20180924 UCI Road World Championships Innsbruck Men U23 ITT Callum Scotson 850 8281

Human-powered land vehicles are land vehicles propelled over ground by

human power Human power is the rate of work or energy that is produced from the human body. It can also refer to the power (rate of work per time) of a human. Power comes primarily from muscles, but body heat is also used to do work like warming shelters, f ...

, The main ways to support the weight of a human-powered land vehicle and its contents above the ground are rolling contact; sliding contact; intermittent contact; no contact at all as with anything carried; or some combination of the above. The main methods of using human power to propel a land vehicle are some kind of

drivetrain A drivetrain (also frequently spelled as drive train or sometimes drive-train) or transmission system, is the group of components that deliver mechanical power from the prime mover to the driven components. In automotive engineering, the driv ...

; pushing laterally against the ground with a wheel, skate, or ski that simultaneously moves forward; by pushing against the ground directly with an appendage opposite to the direction of travel; or by propeller. Human-powered land vehicles can be propelled by persons riding in the vehicle or by persons walking or running and not supported by the vehicle. Many human-powered land vehicles can also be gravity-powered land vehicles, and vice versa, although some of the latter are quite awkward to use as the former. For example: street luges, gravity racers, and snow boards.

Types of ground contact

There are four main ways to support the weight of a human-powered land vehicle and its contents: rolling contact as with wheels; sliding contact as with skates, skis, or runners; intermittent contact as with stilts; and no contact at all as with anything carried. Additionally, these four methods may be combined as in wheelbarrows.

Wheeled

The most common wheeled human-powered land vehicle is the

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

in all its forms. Other notable examples include: * Balance bicycles and

dandy horse The dandy horse, an English nickname for what was first called a Laufmaschine ("running machine" in German), then a vélocipède or draisienne (in French and then English), and then a pedestrian curricle or hobby-horse, or swiftwalker, is a hum ...

s *

Handcar A handcar (also known as a pump trolley, pump car, rail push trolley, push-trolley, jigger, Kalamazoo, velocipede, gandy dancer cart, platelayers' cart, draisine, or railbike) is a railroad car powered by its passengers or by people pushing t ...

s, and

draisine A draisine () is a light auxiliary rail vehicle, driven by service personnel, equipped to transport crew and material necessary for the maintenance of railway infrastructure. The eponymous term is derived from the German inventor Baron Karl D ...

s *

Hotchkiss Bicycle Railroad The Hotchkiss Bicycle Railroad was a purpose-built monorail on which a matching bicycle could be ridden. It was invented by Arthur Hotchkiss, and the first example was built between Smithville and Mount Holly, New Jersey, in 1892. It closed in ...

and shweeb * Inline skates,

roller skate Roller skates are boots with wheels mounted to the bottom, allowing the user to travel on hard surfaces similarly to an ice skater on ice. The first roller skate was an inline skate design, effectively an ice skate with a line of wheels replac ...

s, and

roller ski Roller skiing is an off-snow equivalent to cross-country skiing. Roller skis have wheels on their ends and are used on a hard surface to emulate .Bryhn, Rolf and Knut Are Tvedt (eds.): ''Kunnskapsforlagets idrettsleksikon''. (Norwegian Encyclopedi ...

s *

Kick scooter A kick scooter (also referred to as a push-scooter or scooter) is a Human-powered land vehicle, human-powered street vehicle with a mwod:handlebar#:~:text=: a straight or bent bar,usually used in plural, handlebar, deck, and wheels propelled by ...

s, kickbikes, knee scooters, and square scooters * Rickshaws, prams, strollers, roller buggies and buggies/ Shopping trolley (caddy) *

Skateboard A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. It is usually made of a specially designed 7–8-ply maple plywood deck and has polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks. The skateboard ...

s, longboards,

Penny board A Penny board is a type of skateboard that is characterized by a short and narrow plastic deck. Although such skateboards were first manufactured during the 1970s, their name and contemporary popularity come from the Australian brand Penny ...

s, snakeboards,

caster board A caster board, vigorboard or waveboard is a two-wheeled, human-powered land vehicle. Other names are J-board and RipStik (sometimes written ripstick or rip stick), both of which are derived from commercial brands. A caster board has two narrow ...

s, Freeline skates, Surfskate (or Carveboard) *

Tricycle A tricycle, sometimes abbreviated to trike, is a Human-powered transport, human-powered (or gasoline or electric motor powered or assisted, or gravity powered) Three-wheeler, three-wheeled vehicle. Some tricycles, such as cycle rickshaws (for pa ...

