Plosive

I live next to a MUP that runs primarily through the undeveloped desert. It is nice to use this MUP becasue it leads to roads farther away from the city. There is little traffic on this path, (unlike the urban MUPs in town) and once I am off the MUP the roads open up and don't have traffic lights.

The problem is that the MUP has lots of rocks on it especially on the corners due to ATV/dirt bike users, despite signs posted restricting motorized vehicles. Since the trail is on BLM land the city and county can't (won't?) enforce the rules or clean the path.

Instead of (only) complaining I am trying to be part of the solution. I would like to buy/build a tow-behind sweeper that I could bring on the path to sweep away the rocks. I have found a few sweepers that are designed to tow behind a lawn mower, but these are for picking up leaves, not knocking rocks off a path. I think a simple design of dragging a section of chain link fence, similar to a groundskeeper's tool for a baseball infield might work, but I don't want to simply drag the rocks farther I want to knock them off the path entirely. Perhaps if I put an angled leading edge on the chain linked fence the rocks would deflect off? Will draging an apparatus like this damage the asphalt surface of the trail?

I am looking for suggestions or better ideas here.

TeleJohn

Organize a group with brooms and shovels to maintain the MUP.

Plosive

Getting people to volunteer once a week to clear a 10 mile stretch of path with hand brooms is a challenge. There are long stretches that don't have road access so people would have to be willing to show up early before the temps hit 100 or above, and walk up to 6 miles (round trip).

On the other hand, If I can devise a simple and effective tow behind device myself and 1-2 others could take bi-weekly turns clearing the section in short order as needed and it wouldn't take a small army of broom wielding volunteers to do it.

kemmer

You're no fun at all.

Your idea sounds like it might work, keep it light and free of sharp edges and it shouldn't hurt anything. How big are the rocks? Golf ball sized? Bigger?

clancy98

i think you would have to go with a rotating brush, like a street sweeper. Maybe modify a mower deck with some push brooms attached where the blades were... or something like that.

Wulfheir

Sweepster Tow Behind Broom

Something along these lines maybe.

Bottomfeeder

I think that if you're mainly interested in kicking rocks and other fairly large debrise off to the side you could build some kind of tow behind scraper with an angled blade. The same principle as those road graders that suspend the big blade between the front and rear wheels.

All you need is some rudimentary chassis and a 'blade' which won't damage the surface, be light enough to tow, and be slick enough to slide easily down the path . I think that some of that black plastic garden border nurseries stores sell by the roll would make a nice, replaceable edge for the scraper.

That's a start anyway.

DanO

Plosive

Sweepster Tow Behind Broom
Something along these lines maybe.
Wulfheir,
Those look very effective, but the weight (2300-2500#s!) and cost make them not practical for this application. I worry that anything with brushes/bristles will wear too quickly?
Most of the rocks are golf ball sized or smaller, but large, densely-packed patches on corners makes them a nuisance and danger.

ItsJustMe

Just towing a broom or whatever won't do any good. The rocks will just roll underneath and all you'll accomplish is to move the rocks 6 inches down the path.
In order to sweep them you need to have a roller of some kind that counter-rotates, pushing the rocks in some direction. That's what the Sweepster does. You'll wear out long before those bristles do. That one is obviously too big for a bike but something like it is really what you need.

alwier

If it's just rocks / debris, couldn't you rig up something using old plastic snow shovels. Maybe shape it like a train's cowcatcher with a v-shape. Put a removable mount on the front of a discarded child's bike trailer and you could tow it to the path in the trailer, attach and pull down the path, then put it back in the trailer when you're done.

unkchunk

I thought of doing something like that, but haven't got around to it. There's a guy who made a snow plow, maybe there's some ideas for you at his site.

https://www-bdnew.fnal.gov/pbar/organ...Bike_Plow.html

noisebeam

Thats a great idea!

https://www.bikeforums.net/advocacy-safety/143451-idea-city-bike-lane-sweeper.html

