I Crashed My Motorized Railbike

I took my motorized rail bike project out to some abandoned tracks for more testing. This track has some longer straight sections, so it's ideal for speed trials! Unfortunately this thing becomes a big dangerous at anything over 10mph! I found out the hard way that my track guides still don't work very well.

I'm also improving my electric rail kart / speeder project. In this video we tested it as a train car / trailer for the bike, but we'll be doing more with it in other videos as well.

Since the rail bike doesn't seem to work all that great, leave comments below about what I should do with it next!

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[MyLifeIsABikePath]

This channel's contraptions are so chaotic yet the presentation so chill. I love it

[masonsmith]

This is maybe my favorite channel I've found on Youtube. Amazing stuff, everytime!

[gannas]

Go with your gut.
Personally I believe the car to be safer. Lower center of gravity, too.
Could you turn the bike into an escalator/elevator at the sand bar site? 🍻

[gearhead-quarters]

So, I have some ideas for the guides. I'm not an engineer and I'm not sure I can really explain it well, but I'm envisioning another arm added to the guide system fixed in place with a spring to apply tension to the guides. Obviously, some weight on the outrigger would almost certainly help.

[matakaw]

You need a hedge trimmer mounted on the front lol

[Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

FWIW: Humor aside, I am glad to see you were not injured during that spill off your bike...👍

[douglasbaty]

7/10/22: Many years ago as a young man I constructed a rail-bike add-on much like yours. My experiences were also much like yours. Once a rail line is abandoned it quickly becomes overgrown with weeds and small trees(!). Joints in the rails had large gaps between them, occasional height differences, and even the distance between rails became substantially greater around curves. Bridges (open ties - no place to stand) and tunnels (dark as midnight) were frightening.

Since my contraption used skateboard wheels, it only worked on well maintained (i.e. active) rail lines. Even when on a lightly used siding, I couldn't escape the feeling there was a bullseye on my back and felt the need to keep one eye glued to my rear view mirror.

After a couple of injuries I scrapped the whole concept. In my nightmares the engineer of a cattle train spots me on the rails, slams on the brakes, and hundreds of cattle are injured smashing into the front bulkheads of their respective cars. Ooooh, the liabilities would be endless even if I managed to get me and my bike off the rails in the few seconds before the train flashes past. DB

[jondough]

Now that you mentioned 'airplane', that is all I can think about. I really need to see that bicycle fly now.

[toothytube]

Decades past, I had a friend that built both pedal and gas powered bikes and trollies to ride the long since abandoned narrow guage logging rails in the forests of the PNW. They worked much better than what you came up with, but he was a highly skilled millwright that built projects such as an all metal VW powered dune buggy that looked like a Jeep CJ2 that could be driven to the river and converted into a stern wheel powered pontoon boat steered with turning brakes.

[WW-gboh]

Maybe add the gas engine to the cart to give you hybrid vehicle benefits? Well done, great content, and keep going with new ideas!

[Maddog]

I've seen some comments suggesting the rail kart gas-electric hybrid and I gotta say that sounds better than the rail bike. Just seems safer to me to have a lower and more centralized center of gravity; that outrigger has to be shifting your CoG off to the side which is not really a good idea for a bicycle, IMHO, no matter how small the shift.

[Thomas-pqys]

I've (pedal powered) railbiked for 30+ years. I've had spectacular crashes.... it has always been the guide interfacing with rail imperfections (that mean nothing to a multi-ton loco), or rail debris.

Suggestion: Come up with a completely different design, not an adaption of your present one.

BTW, a rear guide is unnecessary. The rear wheel on a properly aligned bicycle always follows the front.

Presently, I've no railbike now.... but I am in the process of a total redesign. The prototype gave promising results, allowing me to ride a road crossing, no-hands. Unbelievable, but true

[TonyLing]

How about turning that little four stroke engine into a 12V generator and make your cart into a hybrid?

[ciscog]

Mate cobba bro eels some flat bar on the back of the forks on a 45 degree pointing down .justs as long as u need it after ur measurement and on the front track bar as well . Drill locator holes to accommodate. Trampoline Springer inbetween the new mounts and holes .hope it helps mate a bro from australia take care cobba hope that sorts it 4 ya mate

[soundmannate]

What about a flange on the "inside" of the wheels? Then put a more sturdier outrigger with a train wheel and fix it the width of the track. Use the natural way train wheels react to the rail.

[mattparker]

3:36 what about a spring loaded guide? More metal and a stiffer frame around te guides, but still able to bounce if a large obstruction is present, or o be flipped out of the way if you want to drive it like a motorized bike?

[McRocket]

Personally?
I REALLY, liked your electric 'car'.
It was quieter, you could sit on it, relax, haul more stuff...and it just seemed simple and 'neat' to me.
I pictured you putting a roof on it and making it a tiny RV'ish thing.
This bike looks nice though.
☮

[Willie_MN]

RAIL CART! Go Gas powered and then show me all the places to ride in MN. I purchased Wheels and Axles for a build after seeing your earlier videos and a few other Rail Kart Videos. It would be a Blast to go for a local tour with a few Rail Karts some day!

[TheDgdimick]

Glad you where wearing a helmet.
I wonder if you could come up with some device to cut the brush as you go along the rails.

[MariuszSulek-Railfan]

The rear wheel of a bike will always follow the front wheel, so throw the rear rail guide out the window. It's not doing anything there except for the additional drag and catch for the debris. You don't need either. The front guide is a must have with this design, but it may have to be improved a bit. I'd keep on developing this. It's much easier to carry a bike around obstacles than the cart.