quadracycle A quadracycle (also spelled quadricycle) is a four-wheeled human-powered land vehicle. It is also referred to as a quadcycle, pedal car or four-wheeled bicycle amongst other terms. Quadracycles have been in use since 1853 and have grown int ...

s, and

velomobile A velomobile (); velomobiel, velo, or bicycle car is a human-powered vehicle (HPV) enclosed for Aerodynamics, aerodynamic advantage and/or protection from weather and collisions. Velomobiles are similar to recumbent bicycles, pedal go-karts and ...

s * Trikkes *

Unicycle A unicycle is a vehicle that touches the ground with only one wheel. The most common variation has a frame with a saddle, and has a pedal-driven direct-drive. A two speed hub is commercially available for faster unicycling. Unicycling is prac ...

s *

Wheelchair A wheelchair is a mobilized form of chair using two or more wheels, a footrest, and an armrest usually cushioned. It is used when walking is difficult or impossible to do due to illnesses, injury, disabilities, or age-related health conditio ...

s and baby walkers * Heel Skates Cycling Madison Wisconsin 1096.jpg, Cycling Tattoeed skateboarder riding on beach shirtless.jpg, Longboarding Manual Wheelchair Football Player.JPG, Wheelchair Roller skaters group.jpg, Rollerskating Rickshaw driver.jpg, Rickshaw

Sliding

* Skis,

snowboard Snowboards are boards where the user places both feet, usually secured, to the same board. The board itself is wider than most skis, with the ability to glide on snow."snowboarding." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 17 Mar ...

, snowskate *

Sled A sled, skid, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle that slides across a surface, usually of ice or snow. It is built with either a smooth underside or a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners ...

s *

Ice skate Ice skates are metal blades attached underfoot and used to propel the bearer across a sheet of ice while ice skating. The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with leather straps. These skates ...

s and

clap skate The clap skate (also called clapper skates, clapskates, slap skates, slapskates, from Dutch language, Dutch ) is a type of ice skate used in speed skating. Unlike in traditional skates where the blade is rigidly fixed to the boot, clap skate ...

s * Mud horses and

mud sledge A mud sledge is a sled used to cross mud flats such as estuary, estuaries and bays. Mud flats are difficult to cross because even shallow draft boats will get stuck while pedestrians and wheeled vehicles bog down easily too. A mud sledge is a ...

s Lillehammer 2016 - Snowboard Cross 17.jpg, Snowboarding Ice skating in Garema Place, Canberra 2016.jpg, Ice skating 2018-02-02 Junior World Championships Luge Altenberg 2018 – Female by Sandro Halank–052.jpg, Sledding Tina Maze (31295567724).jpg, Skiing Choi Jea-Bong (2006).jpg, Clap skating

Intermittent

Stilts Stilts are poles, posts or pillars that allow a person or structure to stand at a height above the ground. In flood plains, and on beaches or unstable ground, buildings are often constructed on stilts to protect them from damage by water, wav ...

* Powerbocking *

Pogo stick A pogo stick is a vehicle for jumping off the ground in a standing position—through the aid of a spring, or new high performance technologies—often used as a toy, exercise equipment or extreme sports instrument. It led to an extreme sport n ...

Types of propulsion

There are three main methods of using human power to propel a land vehicle: some kind of

that turns one or more drive wheels; pushing laterally against the ground, to the side relative to the forward motion of the vehicle, with a wheel, skate, or ski that simultaneously moves forward; by pushing against the ground directly with an appendage, such as a hand or a foot, opposite to the direction of travel, or by pushing against the air with a propeller.

Drivetrain

Lateral motion of one or more wheels, skis, or skates

Ice skating Ice skating is the Human-powered transport, self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. ...

* Skate skiing *

Inline skating Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...

and double push

Direct contact with the ground

ing *

Kicksled The kicksled or spark is a small sled consisting of a chair mounted on a pair of flexible metal runners that extend backward to about twice the chair's length. The sled is propelled by kicking ( or in the Scandinavian languages) the ground by foo ...

ing * Poling

References

{{reflist Human-powered vehicles Land vehicles

Types of ground contact

Wheeled

Sliding

Intermittent

Types of propulsion

Drivetrain

Lateral motion of one or more wheels, skis, or skates

Direct contact with the ground

See also

References