Monowheel
April 23rd, 2008 FunForever
Designed by Ben Wilson the monowheel looks like IT from one Southpark episode only it’s more comfortable. The cycle was made for the XXIst Century Man exhibition at 21_21 Design Sight in Tokyo. This bike, I mean cycle looks really cool but I doubt it’s comfortable, your arms would go to sleep if you keep them up like that.
36 Comments Add your own
1. Ruby | April 23rd, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Odd that none of the pictures show him actually riding that thing. He’s leaning against the wall so I’m assuming it’s not stable.
2. DD32 | May 4th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Wow, i want one
@ Ruby: That type of monowheel can be very stable, assuming you know how to ride it right, and can deal with the balancing. I’d say it was simply easier to take a photo that looked profesional like that.
A few years ago, Scrapheap Challenge had a challenge to make a motorised version of one of these.. Looked pretty hard to control, but given more than 10 hours i’m sure it could be done better
3. yx_ | May 4th, 2008 at 3:15 am
well, yeah
whats the problem of making the foto of `tis `tingy in motion
4. jim | May 4th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Ruby is right…the thing doesn’t look too stable at all.
What prevents it from wobbling from side to side? And if this contraption leans forward even a foot or so while you’re riding, the pedals will hit the ground.
5. DaveB | May 5th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Don’t be silly, even normal bicycles have to lean against something if they are standing still. That alone tells us nothing about the stability.
The real question is what happens when you try to brake? Since it is all wheel, braking would only lock the rider in place, and it would continue to roll. Brake hard enough, and it would overcome his weight and flip him completely around.
6. Jess | May 15th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Does this remind anyone else of the “It” that Mr. Garrison made on South Park?
7. Jess | May 15th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Haha, my bad. I didn’t read the first paragraph til now.
8. Ulrik | May 19th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
The gearing shown will require some very fast legwork to attain enough speed to ride it. Anyway.. Maybe the gearing on the schematics is different than the prototype, and maybe the it will work better. Just a hunch..
9. Web Design | May 26th, 2008 at 1:52 am
Can you maintain balance on low speed? It should have some sort of little wheels attached to the sides
10. dcoop | May 26th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
I surprised more people haven’t said that it looks like the invention Mr. Garrison made in South Park. That was such a messed up episode…
11. mT | May 27th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Probably because that was mentioned in the first paragraph of the article
12. Quartermeat | June 1st, 2008 at 1:37 am
photoshopped
13. Henk | June 1st, 2008 at 1:25 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoKPdebrVOY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4YmVP6i4qw
are moar awesomer, imho.
14. STeve | June 2nd, 2008 at 12:52 am
IT’s better than flying!
15. kate | June 2nd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
i agree with dcoop.
16. WWN | June 4th, 2008 at 6:45 am
“Does this remind anyone else of the “It” that Mr. Garrison made on South Park?”
Yes it is, minus the dongs
17. aaa | June 4th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
wow these people r stupid…the reason it will not tip from side to side is rotational inertia. when u first get on a bike, it is really wobbly, since ur not rotating the wheels. but once u get going, the bike stays pretty stable, as long as you keep rotating the wheels. the same effect would happen w/ this guy’s invention, the only problem would be getting started
18. Me | June 7th, 2008 at 3:51 am
I doubt it would be stable.
Gyroscopic effect is highly dependant on angular velocity (I did my honours thesis on gyroscopes). And since the wheel is so large, it’s only going to have a small angular velocity. So what this means is that precession velocity is only going to be quite low, so it won’t have that self correcting nature that a standard bicycle will have.
However once it does get up to a decent speed it will become quite stable. Though it would be as stable as a penny farthing, which as we all know aren’t particularly stable. Alternatively if the rims are made to be quite heavy then the mass moment of inertia will be increased.
But as someone quite rightly pointed out, it’s going to be difficult to stop since it can’t apply any external torque. without flipping over.
