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If I lived next to the river up north by Ravenswood, a recumbent version would be the way to commute to downtown:)
I wonder what we would be talking in watt-hours/mile for a pedal-boat compared to what sort of energy is required to move a bicycle. I bet that such a pedal-boat would consume about 5-10x as much power to go the same distance as it would be to ride a bike The amount of friction to push a boat across the water is quite a bit more than a lightweight bicycle encounters rolling on narrow tires. And we aren't even talking about comparable speeds either. I'd venture that a pedalboat would take 5-10x as much effort/mile while going 3-5 times as slow. I cant imagine a pontoon boat such as the one in the original posting going much more then 5-6MPH even if a powerful rider was really pedaling hard. I'm sure the electric assist would help -but it would help a bike go pretty fast too if it was powerful enough.
So one would have to pedal much harder for a much longer time to peddle down the river and back Sure it would be cool to pedal along the river but I don't think it would be a very doable commute from Ravenswood to downtown and back. It would take a couple of hours and by the time one got downtown they'd be exhausted and a sweaty mess -not to mention smelling like the Chicago River...
Almost pulled the trigger on the Shuttle-Bike last summer. Looks a lot like what you have pictured there. That was before deciding to work with Ralph Frese designing and building his dream of a folding canoe instead. Something in me also wants to make it able to convert into an airship one day.
Would love to have a pedal powered blimp. That would make me the coolest. Could you imagine a midnight marauder ride via pedal powered dirigible. The police come and we all launch.
+1 Paul Bracht!
I want a pedal-powered blimp!!!!!!!!!!!!
Flying car? -nope, a blimp that is pedal-powered! It probably wouldn't work very well on a really windy day...
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