Human-powered land vehicle
Human-powered land vehicles are land vehicles propelled over ground by human power. 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.[1] The main methods of using human power to propel a land vehicle are some kind of drivetrain; 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.
Contents
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 in all its forms. Other notable examples include:
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- Balance bicycles and dandy horses
- Handcars, and draisines
- Hotchkiss Bicycle Railroad and shweeb
- Inline skates, roller skates, quad skates, and roller skis
- Kick scooters, knee scooters, and square scooters
- Rickshaws, prams, strollers, and buggies
- Skate boards, longboards, snakeboards, and caster boards
- Tricycles, quadracycles, and velomobiles
- Trikkes
- Unicycles
- Wheelchairs and baby walkers
Sliding
Intermittent
Carried
Combination
Types of propulsion
There are three main methods of using human power to propel a land vehicle: some kind of drivetrain 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.[2]
Drivetrain
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