Steampunk motorcycles
From The Kneeslider:
Steampunk is all about the design and very little concerned with added (or lost) function but some of it would be neat if it worked half as well as you wish it would.
That's about my take on it; my aesthetic sense says "ooh, shiny" and "mmm, leather" and "lovely scrollwork there, that would be fun to make" and my engineer side says "but...but...shouldn't those gears be doing something?"
In any case, The Kneeslider has a piece on steampunk motorcycles, including the Hubbard Steamcycle, which may eventually actually run on steam, and a German bike that's a one-cylinder, 1440 cc machine with a shovel for a seat.
Several other steampunk (or even steam-engine) bikes are mentioned in the comment section, as well. The 1908 Field Steam Bike includes "To progress gently move cut off lever and PRAY" as step 10 of the startup procedure, and this sleek little machine would be perfect for any aspiring steampunk supervillain.
And from the nigh-venerable Steampunk Workshop, a piece on Tom Sepe's Whirlygig Emoto, a beautifully-crafted "electric-steam hybrid motorcycle."
Steampunk is all about the design and very little concerned with added (or lost) function but some of it would be neat if it worked half as well as you wish it would.
That's about my take on it; my aesthetic sense says "ooh, shiny" and "mmm, leather" and "lovely scrollwork there, that would be fun to make" and my engineer side says "but...but...shouldn't those gears be doing something?"
In any case, The Kneeslider has a piece on steampunk motorcycles, including the Hubbard Steamcycle, which may eventually actually run on steam, and a German bike that's a one-cylinder, 1440 cc machine with a shovel for a seat.
Several other steampunk (or even steam-engine) bikes are mentioned in the comment section, as well. The 1908 Field Steam Bike includes "To progress gently move cut off lever and PRAY" as step 10 of the startup procedure, and this sleek little machine would be perfect for any aspiring steampunk supervillain.
And from the nigh-venerable Steampunk Workshop, a piece on Tom Sepe's Whirlygig Emoto, a beautifully-crafted "electric-steam hybrid motorcycle."
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Jul 26, 2009. 2:42 AMslashware
says:
It's a guy from sweeden, He's a clock maker by trade he hand crafted the whole bike himself. From what I remember the speedo alone took 100 man hour to produce
I was kidding about Alice Cooper. But that's cool to know. My kid's thinking about going semi-steam punk with his '73 SHovelhead. He's got some copper and brass bits, and may use an antique tractor seat on it.
My wife wants me to make her one. I've got a '79 Sportster that would make a great donor bike. The steampunk genre can be annoying when decoration takes priority over function, but I really like the 'minimalist' flavor of these rides.
I wonder how well the block would keep the plating process, along with the pipes, you could just run it for a while and go mad with a brass brush... of course you could go really mad and make a boiler etc, then run the actual pistons on steam...
The '79 is an Ironhead. I imagine it would hold plating better than modern aluminium parts. My kids been talking about making a steam powered ride, but he's been experimenting with converting a 2-stroke into a pneumatic engine.
You can do two strokes both ways very simply, same with a four stroke, a two stroke does it all itself, a four stroke involves a little more work, basically ou're doing little more than forcing the piston with something other than burning petrol and air... An iron head will take a plating pretty well, I knew a guy with an old, old truck, unlimited, crack 110mph loaded with fifty tonnes, eventually he got into shows and had the engine chrome plated the cast iron took to it like a charm... then only problem is you have to plate up the whole thing until the cast txture doesn't show...
I work for Dassault Aviation and we've got a plating shop! If I slip the boys a fiver, they'll do it for me.
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