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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Ride like a cheetah?
A strange new vehicle has been developed, and I’m not sure what to make of it. The “Pardo” is a three-wheeled contraption designed to “transmit and create sensations like a cheetah,” according to the designer.
I’ll give it style points, but I wouldn’t take this puppy out on the roads. You’d be a permanent blind spot. Plus you’d look like a weirdo with the movement it takes to power this ride.
Here’s the details from treehugger.
Is it a tricycle? Is it a weird bike? It’s neither. Called Pardo, as an abbreviation of the word guepardo (which is cheetah in Spanish), this human powered vehicle seeks to imitate the movement and feeling of the animal. See how it works and more pics in the extended.
Pardo was designed by Pablo Lopez from the firm DIBRUTAL Industrial Design for Innovar, a national innovations contest held in Argentina annually.
The vehicle is run through two pedals on the lower part, which the user pushes down with its feet, making the vehicle go forward.
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Priest takes down cyclist
Did you hear the one about the priest who ran over a cyclist? No? Well here’s the story as told by the victim, Ken Dille. It happened last Tuesday …
So, I got run over by an elderly priest.
Brother Ralph Brennan of St. Edward’s University started to pass me, going northbound on South Congress, then he turned right.
I was near his right rear quarter panel when he decelerated and turned into me. I was able to stay upright, brake, and bump into him as he slowly turned right. My momentum carried me out in front of his front bumper.
At that point he finally saw me. This startled him and he floored the gas pedal, which he thought was the brake pedal. This caused him to run into me and accelerate for about 15 feet up onto a median on St. Edward’s Drive. My bike, being perpendicular to his acceleration vector, quickly folded under the front bumper. I was able to unclip as my rear wheel got sucked into the drivetrain of his car. I held onto the hood ornament and tried to keep my feet out of the crush zone under the car.
In the end, I escaped with just a couple scrapes and a strained right leg. There was very little “impact” from the collision. After his car stopped I ran around to his door and he had lowered his window. I said, “I thought you were going to run me over,” and he said, “I’m sorry, are you okay? I accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake.”
I judged his statement to be true and told him I was doing okay but I needed to sit down and take inventory. I felt very lucky to be alive after seeing and hearing what happened to my bike.
The accident report is still pending from the Campus Police of St. Edward’s. There was a witness who stopped and provided contact information. I was pretty busy talking to first responders and coming down from an adrenal high, so I only got two photos from the accident scene. I’m hoping the police will provide the photos they took.
This has been substantiated from a statement based on the St. Edward’s police report, including that fact that both parties refused medical treatment at the scene. I’m glad Mr. Dille is OK, but that beautiful French Cyfac looks ruined. Brother Brennan probably needs to pay more attention when driving, and a stint in confession wouldn’t hurt.
