Bicycle Mechanics - can bikes be designed to fly?

I think so, wont say how?till ive figured it out correctly.Mechanics; can gear reduction,be customed to the rider to generate enough power to provide lift without the rider running out of gas ?in other words (pooping out )?this is the only flaw in my design.i know how to compensate with wingspan per wait ,lift,and have designed the frame,rudders,flaps,even a safty chute for emergencys.but remain at a standstill on gear reduction verse wingspan.any help will be recognized in the design and compensated in the outcome.(if successfull lol).
Warevent.

it's been done before (http://www.sfoarts.org/exhibits/243/travel/human.html)

http://www.sfoarts.org/exhibits/243/travel/human.jpg

Yes, flight is possible using pdeal power.....
but on the ground, it won't be much of a bike....

ya i hear that but my design is to basically use the bike just for lift off and descend

There was a recent thread on this topic (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=58950).

also my design is not a plane design ,more like a bird.

my design is not electric tottally human powered.

Every feasible working model that sought to win The Kremer Prize used typical bicycle gearing.

I think the more interesting question is whether one can design a practical, reasonably road-worthy, mass-producible human-powered vehicle which can also fly. With all due respect to the wizards at AeroVironment, the Gossamer Condor and Albatross fail the test, due to fragility, wingspan, cost, etc.

I understand that this idea has been percieved before,ive seen the old videos where men attach feathers to their arms a try to simulate birds,and fail doing so,ive seen the contraptions that have been built in the past only to fail,breaking down to the fact that one needs engines or some form of mechanical assistance, fuel powered to achieve flight.BUT:"if you sit back and watch how a bird flys they make it look easy.
how do birds fly? ;wings=tail=legs=and natural power,forged in perfect porportion.
so you take pound for frame and rider,and create wings to accommadate the weight.
so with this landing gear being the wheels,and wings for gliding or creating thrust.the only problem is reducing the gear ratio to accommadate,so the flight wont come to a bitter end from exaustion.that is the question? im trying to keep fuels,engines,gas,electricity,out of the picture.i myself believe it is possible.
maybe its just so simple that no one can percieve its simplicity.
TURN YOUR EYES TO THE SHADOWS
AND THE SUN WILL BURN YOUR ASS.
Warevent.

If you can get an r/c glider to be powered by a hamster and its wheel, then you'll be half there.

Get building!

You just need a big enough wing and add a propellor to the drivetrain. Some string powered alierons might help too. If you run out of steam you just glide to saftey, assuming you dont try it over the sea.....

As for a flappy bird version I'm not sure it can be done. It's also a very inefficient way to mechanically do it I would imagine. Look at the size of wings compared to the size of the bird. To power a human you'd need 10ft wings or something like that and to be able to make them strong and light enough to move about.

One of the main reasons that birds achieve flight is that their power to weight ratio is incredibly high. They have a lot of muscle combined with a fantastically light, largely hollow skeleton, for example, a pigeon's feathers actually weigh more than it's skeleton!

Having a very strong, dense skeleton and a large, heavy brain means that good ol' human beings can't even come close :o .

Having a very strong, dense skeleton and a large, heavy brain means that good ol' human beings can't even come close :o .

There are several ways to cheat this. You basically just need to cancel out the force of gravity with enough lift. This may mean a very high aspect ratio wing with enough lifting surface. This of course poses other problems such as drag and the human needs to be able to produce enough power for thrust to overcome the drag and induce enough airflow over the wing to produce the lift. Another way to cheat is to make your vehicle more buoyant so that lift is inherent by nature. Basically what we would be talking about is a human-powered dirigible or blimp.

warevent
Hello I have just signed on and saw your posts.
I have been in a 4 year study of the process of using a bicycle flight assembly and I now beleive it is possible to fly and not use all ones evergy up in the process.
I have tested a few devices in small prototypes.
My only setback is building a larger scale.
birdey

So can we get a sneak peak at your prototype then???????