Beer Run
May 16, 2023 7:00 AM Subscribe
A Minnesota man invented a motorcycle that runs on beer. It can run on other liquids as well, but as the inventor says, why not beer?
Just load up the keg... (YT link)
Man invents steam engine in 2023.
posted by pipeski at 7:05 AM on May 16, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by pipeski at 7:05 AM on May 16, 2023 [13 favorites]
If it's jet bike action you're after, I think you'd get a longer ride on this design from Colin Furze. Maybe even a safer ride, because the fuel tank contains actual fuel and isn't just a keg being used as an amazingly dodgy boiler.
posted by flabdablet at 7:13 AM on May 16, 2023
posted by flabdablet at 7:13 AM on May 16, 2023
Man invents steam engine in 2023.
Yeah, my first thought was this guy could have saved some time and just taken a trip down to the Barber Motorsports Museum where they have some of the earliest known steam-powered motorcycles. (Among many, many other bikes - if you are at all into motorcycles, and you happen to be in the Birmingham area or are just taking I-20 through Alabama, it's worth a visit for sure.)
My second thought was that it's not just running on whatever liquid, it's also running on whatever they're using to heat the beer/steam to 300 degrees.
posted by solotoro at 7:37 AM on May 16, 2023 [10 favorites]
Yeah, my first thought was this guy could have saved some time and just taken a trip down to the Barber Motorsports Museum where they have some of the earliest known steam-powered motorcycles. (Among many, many other bikes - if you are at all into motorcycles, and you happen to be in the Birmingham area or are just taking I-20 through Alabama, it's worth a visit for sure.)
My second thought was that it's not just running on whatever liquid, it's also running on whatever they're using to heat the beer/steam to 300 degrees.
posted by solotoro at 7:37 AM on May 16, 2023 [10 favorites]
I can't wait until Manitowoc Minute gets hold of this. There will be so many Bud Light jokes.
posted by humbug at 7:42 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by humbug at 7:42 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
That said, having now also watched the video (I'd just read the article before), I think this is actually different from those early engines, which I'm pretty sure used the steam to turn a wheel like most steam designs. I am very curious about what it would feel like to have the thrust coming out of your exhaust rather than your rear wheel's torque. No popping wheelies on this bike!
posted by solotoro at 7:44 AM on May 16, 2023
posted by solotoro at 7:44 AM on May 16, 2023
Using beer reminds me of the naphtha launches from the late 1800s. Steam was the only way to power a boat, and because of the inherent danger involved, federal laws required a licensed engineer to be present on every steam-powered vessel. So someone had the clever idea of building "steam" engines that used naphtha instead of water as the working fluid to get around the regulations because naphtha vapor isn't steam.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:46 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:46 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
flabdablet: "Maybe even a safer ride"
Probably the first time Colin Furze has been accused of being safer than anything.
posted by adamrice at 7:59 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
Probably the first time Colin Furze has been accused of being safer than anything.
posted by adamrice at 7:59 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
The guy in the beer bike video was not wearing a safety tie.
posted by flabdablet at 8:15 AM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 8:15 AM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
If he invents a motorcycle that runs on... let's say used beer, then he'll have really changed the world.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:59 AM on May 16, 2023 [11 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:59 AM on May 16, 2023 [11 favorites]
Wait till they get a load of my spidersilk quadrocopter that runs on koala sperm.
posted by CynicalKnight at 9:12 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by CynicalKnight at 9:12 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
What transport really needs, from tricycles all the way up to starships, is a neutrino rocket propulsion system, in which ordinary matter is converted directly into neutrinos that are tricked into being emitted in only or mainly one direction, which is conceivable since neutrino emission can violate parity, and also deposit their recoil on large chunks of matter through some kind of Mössbauer-like effect.
It would take absurdly tiny amounts of fuel to power all terrestrial transport, and the emission products would zoom off harmlessly into space, scarcely interacting with any other earthbound matter whatsoever.
posted by jamjam at 10:13 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
It would take absurdly tiny amounts of fuel to power all terrestrial transport, and the emission products would zoom off harmlessly into space, scarcely interacting with any other earthbound matter whatsoever.
posted by jamjam at 10:13 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
If he invents a motorcycle that runs on... let's say used beer, then he'll have really changed the world.
There was tell of a blues band that was powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline
posted by dismas at 10:18 AM on May 16, 2023 [3 favorites]
There was tell of a blues band that was powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline
posted by dismas at 10:18 AM on May 16, 2023 [3 favorites]
Post title seems to make this obligatory: B-E-E-R-R-U-N
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 10:45 AM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 10:45 AM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
motorcycles that run on beer and it wasn’t invented in milwaukee? we’re fucking up here in the cream city
posted by dis_integration at 11:19 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by dis_integration at 11:19 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
My second thought was that it's not just running on whatever liquid, it's also running on whatever they're using to heat the beer/steam to 300 degrees.
Yes, this is sort of like saying that a nuclear reactor runs on water. I mean, it requires water to make the steam to spin the turbines -- or maybe in Minnesota they use beer? I don't know -- but presumably the motorcycle actually runs on uranium fuel rods, which you'd think they would mention.
posted by The Bellman at 11:26 AM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
Yes, this is sort of like saying that a nuclear reactor runs on water. I mean, it requires water to make the steam to spin the turbines -- or maybe in Minnesota they use beer? I don't know -- but presumably the motorcycle actually runs on uranium fuel rods, which you'd think they would mention.
posted by The Bellman at 11:26 AM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
He made a motorcycle that runs on beer marketing.
posted by Pembquist at 11:49 AM on May 16, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Pembquist at 11:49 AM on May 16, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm pretty sure this motorcycle runs on electricity. To test this theory, try running it with the orange extension cord unplugged.
If you can balance your checkbook, you can understand this. The first law of thermodynamics is just balancing your energy checkbook. This might come in handy if you are trying to avoid cooking your own planet.
posted by hypnogogue at 3:41 PM on May 16, 2023
If you can balance your checkbook, you can understand this. The first law of thermodynamics is just balancing your energy checkbook. This might come in handy if you are trying to avoid cooking your own planet.
posted by hypnogogue at 3:41 PM on May 16, 2023
What's heating the beer, Ky? What's heating the beer?!
posted by deadbilly at 3:49 PM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by deadbilly at 3:49 PM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
When you get thirsty, your gas mileage goes down
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:10 PM on May 16, 2023
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:10 PM on May 16, 2023
"I like to be really creative," he said. "Do things that other people have never done in the past."
Good on you, sir.
posted by doctornemo at 4:34 PM on May 16, 2023
Good on you, sir.
posted by doctornemo at 4:34 PM on May 16, 2023
This is a Menthos video.
posted by hypnogogue at 5:07 PM on May 16, 2023
posted by hypnogogue at 5:07 PM on May 16, 2023
> If it's jet bike action you're after,
Or Robert Maddox (check out his more recent carts too)
posted by nickzoic at 5:59 PM on May 16, 2023
Or Robert Maddox (check out his more recent carts too)
posted by nickzoic at 5:59 PM on May 16, 2023
Wait, do people not like to drink beer anymore?
posted by amtho at 7:01 PM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by amtho at 7:01 PM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
GRANDPA JOE: Mr. Wonka, what's that they're filling it up with?
WONKA: Oh, ginger ale, ginger pop, ginger beer, beer bubbles, bubble-ade, bubble cola, double cola, double bubble burp-a-cola, and all the crazy carbonated stuff that tickles your nose. Few people realize what tremendous power there is in one of those things.
GRANDPA JOE: Sorry I asked.
posted by Captain_Science at 7:02 AM on May 16, 2023 [6 favorites]