be moved by motor vehicle.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Maker Faire report

The Maker Faire was lots of fun. Hundreds of people got to ride Unwheeldy, and unfortunately hundreds more who wanted to didn't get the chance. We were interviewed and photographed by lots of news agencies, including several international ones.



Only a few minor headaches... like the "bottom bracket" holding the gear assembly on the right hand side splayed out, leading to lots of slop in the drive shaft and making the thing unusuable. A few hours later we had it up and running again. Particular thanks to other makers: our neighbors Cyclecide for lending us tools and being helpful, the Techshop for making a part (the dark square with a dot in the middle at the bottom of photo in the previous post is actually a very important part of the chain tensioning mechanism: it's where the adjustment bolt hits the top piece; due to some other issues, there's nothing really there for it to ride on so we had techshop mill a small rectangular piece with a hole.), and Dan Das Mann's crew for welding on a reinforcing bead.

A few pictures and articles:
Jon helped out for the whole weekend and has a good series of pictures.
Wired had a short series about the fair online, including an article about Unwheeldy.
And lots more.

(Contact note: You can find Dave or myself online pretty easily, or send email to info@this site and I should get it.)

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Just in time for the Maker Faire: a new paint job!
Posted by Picasa