Gee wilikers, that's almost as cool as a Segway.

Half right.

I see it crawling, but not at 50 mph.
It is just a prototype, but it's got a wider stance than a car at this point that could make parking a bother.

Not a bad idea. We'll see where it goes.

Where are the optional "mouth and anal controls"?

/Mr. Garrison

suck shuck suck shuck . . .

That sucker better fold up and fit in my hybrid.

@jsmitho:

Yeah, you beat me to "it"
Gyration power FTW!

Oh, dear god. There's no way that thing would get up to 50 mph, absent a steep hill.

Bikes are limited by human potential and aerodynamics. Fully faired human-powered vehicles designed for record attempts can get up to about 80 mph, briefly, when ridden by elite athletes. If there were any speed benefit to adding arm or torso power, they'd have done it for these HPVs.

This thing appears to have vastly poorer aerodynamics than a conventional bike, not to mention more mechanical losses.

From one of the linked articles...

"And speed is a top priority for him. He related that one of his most cherished bike-riding experiences was achieving 55 miles per hour in New Hampshire. But that was under ideal conditions, namely going downhill. He believes that the Hyperbike will attain at least the same speed -- on flat ground."

55 was with a regular bike. In the video he gets it up to what appears to be a whopping 10 miles an hour. And apparently he has never heard of a recumbant bike.

"While bicycle innovation has been rampant since they made their entrance in the early 19th century, the basic configuration has been the same: one wheel in front of the other, rider seated in the middle."

And the best bit... His roll cage can "potentially withstand a 200 mph impact"

chill lawnmower man

Its true. Aerodynamics make up for 90% of the resistance felt on a bicycle. The world record for bicycling is 334.6 km/h. Which is like 208mph. But he drafted behind a semi. Which cut out most of his resistance. Take a look.

http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/AileenChou.shtml

http://www.southparkstudios.com/img/content/season5/511.gi...

Imitation is the highest form of flattery!!!

At the cutting edge of comedy and land transport, what a show!

Hey, it's funded by NASA. May be a prototype surface transport vehicle for the George W. Bush Lunar Space Colony.

Good luck fitting that in your apartment...or even your garage (garage doors aren't even 8-feet high, are they?). Can't be ridden on the sidewalk, can't fit in the bike-lane width-wise.

Maybe it can go fast (although I'm skeptical like those above), but if it's a person driving the acceleration will be very low (maybe you can switch through 47 gears over the course of a few miles on flat road to get up to speed), thus making you a source of road-rage if you try to ride with card traffic.

Seems like they'll have to develop a new bit of slang to figure out how to pass people on the sidewalk...

"Get the &*%^ outta my way!" might be the appropriate phrase.

Note: "innovative" does not mean "better". Honestly.

haha yeah I've seen "It" before:
http://media.southparkstudios.com/media/images/511/image_0...

His argument for top speed appears to be based solely on the gear ratio times the comfortable cadence. That's idiotic; for the same reason that you can't maintain your normal cadence in a high gear going uphill (or too high a gear even on a straight away), simply having a high gear ratio doesn't allow you to go infinitely fast.

Jesus. NASA are funding this? If he doesn't even understand basic physics (air resistance, terminal velocity), I don't think I want to ride his bike.

@Aeon:
You read it wrong. Bruce Bursford beat the record alright, at a nice 207.9 mph, but it was on rollers.

The actual speed record (with the bike really moving) is at around 166mph and yes, that's done drafting...

You know, the only reason I could see for NASA to fund this would be to help astronauts stay in shape during long space trips. I guess, they may want something that works out both upper and lower body at the same time to save on time spent exercising...

I can so easily see someone flipping over backwards in this thing, maybe NASA is funding this because it resembles a multi-axis gyroscopic spatial orientation destabilizer (or whatever they cann them)?