Metal on metal is way more efficient than rubber on road. Imagine how awesome it would be zooming along a dis-used rail line at 50 on a modern version of this.
It seems like for something as light weight as a bicycle, you could rig up something that would work on a single rail, allowing much more efficiency and bi-directional travel.
I was thinking more of a clamp. But yea any kind of mechanism that allowed you to only utilize one rail, would probably not be very portable off the railway.
A single rail clamp would have a lot of friction because you need contact all the way around the wheel, increasing the surface area. The reason why regular train wheels are so efficient is because they’re balanced on top on a tiny surface area, using the clever tapered shape of the wheels to go around corners without jamming against the side of the wheel.
Metal on metal is way more efficient than rubber on road. Imagine how awesome it would be zooming along a dis-used rail line at 50 on a modern version of this.
It seems like for something as light weight as a bicycle, you could rig up something that would work on a single rail, allowing much more efficiency and bi-directional travel.
Balancing on a single rail is practically impossible. However a common design for rail bikes is to have a normal bike on 1 rail with a detachable outrigger for balancing on the other rail. https://i2.wp.com/makezine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rail-bike-conversion.jpg?resize=1200%2C670&strip=all&ssl=1
I was thinking more of a clamp. But yea any kind of mechanism that allowed you to only utilize one rail, would probably not be very portable off the railway.
A single rail clamp would have a lot of friction because you need contact all the way around the wheel, increasing the surface area. The reason why regular train wheels are so efficient is because they’re balanced on top on a tiny surface area, using the clever tapered shape of the wheels to go around corners without jamming against the side of the wheel.