BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I suggest someone make this and bring it to a flock ride and we take turns plowing things.

I like the "handlebars".

Seems like with only drive on one side, this thing would have a tendency to spin in circles.

We talked about the concept in this thread a couple of months ago.

I doubt you could push much snow with that thing before you ended up just spinning the back tire and going nowhere. Something with a tank like tread would probably be the way to go. Oh, and someone really REALLY strong if you planned on plowing for very long.

The plow seems kind of useless for real plowing. I found a posting by the guy who built it. He readily admits its limitations:



The custom 3-wheel bike with sidecar was made years ago, a replica of a bike my childhood friend had. Last winter I added a snow plow accessory. Up to 1 inch of snow doesn't make it worthwhile to fire up my big 8HP snowthrower. And shoveling my 90' long driveway by hand can be too much. So my bike plow makes it easy to make a few runs up and down the driveway to make 2 or 3 piles that can then be easily hand shoveled off to the side. A lever pulls up or lets down the plow with a rope and pulley. Pulling the lever all the way back cantilevers the rope and pivot point so it locks in place. The plow blade is hinged with a bungee cord, so hitting a discrepancy in the road allows the blade to flop and give like a real plow. The bike can turn on a dime so raising the plow and returning up the adjacent path is quick and easy. I can do 'reverse' by pushing down on the front wheel with my foot to roll it backwards.Totally useless with larger snow falls, but the light ones make snow removal fun. (yes, my neighbors do think I'm odd)

One inch, maybe two? I use a push broom.

There's a pic of my 80-foot driveway in the other thread. Of course, for that depth, I needed a shovel. No bike plow would go through that 8" snowfall.

That in itself is telling. If there isn't that much, a bike plow is the wrong tool. If there's too much, a bike plow is the wrong tool.

Did we post this video before? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VozlU8TXEvA

I don't recall seeing that video. It does appear to work reasonably well, and his description of the design is excellent.

Some items I noticed: He's dealing with the ideal conditions of a level, paved driveway only 40 feet long, and just a three-inch snowfall. I'd like to see any of those conditions varied.

I feel like its the only idea I've seen without massive pitfalls in regards to bike-powered-snowplow. The first one in this thread has been torn to bits, but with the gearing, direct drive, heavy frame, ease of build, etc that this one has going for it, it becomes pretty feasible. You'd still need a pretty good set of legs to be pushing a nice big steel frame, and some nice tractor tires filled with salt water, which can be a pain but otherwise it could be successful.

But like you said, the worst part of snowmageddon last year was the texture of the snow - basically being a thick frozen slush, which would probably stop this thing in its tracks. Great for powder, though.