Man, stranded in the desert, makes a motorcycle from his broken car
hackaday.com
hackaday.com
Plus anyone who's ever been near a 2CV know you could probably drill through the metal with a pencil if you tried hard enough.
Edit: some more info on why it's possible.
- 2CV weighs roughly 560kg, they were built to save weight all round so the body panels, frame work and mechanical components were built 'light' (read thin, no carbon fibre here).
- The engine will have been heavy, but it's a relatively small simple block, it won't have been easy but "give me a fulcrum and I will move the world". It's doable, I'm pretty sure if I bug the petrol heads I know I'll find one who's done it on something similar or tell me how it's done. Edit: brohee (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4008052) posts that the engine is 66kg, which isn't super ridiculously heavy. Find someone who's around that weight and see if you can pick them up.
- If you're going on a desert holiday, taking water is a smart idea. 14 days water would be about 8/9 gallons for a man weighing 12 stone (I think, unless the 'recommended minimum water per day' calculation I found is useless). That seems like a lot, it's about 4 of the jugs used on water coolers, so he might have rationed it out and had less.
To round it off for you naysayers: http://citcity.citroen1.info/2CV/water.htm if multiple people can make boats out of them to race about a local lake there's every possibility someone could figure out how to make a bike.
(and yes, I'm locked into a 2CV research spiral now)
You need to consider that the mechanics of an engine back in 1990 (last year the 2CV was produced) were unbelievably basic compared to modern engines.
To be honest, I've no doubt the guy built this however it baffles me that he chose to take this approach rather than repair the vehicle. People argue it was more than a snapped swing arm but I'm confused as it would take significantly more damage to render it irreparable for a man of his obvious ability. We can rule out engine and chassis failure as these were key components in his 'motorbike'.
Bottom line, this is bloody fascinating, regardless of what the truth may be.
GitHub is littered with people who came up with crazy solutions rather than fixing the problem in the existing. Hacking is not limited to just software.
In a more serious note that's the benefit of living in our civilisation, we can experiment and do what we want to even if it has no measurable long term or commercial benefit. Or if someone got there first, why not have a go, could pay off (for example, SpaceX had a go)
[edit] though I do suspect they might be instances of SIRI unintentionally using Apple's idle clock cycles to troll online messageboards. Which may also explain 90% of youtube.
- it's from 2003, and at the time all the magazines were talking about it - I don't remember it.
- the guy was a few tens of kilometers of a city/village — he could have come back on foot in less than a day, but chose to stay to protect his car (haha ! ;-)) and his equipment.
- He had lots of resources (food/water), so he decided to stay, and build the project he probably have been dreaming for a long time.
- the guy wasn't a newbie in mechanics and knew the car (a very well known french brand) by heart. He also happened to have all the tools necessary in his car.
The only part of the article that has any validity to it is the citroen breaking. Apparently that can happen if you look at it wrong...
A cool project, but there's no reason to dress it up in a BS story.
- read the original story [1], in full. Google translate is your friend if you can't read French.
- find out a bit more about the 2CV car before commenting. It really is a very simple vehicle.
Ovi256's explanation [2] also gives a bit more context.
This story is emminently believable. And an impressive hack!
is a much better article about what was really done.
Narrarator: On this episode of Mythbusters...
Adam shouts: I can't believe it works!
cut to build team blowing up unrelated object
Turns TV off
Well, that answers that question.
Alternate title: "Mechanic camps not far town, repurposes broken car as motorcycle"
I think we've found the solution for lunar colonization: we'll launch Emile into a moon orbit with 5 or 6 2CVs and let him figure it out from there. Only downside: official language of the moon will be French.
Later version of the 2CV had discs .. I wonder if it would have been possibly if he had that configuration.
Camping in the desert isn't outrageous either. Anyone that's spent a week at Burning Man tinkering with art cars and construction projects can appreciate the challenge. You're there with a partial tool kit, enough water for 10-12 days, and appetite for a creative project. The one thing out of my comfort is the "war zone".
Then again, he did think, in classic programmer units, that it would take only "three days" to make it work.
I wonder if he would have been better off keeping the front axle/engine assembly intact and adding a single trailing wheel.
That pic is so funny, don't miss it: http://chameaudacier.free.fr/moto8.html
That would be a great subject for analysis by the owner of this blog I like to read: http://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/
Even the most skilled machinist would have a tough time doing this. Seems implausible.
With respect to survival, if you head into a desert, you take supplies galore. The 12 days was probably due to the heat so you can only work at dusk/dawn and seek shelter during the day to conserve water/rations. 2CV is very simple and can carry a lot of stuff. It's nearly ideal.
I take a 72 hour pack and am happy doing 50mi+ on foot if i go more than 10mi from home after a couple of experiences being stranded in rural areas in the UK. Imagine what that guy was carrying in the desert!
They're using Renault 4s, and it's not mainly about hacking, but still.
"Stay as hydrated as possible before going out.
Take along food that packs the most nutrition in the least size and weight.
Wear wicking fabrics with a UPF of at least 30 as a base layer, and take along one warming layer (wool or fleece) and one windbreak layer.
Many deserts are prone to dust storms - protect yourself.
Travel at night when possible.
Try to stay as warm as possible at night.
Be wary of nocturnal animals that can harm you."
Typically you are meant to stay with the vehicle.
If you had a one-speed car, you wouldn't have to shift gears if you were in "forward," either.
Something tells me this was planned.
Looks deserty to me!
Plus, his 2CV was loaded with tools, and they are really quite simple mechanically....
This is the sort of thing that would make a great Mythbusters episode.
12 days. In the desert.
I doubt this dude keeps two weeks of water in his trunk.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tan-tan&ll=28.357568,-10....
One having 12 days of drinking water in his trunk is anything but shocking for the area.
Also the motorcycle ain't awesome at all, only one gear with a crappy transmission, making it a barely practical contraption.
Finally, in a few of the pictures the supposed engineer of this contraption is shown in a thong. I don't know about you, but if I were in an arid place the last thing I would want is my skin exposed to sun and the air.
It may be a real motorcycle, and that's cool, but it's very unlikely it was built under the conditions discussed in this article.
My co-founder survived in the Desert for 52 days after crossing the Gobi Desert entirely on foot in 2011. Not all deserts are 50C every day and explorers can be quite hardy. Also, they often wear clothes to cover all extremities, including gloves to cover fingers.
It's near a coast too: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4007858
Also, if he was concerned about theft by the locals, that means that there were other people around from whom he could have obtained water and food.
EDIT: It seems that this did happen right next to a river [2]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley-on-Todd_Regatta [2] http://chameaudacier.free.fr/bato1.html
Also, at no point it was really an emergency as he had ample rations.
His car broke down several dozen kilometers from a town, and he knew that. He chose not to go back on foot, because he didn't find that fun, and he wanted to have fun. He's a mechanic and tinkerer, went there on holiday, the military turned him around, so he found something else to do: build a motorbike.
In a subsequent trip he turned the same car model (Citroen 2CV) into a floating barge, just to cross a river. He could have crossed that river farther away in a multitude of ways, but this is his idea of fun.
tl;dr: guy can walk back to civilization in a day or two after his car breaks down in Morocco, he chooses to build a motorcycle from car parts instead.
Why? For fun.
Edit: I feel that reading the full story on the original site (in French) dispels much of the doubt.
But hey, I figure this is the type of guy who knowingly puts himself into risky situations with sub-par transportation for the sake of testing his own resourcefulness. I do that sort of thing, too.
They are human powered.
A 2CV motor is at most (later versions with 600cm3 motor) 66kg heavy.
See https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moteur_de_Citro%C3%ABn_2CV