Treehugger has put together a fun roundup of bikes with reel mowers bolted onto the fronts of them. Not sure how effective this is as a mower, or rideable as a bike -- this might be more Chindogu than workable hack. Has anyone made and/or ridden one of these?
The Cutting Edge: Bicycle Lawnmowing - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Oct 2, 2007 08:00 PM
Bicycles, DIY Projects, Green |
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I don't see why these wouldn't work, provided you had a tightly scheduled lawn mowing routine. If the grass stays short enough between mows, it shouldn't be too bad.
That said, I haven't tried it.
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I really want to make one of these now, not necessarily a rider, but I definitely want to make a reel mower.
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It seems like you would get a better mow if instead of just attaching the mower and still relying on it's own gears to turn the blades, you tied the blade movement into the pedals on the bike.
Then again, at that point, why not just add a full horizontal plane mulching blade so you don't have to rake afterwards.
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My feeling about these is that that only the bikes on which the frame has been modified to make the head tube (the one that the fork goes through) vertical rather than sloped could successfully make a sharp turn. Otherwise, the bike would lean to the OUTside when turning. At least two of the mowers in the gallery have been modified in this way.
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My stepfather made one of these for laughs a while back. http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlaunceford/tags/lawnmower/
It's really difficult to control if you want to do anything but go in a straight line.
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cafn8 - your feeling is correct. I've built a trike (though not a mower) with two front wheels in a configuration similar to these. I got the head tube closer to vertical than some of these, but not entirely, and turns were utterly unnavigable.
I love the look of these, but having to get off and turn it around at the end of my lawn would drop any potential usefulness factor for me.
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That is the greatest thing I have ever seen! Although the steering would definitely be a problem. The trike style would work better but doesn't look as cool. It might be worth it to look into a steering system for it.
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