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An Electric Bike Desk – Pedal Power for the World!

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Pedal-Power-Big-Rig-electric-generator-cycle-desk

Over the years Bikerumor has seen pedal-powered Interbike Margaritas, the London pedal-powered Espresso cart, small electric generators to strap onto your home trainer, and even concept bikes that collect energy while you ride and later power your home. Those are great, but how often are you making margaritas or coffee?

The Pedal Power project by co-founders Steve Blood and Andy Wekin of Essex, NY, is building real-world solutions to generate power while sitting behind a desk, something too many of us spend far too much time doing. Sit ‘n’ spin past the break to see the bike desk in action…

Over the past five years, the small company has developed a unique multipurpose cycle powered generator platform, which they have been custom fabricating to meet the individual needs of their customers; for farmers, brewers, educators, and anyone else looking for energy independence.

Now, Pedal Power has funded their project on Kickstarter. Funds will be used to refine a new, more robust model of the power generator coupled to a desk, and to finalize the design of an open-source set of plans to allow individuals to build their own. The recently updated Big Rig desk to come out of their crowd funding scheme joins their more portable Pedal Genny system in their offerings.

The Big Rig is their standard, heavy-duty energy generating work surface setup, where an average rider/worker can put out 100 watts of electrical power through an optional built-in generator. The Pedal Power desk is a large stable platform that can be adapted to almost any task requiring mechanical, pneumatic, or hydraulic power.

The Pedal Genny, on the other hand, was designed as a more portable system to serve a single function, and would be more akin to a portable rear wheel trainer vs. the Big Rig’s exercise machine analog.

Pedal-Power-Pedal-Genny-electric-generator-cycle-desk
Pedal Power adapted their Pedal Genny into one of its first power generating desk applications

Both systems are adjustable for the differing leg lengths of most users and incorporate a wide range of gearing on full-sized cranks and a flywheel to smooth pedaling motion. And Pedal Power did address the stability concerns that have plagued other similar bike desk solutions. Either system can have an electric generator attached, as well as other common mechanical attachments like a hydraulic pump or direct mechanical driveshaft.

Even though the primary goal of their Kickstarter campaign was to refine a set of open-source plans for the Big Rig, Pedal Power still continues to offer this and other custom-built solutions to harness human power through the cycling interface. Fabrication is very time consuming now, and so Blood and Wekin don’t really see this as a product that is going to make them rich just by selling more of them. What they would rather see is a handful of people capable of fabricating the cycle  generators to get ahold of the open-source plans and become Pedal Power advocates, making the bike desks available wherever there is demand.

This open network approach also looks like it will help foster innovative applications of Pedal Power desks. So far they have already been modified to grind soy grains to feed chickens, to power a commercial sewing machine, to churn butter, and to pump well water; all beyond the original solution of generating electricity to power a laptop and phone.

The two have an interesting outlook on what the Pedal Power desk can do to open up people’s eyes about what it really means to consume energy. Everyone can understand that there is some impact or carbon footprint to our using electricity to run our phones and laptops, but it is pretty difficult to truly understand or quantify the impact until you pedal to power your daily electronics. Blood and Wekin also recognize that there is a huge potential in the number of people who sit at a desk all day, but would really rather be a bit more active, and would really look forward to a time when cycle power generation becomes more affordable and widely available.

While the majority of these efforts seem to focus on applications where energy independence is a choice, Pedal Power continues to work with partners to develop solutions for locations where reliable power is not available.

Pedal-Power-Pedal-Genny-Glass-Bottom-Brewery-grain-grinding-cycle
Pedal Power’s Pedal Genny grinds grains in the beer making process at Glass Bottom Brewery
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18 Comments
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JORDAN
JORDAN
10 years ago

I’ve jokingly said a “desk trainer” would be cool for a couple years now. Awesome to see that someone else thought so too and made it.

JL
JL
10 years ago

What would be cool is that you could in fact use your Turbo Trainer to produce energy that you could either use straight away or either store in some battery.

David
David
10 years ago

“Those are great, but how often are you making margaritas or coffee?”
Hey, sometimes you need a break from beer and Caesars…

Shawn
Shawn
10 years ago

is there a carbon fiber version?

plebs
plebs
10 years ago

A log splitter? That’s cool 🙂

satisFACTORYrider
satisFACTORYrider
10 years ago

there goes the shop dog..

uglyyeti
uglyyeti
10 years ago

Saw that on Gilligan’s Island 40 years ago.

satisFACTORYrider
satisFACTORYrider
10 years ago

@uglyyeti- haha. the collective iq of the ss minnow was never get ’em off that island though.

Psi Squared
Psi Squared
10 years ago

Who the hell would want to leave the island with Mary Ann and Ginger still there?

Jack
Jack
10 years ago

They never get off. The island or with each other. So cruel.

Psi Squared
Psi Squared
10 years ago

Note the scenes of Ginger and Mary Ann alone were cut and never shown on TV.

Jack
Jack
10 years ago

Noted. Now messing with my head.

satisFACTORYrider
satisFACTORYrider
10 years ago

i was really hoping this would go there. thank you, gentlemen.

i
i
10 years ago

A cool concept and all, but they aren’t seriously claiming that ~100w (probably more like 75 at most for a non-cyclist) constitutes “energy independence”? That’s barely enough to power a computer; the guy shown isn’t keeping the light or heat on…

Chasejj
Chasejj
10 years ago

@i-That is because it is nonsense. Like bamboo bikes and the myriad of other socalled green failures BR loves to promote.

dcluley
dcluley
10 years ago

I really like the idea of this for the sole purpose of forcing me to achieve better lifestyle habits. Everybody who works at a desk 8+ hours a day has had this idea before, probably, but this is the first time I have seen it actually viable. With a reliable battery/ups system, yu could plug in your new energy efficient computer/tablet/LCD TV to this, and then it forces you to exercise instead of vegging out after work for another 3+ hours of body damaging lazy screen time!
I guess today’s modern devices are getting efficient enough to make such a thing work.

ridiciuloou
ridiciuloou
10 years ago

@i you don’t need the heat on if you don’t stop pedaling

gabbia
gabbia
10 years ago

Cool…

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