19. m j | June 9th, 2008 at 3:47 am
very nice design
but at that hight cars probably won’t see you and run you over
20. Lorenzo | June 9th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Well once in motion the balance is obtained by gyroscopic effect, so that takes care of that (try to old in your hands your detached front wheel and make it spin you’ll see what this means) about braking: the force required to lift a man is equal to his weight, in this instance there is a bit of disadvantage lever so braking too would not be a problem the thing would not flip and keep rolling unless going down a slope but i wouldn’t try that.
my only doubt would be at start up, when braking you can star putting your foot down to keep balance and use the other to slow down, but when you are starting up you must use both feet on the pedals and the gyroscopic effect has not kicked in yet, so i think that would be the hardest part.
I see something i’m not sure of right behind the seat, are those weights? or is it a big spring?
personally i would add some protection to the chain, in that position it’s a bit too exposed in my opinion.
other than that it’s pretty cool, and it would also be easy to motorize.
keep up the good work, and nothing can beat test runs, so do a lot of those ^_^
21. a | June 10th, 2008 at 11:03 am
i gotta say the 1st thing i thought of was the mr. garrison thing from south park too!!! LOL
22. la | June 20th, 2008 at 10:05 am
It just seems to me like the only way to brake without going head over heels would be putting your feet on the ground. Also it looks like if you tried to ride uphill or come out of a dip at high speed that sprocket on the pedals would catch the ground. You can see at the bottom there’s an illustration for a sprocket guard but all it will take is hitting one sharp bump at high speed and you’re going airborne. I think I’ll stick to a normal bike, nothing wrong with a 10-speed if you’re going to pedal….
23. Spuffler | December 21st, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Umm, if I understand the physics properly, moderate deceleration should cause the inner ring to rotate in the direction that the outer ring is traveling. There is not much room for such action until a pedal meets the pavement….. then the contraption starts catapulting by launching upwards off the pedal crank as the pedal contacts the surface of the road. From there, the rider might be so fortunate as to remain inside the passenger area, but I believe odds would be the rider gets tossed, even if only partially.
24. lol | December 21st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
can i have one with dildos included
25. ShadowVariable | December 22nd, 2008 at 3:37 am
I just saw the video, when he try’s to turn he has to reduce the speed and put his feet on the ground, maybe he could put on some skates? That way he could turn easier.
Does anyone know if that would work?
26. Ed | December 26th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Any body see the South Park episode where Mr. Garrison invents something very similar to this?
27. Phil E. Drifter | December 26th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
It’s stupid and would never work, that’s why you don’t see any pics of someone riding it. The center of gravity would cause it to tip forward and make the pedals hit the ground. Yes while in motion it wouldn’t fall over, same as a bicycle, but it’s unridable. plus it’s a 1/1 ratio since there are no gears, just pedaling to turn the wheel.
28. Joe | December 27th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Just don’t ask me to ride one of these things, stable or unstable, where there are puddles.
29. Colin | December 27th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
I’ve seen something like this on Daily Planet. Only motorized.
30. tini | December 28th, 2008 at 2:28 am
uhmm.
i guess i’m the only one who noticed this but,
if you look right behind the seat,
there’s that thing.
iunno what it is but it looks like if you had long arms and were leaning back it wouldn’t be too comfortable.
31. David Smith | January 7th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
How would you turn that thing?
32. Bazz | January 9th, 2009 at 10:57 am
For everyone talking crap about physics - this is a unicycle, and would be at least as stable (possibly more so because of the lower centre of gravity) as a regular one. Just because you aren’t able to ride one, doesn’t mean it’s not stable.
33. Logic | January 22nd, 2009 at 11:19 am
All this talk about balance, inertia, gyroscopic effect, etc, etc, but does nobady see the real issue? The only practicle issue with it? You can’t steer it. Its one solid frame with no means of steering, thus no way to control it or regain balance. It wouldn’t work in a million years
34. Logic | January 22nd, 2009 at 11:30 am
I just looked this up on YouTube. I take back everything I said. This is the coolest thing ever
35. Alex | January 30th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I want one!
36. spuffler | April 21st, 2009 at 5:55 pm
I wonder what happens when he has to stop SUDDENLY.
The wheel is rotating and his mass wants to keep it moving so the reaction should grind the pedals into the surface this is rolling over…. it’ll try to slow down until the whole show tries to climb over that wimpy attempt to halt forward motion and they all go cartwheeling into the nearest solid object. Rube Goldberg would be proud.
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