Here at Green Action Centre…we like to kick it up a notch. Why would we just ride a bike, eat local food, or use renewable energy – when we can do all three at the same time?
Introducing Green Action: Bike Blender!
You might ask, as many do – what exactly is a bike blender? Well, as the newest edition in our Green Action fleet, the Bike Blender 2011 GT is a regular bicycle that has been retrofitted to power a blender attachment, and runs only on human calories from pedalling. So far, we have focused our energies on blending smoothies, but the possibilities are endless! Our bike blender bike was donated to us from the Morden, Stanley, Winkler, Thompson Planning District, and the track-stand used to prop up the bike, was generously donated and hand-delivered by Jim Olson from Moorhead, Minnesota! The thing we love most about our new bike blender is that we easily remove the blender, pack up everything we need in a bike trailer, and ride the bike to where we need to go. Smoothies on the go!
So How does it work?
The bike doesn’t use any electricity, the blender itself has actually been modified so that the blender is turned by the rear wheel of the bike. A modified shaft is connected to the blender blades and at the other end has a small wheel that presses against the rear tire. As the bike tire spins, the small wheel turns and in turn spins the blender blade. The faster you pedal, the faster the blender spins (you gotta pedal fast if you want to break up that ice)!
The blender itself is attached to wooden base that has been mounted on the back of the bike, just like a typical bike rack. The blender is bolted down using wing nuts so that it can be easily removed and the bike converted back to transportation.
So you might ask yourself if we could leave the blender on the bike and make smoothies as we ride. On Clean Air Day we tried just that. It not only worked, we made a whole lot of car drivers jealous as we rode along making our breakfast. Check out our video of the inaugural road ride of our bike blender.
Want to make one yourself? Checkout this video or this Instructables Lesson.
Our bike blender has been pretty popular so far, but we are looking for local smoothie recipes to test out. Any ideas?
Come visit Green Action Centre and the Bike Blender at the Red River EX on June 19, 2011 at 3:30pm @ Exhibition Place.
How do you keep them sanitary? Especially with multiple users.
Hi Michael,
The blender and blades can be removed from the base and cleaned in between uses, just like a regular blender!
Thanks for your question.
That looks like fun.
Thanks Tyler, it really is A LOT of fun! Come visit us on Clean Air Day next Wednesday morning for coffee, muffins, and some bike blender smoothie! Assiniboine at Main Street between 6:30am-8:30am!