Al

Marylandnewbie

I think you've got all the ideas you need here to come up with something. You might be able to use the brush from a lawn sweeper mounted to some sort of bike trailer to give it stability. You could power the sweeper with a twisted belt drive off the trailer wheels. A twisted belt would give you the counter rotation you need to push things off to the side. You could probably use a piece of heavy weatherstripping (like on the bottom of garage doors) behind the broom to help push anything that slips through the broom. I have no idea how hard it would be to drag something like that around, but it could be a great public service.

tch

Why not contact the County/City/State - whoever is responsible for the MUP - and ask the steps you would need to take to get a weekly or bi-monthly sweep of the path by a full street sweeper. I know here in Portland the MUP's are swept at least once a month if not more by the respective cities that the paths move through.

That seems like the easiest solution. Just express the impending liability of a ill maintained path. I can't think of one city manager or county commissioner that wants a law suit from a kind hearted and environmentally friendly injured commuter after he/she takes a spill on loose rock or debris. It seems like a good time to bring up the issue of motorized vehicles as well.

originalgee

How about a backpack blower? Or even a Little Wonder?

milkoholicBear

Why not some sort of push blade, made of some strong rubbery material (floor linoleum tile like, or maybe stronger).
I am thinking at something along the lines of a snow plow, but for pushing rocks. The blade would be angled so that the debris are being pushed to the side.

MyPC8MyBrain

Lol...I want to see you haul that behind a bike

Model # Width Brush Diameter Weight
TD7 84" 32" 2,300 lbs


lawnsweeper Maybe you can frankensweeper one of these types. Not to pick up stuff but angle it to push debris off the trail. I've thought about this myself.

Or maybe just tie on an angled pushbroom with a weight. Would that be enough to drag stuff off the path?

Wulfheir

I want to see you read a post before replying.

SOMETHING ALONG THOSE LINES

2manybikes

There is a place near me where the bike path will ocasionally get covered with many pool ball size rocks from a storm and a very high tide. They just get a truck with a snow plow and knock them all off the path. It's about a block in lenght where this happens. It does not take long to do it (carefully) with a pickup truck and a strong snow plow. That's your best bet. You don't have much power to spare, if there are a lot of rocks up aginst the plow or blade at one time you will run out of steam trying to do this with pedal power. It did not seem to hurt the pavement, they had the blade up high enough and the path is very flat.

noisebeam

Maybe a flywheel with clutch is needed.
Momentum to power thru the rough spots. Disengage flywheel with clutch when stopping.
Takes a bit more to get going but once up to speed maybe can more effectivelly push varied debris.
Of course a heavy rotary broom acts as is own flywheel.

Al

2manybikes

It depends on the size and volume of the rocks, and how close they are to each other.

deputyjones

Yeah, I would think some type of plow type mechanism would work best. You could rig something up to your bike to do it like the previous poster's link to the snow plow bike system, but I would imagine that would really suck to pull for 6 miles. Although, if not intended for snow you could have it rolling on bike tires with a very low plow clearance so the plow is not constantly in contact with the asphalt surface.

Flimflam

I'd say get stiff brisled broom/brush heads and attach them in an angle to push them out to the side as a snowplough would with snow. Getting regular yard brush heads means they are fairly affordable and easy to find and replace.

If you want to get uber-mechanical, on the trailer axle, attach a bevel/90-degree gear system to drive a rotating brush, if you so choose.

The trailer should have a good weight on it to make sure the heavier stones are brushed aside with good force.

Good luck, post pics - sounds like a fun project

ken cummings

So ATVs are using the trail. If there are any ATV clubs in the area perhaps you could work with them to maintain the trail. A bigger ATV could probably tow that honking big sweeper. Some agency put that MUP in in the first place. Find out who and see what their maintenance policies are.

sukram

What about something along these lines:
https://www.peoplepoweredmachines.com/haaga/turbo.htm

Probably could be modified a bit, not sure how fast you'd be able to drag it or how it would handle all those rocks, but I think the idea is about right.