Category: Woodward Dream Cruise
Posted by Doug Guthrie (The Detroit News) on Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 9:14 PMA green machine makes the Cruise
A decidedly low horse-powered machine was parked at the curb on Guifford just off Woodward in Royal Oak.
A little Internet research tells me this is "The Dogsled," a human-powered machine built for the coming Burning Man festival getting its debut at a remarkably less green event.
The bizarre contraption that makes use of bicycle, go-kart and lawn furniture technology drew quite a crowd, but its owners were nowhere in sight. Whoever it is must have all the confidence in the world that it would take four strong athletes to steal this thing and get far away.
There are four seats, each equipped with bicycle pedals. They all feed a central drive shaft that appears to have come from a go kart, complete with its disc brake. The tires are slices from a giant, plastic drainage tube, with pieces of car tire tread screwed to the surface. Standing high up top are two patio umbrellas, and the headlamps are Tiki torches.
It's an incredible display of creative engineering and it is getting its due from the normally high horsepower fans at the Woodward Cruise.
