Just to be crystal clear I am not the guy in this video, by “my” I mean my description/idea below.
Here is a great start and to show how much of the technology already exists.
But here is what I would like to do instead.
Transfer pedaling to not drive the bike at all, but rather spin the flywheel. Preferably adjustable/adaptive. That is, I can set how hard it is to pedal, and that it never get any easier, instead constantly adding speed/momentum to the flywheel.
Replace the brakes with the flywheel energy capture system. Have the brakes work like an inverse throttle, with full squeeze being effectively stop. As you squeeze you’d increase the ratio between the wheel and the flywheel so that if you slammed them the ratio would be so high that the wheel would be effectively stopped because it’s trying to add so many revolutions per inch to the wheel.
Then you could simply replace the grip shifting with a throttle. You’d have no need for gears, and no need for exotic pedals because your force would always be uniform.
Questions:
Is it possible to constantly add spin speed to a flywheel in this way?
Would it be worth it to encase the flywheel in a vacuum?
How hard would the device be to steer?
Would a coiled spring work better? (Like a wind up pocket watch, where peddling winds the bicycle and throttle unwinds it.)