ASME West Coast Human Powered Vehicle Challenge 2004

click on any image to view the bigger picture


	The ASME Human Powered Vehicle Challenge, west Coast competition was held in Corvallis, OR, April 23 - 25, hosted by Oregon State University. I attended some of the events as a volunteer; I helped with the technical inspections, did course set up and tear down, and watched a corner during the road race event. For more complete information on the event and results and information on the east coast event, refer to the ASME HPV Web site I did not make any effort to photograph each and every entrant; I was far too busy with volunteer duties not to mention taking time out to be in the Earth Day parade. All events were held in beautiful downtown Corvallis on and around the OSU campus. The road course had a nice straight away with several huge potholes in it. --Brian
	01 Colorado State University
	02 Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, California
	I got to take Cal Poly's bike for a spin in the parking lot after the events had ended. My feet were too long! Other than that handling was like any other SWB bike I have ridden.
	06 Montana Tech
	08 University of Las Vegas, Nevada
	09 University of Hawaii
	10 South Dakota SMT
	11 San Francisco State University, California This bike had a fairing made from foam board then covered with fibreglass. After the 100 m sprint event they cut portions of it away so that they could change riders in the road race event.
	12 University of Reno, Nevada
	14 UC Davis, California
	15 Seattle University, Washington
	19 UC Santa Clara, California
	20 Boise State, Idaho ASME rules attempt to emphasize design and construction over athletic ability. Teams have to change riders during the road event and they have to have at least one female rider.
	16 CSU Chico, California
	21 San Francisco State University, California
	24 UM Rolla
	29 Michigan Tech Michigan Tech had a camera-operated bike. Finish was of very high quality but they did not have much road time. Some of us questioned the sense of trying to operate a camera bike on a road course. It rolled a few times and could not finish this event.
	42 University of Buffalo, New York My impression is that designs for ASME vehicles seem to be a couple decades behind the thinking in the IHPVA and recumbent worlds. Many ASME students seem to reinvent everything from scratch each year, looking only at other ASME entrants. Prone (face down) designs are bad because they are uncomfortable and they restrict your ability to breathe. It solves mechanical drive line problems at the expense of practicality. They were tried years ago and abandoned in IHPVA competitions yet there were several at this ASME event including the Buffalo and Michigan Tech bikes.
	One of the more interesting aspects of ASME events is that they always incorporate practical vehicle competitions. So some of the vehicles were built with cargo and passenger carrying capabilities as bigger factors than speed. (I like the wing on this one.) I think this 4 place bike was from Seattle University.
	ASME rules require crash protection so all bikes had either bodies or roll cages. Riders have to be strapped in as well.
	I think this was a spectator's bike. I only saw it in the pit area after events had ended.
	ASME scheduled its event overlapping with Earth Day. Naturally this means we took a few hours to help power a sculpture called the "Maltese Fulcrum" in the Corvallis Earth Day parade. In the parade, we carried a circle of drummers upstairs. There is room for a full 8 piece band up there. See the 2004 da Vinci Days photos
	The Fulcrum has a driveshaft running fore and aft with treadle style power input from 8 riders. The power is taken a drive chain into the drive axles from a Suzuki Samurai. It steers from both ends. Since it steers equally well either direction, there isn't really a front or a rear. I ended up steering the bow on the way to the parade. Steering at my end was via a hand crank. So many lives in my hands! Hence the worried look on my face. When driving something this big on city streets, cars just make room for you. It was an empowering experience.
	That's my Biketator up there on top as cargo.
	In the parade, Mayor Helen Berg of Corvallis rode on the Fulcrum's deck. I was demoted to crew (aka 'piston') and a more experienced hand took the helm. On the right in the viking hat is the Fulcrum's captain, Dean Codo. Halfway through the parade I realized there were 4 people marching to every 1 spectator on the curb. I decided then and there that Corvallis is an okay place to be.