Bike Rodeo bicycle blender

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Background

A Bicycle Rodeo, or Bike Rodeo, is a bicycle safety event for children, generally ages 6-14. Events can include lectures, workshops, inspections, demonstrations, and generally a practice course. Several rodeos are held each year by Humboldt County, California health organizations.

Opportunity Definition

As an attraction for these events, workshop coordinator Brian Olson, of Rio Dell Community Resource Center for the St. Joseph Health System, has teamed up with Robert Camacho and Eric Recchia of Humboldt State University’s Engineering 305 class on Appropriate Technology to create a bicycle blender. A bicycle blender uses human pedal power to operate a blender. The blender will be used by kids attending the event to demonstrate the uses of pedal power and allow them to make their own smoothies.

Literature Review

Basics

In physics, a calorie is the amount of heat required to raise one kilogram of water by one degree centigrade. In nutrition, a calorie is 1000x the physics calorie, also known as a kilocalorie, however it is still referred to as a “calorie”. When people eat food that contains calories, they store these calories for later use, such as pedaling a bicycle or stationary bike blender. It is when they pedal a bike that they convert the stored calories into heat and work. ^[1] A person pedaling a bicycle can accelerate to a speed and maintain it comfortably for a long period of time. This is referred to as “pacing.” Beyond this point, a riders’ velocity may reach high speeds, however the amount of energy required to keep up rapidly increased to a point where all energy from the rider is used up. This is because the amount of energy needed to keep the RPM’s (rotations per minute) of the crankshaft up has exceeded the amount of energy the rider can actually produce and expend. These points vary according to each rider’s skill and athletic condition. ^[2]

The bike itself works off of two gears or sprockets. One gear is under the rider’s feet and is called the crank sprocket. This is where the pedals connect by way of the pedal arms. The other sprocket is attached to either the rear wheel (mobile bike) or the front wheel (stationary, exercise bike) and is referred to as either the rear sprocket or rear sprocket. In general, the gear under the crank sprocket has more teeth (grooves for the chain to fit in) then the other sprocket. A gear ratio can be determined by dividing the amount of teeth the crank sprocket has by the number of teeth the rear or front sprocket has. For example, if the crank sprocket has 48 teeth and the front sprocket has 13 teeth, the gear ratio is 48/13 or 3.69. This means that for every rotation of the large gear, the small gear rotates 3.69 times. ^[3]

Concerns

Converting a bike into a blender brings up a number of issues with bike parts and maintaining their proper working order. Saddle or Seat The seat can be adjusted by loosening a clamp bolt with a crescent wrench. There is also another bolt for adjusting the tilt of the seat. These two points may become weak with more riders of varying sizes and should be inspected and replaced when necessary. It is suggested that at least 2 ½ inches of the seat post are should remain in the seat tube at all times. For taller riders, it is possible that this recommendation will not be followed and possible breakage of the seat or seat post could result. This recommendation should always be followed to prevent this. ^[4]

Types of Bike Blenders

Different types of bike blender designs are available for purchase and/or duplicating with fabricated parts.

Type 1- Stationary Mechanical- This design is where the fly wheel of an exercise bike turns a skateboard wheel attached to a drive shaft. This drive shaft directly attaches to the fitting of the pitcher component of a blender. The blender is stabilized with counter like table top mounted in front of the bike. An advantage of this bike is that there are no electrical components involved! This design is purely mechanical which can also be a draw back because of the rarity of parts. Some parts for this design had to be specially designed and fabricated at a machine shop, which can be costly. Also, this parts used for this bike are not weather proof and are subject to rust. The whole design is also somewhat heavy, requiring at least two people to move. ^[5]

Type 2- Stationary Electric- This design also modifies an exercise bike by connecting the flywheel to an electric generator with a fan belt. The generator operates at very low RPM’s allowing the rider to power it with ease. An advantage with this generator is that any appliance working off of DC current can be operated not just a blender. A disadvantage is that the generator adds extra weight to the bike. Also, the wiring of the generator must be maintained to insure that the bike operates safely. This design is also not weatherproof. ^[6]

Type 3- Mobile- This design involves a stand that attaches to an ordinary bike in a way that elevates the rear wheel off the ground. Once the stand is in place and the rear wheel is elevated, a rider can power the blender by pedaling. An advantage to this design is that the stand and blender are separate from the bike, allowing any bike to be a possible bike blender. The disadvantage is the possible loss in efficiency by not having a stand and blender custom fit for a particular bike. ^[7]