The Chainlink

Bike Plow.

Saw this contraption on a Wisconsin riders blog, had always pondered the possibility.

 

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Permalink Reply by Gort 12-mile Pinklegneep on January 31, 2011 at 10:17am
Seems a bit silly not angling the blade.
Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 31, 2011 at 10:50am

This whole thing is silly.  It's not a real human-powered bike plow, but a photo op that someone threw together.  It'd work once, (maybe -as it looks like it has a deraileur so can't even  go backwards) to plow some light snow away from a limited area -as long as there was an easy and relatively clear place to push it all.

 

But snow is heavy, and builds up quickly.  You need serious grunt to move real snow. If you've ever driven a plow truck you'd really know just how much grunt it takes to actually move real snow accumulations and roll a snowbank or push over the top of it.  There is no such thing as small plow trucks -and that is for a reason.  You need a lot of weight (moving mass), power, traction, and hydraulics  to push and lift snow out of the way once you make a snow bank larger than 6" high.

 

And you get to that 6" pretty darn fast...

 

That said, I enjoy the pictures.  It's really cute.  It's just not real ;)

 

Peenworm Grubologist said:

Seems a bit silly not angling the blade.
Permalink Reply by Ace Mann on January 31, 2011 at 11:41am
I think that is called the Florida snowplow.
Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on January 31, 2011 at 12:20pm
I met these guys at the Rosemont Bike Swap last summer.  Here is an article about them in the Fermilab website titled " Rain, Sleet or Snow - Fermilab Bike Commuters Ride Year-round"(scroll halfway down). Seems to work pretty well for them!
Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 31, 2011 at 12:31pm

This would work a little better to clear a small path as long as the snow didn't accumulate too much to the sides.  They aren't moving much snow far, just cutting a swath through it.

 

I'd love to see a video of them using this thing.  Get a good run up to the snow area and hit it hard and muscle through it I suppose. You'd need enough momentum to keep that blade moving and hell to pay if it snagged on anything at all.

 

A video would be great to to watch.

 

Plowing a larger area is something much harder than a long narrow passage though.  Even something as wide as a sidewalk would be tough.   They aren't moving the snow very far -more like chisel-plowing a farm field rather than grading it and moving everything to the edge of a large area. Turning it over and to the sides doesn't require nearly as much energy and isn't moving as much mass as far.

 

Julie Hochstadter said:

I met these guys at the Rosemont Bike Swap last summer.  Here is an article about them in the Fermilab website titled " Rain, Sleet or Snow - Fermilab Bike Commuters Ride Year-round"(scroll halfway down). Seems to work pretty well for them!
Permalink Reply by jlj on January 31, 2011 at 2:01pm
"Bike Plow videos on Youtube" play-list so you don't have to find them.  Couldn't find the fermi guys plow and most of these plows really suck.
Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 31, 2011 at 2:35pm

Thank you John.  I should have thought of just searching YouTube for videos of bicycle/pedal snow plows myself.

 

I've seen pictures of this one before but never a video

 

 


It actually worked a LOT better than I thought it would -with some judicious editing  of the video.

 

It looks like he eventually got that whole driveway "plowed" although I bet I could have shoveled it faster.  I used to have a 150-foot driveway that was all uphill the whole way so I pretty much HAD to shovel it to get out and I did it all by hand EVERY time it snowed when I used to live up in WI.  It's just a matter of having the swivel in the hip and using your legs as a pivot.  Scoop-throw-scoop-throw-scoop-throw...ad nauseum.


The next time he goes to "plow" with that lightweight toy he's going to have to settle for pulling those snowbanks in another couple of feet, and the next time another couple of feet more -and that is assuming simple light fluffy snowfalls.

 

Stilll, a pretty cool toy!


It looked like pretty soft fluffy snow too.  We know how often THAT happens around here ;)

 

John L. Jensen said:

"Bike Plow videos on Youtube" play-list so you don't have to find them.  Couldn't find the fermi guys plow and most of these plows really suck.
Permalink Reply by jlj on January 31, 2011 at 3:22pm

These seem neat. 

Two Canadian contraptions.
Btw... I cannot get video embed to work using either the provided button or embedding in html code.  Any suggestions?

 

 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 31, 2011 at 3:50pm

Click the  box in the embed options that says "use old embed code"  -that's the only way it works for me.  I'm assuming it would be the same for anyone embedding in this forum.

 

(BTW, I do like the new forum software and the WYSIWIG mode.  It works nicely and makes quoting easier than the old way.  Easier to snip for content too.)

 

John L. Jensen said:


These seem neat. 

Two Canadian contraptions.
Btw... I cannot get video embed to work using either the provided button or embedding in html code.  Any suggestions?

 

 

Permalink Reply by jlj on January 31, 2011 at 4:07pm

Thanks James!  Bike Plow Play list Below.



James Baum said:

Click the  box in the embed options that says "use old embed code"  -that's the only way it works for me.  I'm assuming it would be the same for anyone embedding in this forum.

 

(BTW, I do like the new forum software and the WYSIWIG mode.  It works nicely and makes quoting easier than the old way.  Easier to snip for content too.)

 

John L. Jensen said:


These seem neat. 

Two Canadian contraptions.
Btw... I cannot get video embed to work using either the provided button or embedding in html code.  Any suggestions?

 

 

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on January 31, 2011 at 5:22pm
Very cool!

John L. Jensen said:

Thanks James!  Bike Plow Play list Below.



James Baum said:

Click the  box in the embed options that says "use old embed code"  -that's the only way it works for me.  I'm assuming it would be the same for anyone embedding in this forum.

 

(BTW, I do like the new forum software and the WYSIWIG mode.  It works nicely and makes quoting easier than the old way.  Easier to snip for content too.)

 

John L. Jensen said:


These seem neat. 

Two Canadian contraptions.
Btw... I cannot get video embed to work using either the provided button or embedding in html code.  Any suggestions?

 

 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 31, 2011 at 6:00pm

That was fun.

 

Some of those worked better than I would have thought.  I wouldn't try it tomorrow with the snowfall we are supposed to be getting :-D

 

I didn't see any crashes, which I was was expecting with some of the 2-wheelers.  It's nice to know there are people out there crazier than I am.

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