Cycle mower

[richardmasoner]

How's this for a chopped bike?

http://photos23.flickr.com/34802093_e30d15648a_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/)

[jcring]

There is a lawnmower repair shop near me, in Greece, NY that has something just like that outside their shop. Does this really work to mow your lawn?

[As You Like It]

I'd be a lot more inclined to mow my lawn on a regular basis if my lawnmower was like that!

[vtjim]

No kidding... Looks like they just welded the mower's handle between the fork tubes, no?

Almost a no-brainer to build, if you're handy with that sort of stuff.

[clancy98]

yeah but turning.... Needs a rack and pinion system... ;)

[Treespeed]

Cool idea, but I think it would tear up your lawn with all of that weight on the front wheels when you went to turn. Plus it would be harder to duck under tree limbs, maybe a lowrider trike variant?

[richardmasoner]

Does this really work to mow your lawn?

Not mine; found the photo on Flickr. The caption says it's used at a park. I thought the same thing as Tree that the wheels would tear up the lawn.

RFM

[jeff-o]

If I were to build a cycle mower, I'd use an upright trike ad put a spinning blade between the rear wheels. It would be more complicated, but it's more likely to work.

[Brian]

I seem to recall a joke about someone getting their wife a ride-on mower...

You guys have obviously never used a reel-type mower. You need a bit of weight on the wheels to get some traction, in order for the reel to spin. From the looks of it, I'd say the biggest problem would be getting it to move at all. On damp or lush grass, you'd probably just get wheelspin from the back wheel.

[sestivers]

This bike could work using a dual chain system. A high gear ratio to the front to get the blades spinning fast, and an excruciatingly low gear ratio in the back that would push the bike forward at about 3 mph at 100 rpm. The trike idea with the same gear ratio concept would work better though, since you could even out the weight over a larger area to avoid damaging the lawn.

[Brian]

The only thing you need to get the blades spinning fast is to get those little front wheels moving. The gears inside that attach to the front wheels do the rest.