More Testing/Crashing with the ATV

After another substantial snow storm, we had a great opportunity to take the four wheeler out and try it in the snow!  Got a bit carried away crashing into snowbanks with the gang, but it was a lot of fun.  The ATV held up fairly well...more to come regarding the necessary repairs...


Electric ATV Mud & Snow Crashes from Jarrod Smith on Vimeo.

To the tune of 99 Lights by Boaz van de Beatz

Snow Drifting with the ATV!

Had to fix up the ATV, but got it ready in time for the snowfall!  The slick roads made for some awesome drifting that was on par with the drift trike.

Here's the video recap from the night cruising session with the Simmons Hall sixth floor squad:


Electric ATV Snow Drifting from Jarrod Smith on Vimeo.

Mountain Board: TechX 2016 Progress

Already been a year since I built the ATV, and haven't said much about my TechX project for this IAP.  EVT work on the Opel has been taking up most of my time, so I haven't had as much free time to work on the Mountain Board, but it's looking like it'll finally come together.

Messing around with some video editing software, here's a quick rundown on the first work day:

New Year's Motorcycle Cruising

Didn't get to put up the video earlier, but here's a view of my neighborhood, as seen from my motorcycle.  No snow through December made for quite possibly my one and only New Year's Day ride ever.  Pretty cold, but definitely a lot of fun.

Testing out a new Legazone action camera, much less expensive than the GoPro.  I wanted to see if the quality was comparable; tried out mounting it all over the bike for some different views.

Just started messing around with some video editing software, there it is to the tune of good old Colt Ford.

Animals

After I got the lights and sounds working nicely, my roommate, Nick, and I took the trike and scooter out around the MIT campus last Friday night to show off the new features and run some people over.  Our comrade Dharshan tagged along to help record some video, earning him the new title of Shaky-Hands Dharsh.  I threw together a video using the sub-optimal Windows Movie Maker as a joke to document our expeditions.  Here are some of our stunts, to the tune of Animals by Martin Garrix:

GoPro Mini

I always thought that those GoPro Cameras that are super portable and strap to your helmet or chest for recording crazy stunts were really awesome.  I know I've had my share of brutal wipeouts that would probably be hilarious to be able to watch and relive from my point of view over and over again.  But then I saw how expensive they are, and it looks like I probably won't put the money into picking one up for a while.

In any case, I still wish I had one two nights ago when I was riding to the shop after it started snowing outside.  The drift trike was able to drift even more than usual on the slick snow, and it made for a pretty cool ride.  

Anyway, I figured I'd make my own low budget GoPro camera of sorts to help document my progress and make some videos showing how the bike works.  The only recording device I have is my Iphone camera, so that was the only option.  Using a small scrap piece of sheet metal and 3 minutes of free time on my way out of the lab today, I threw together the worst looking IPhone case you'll probably ever see:

It's hardly even worth a blog post, but I mean, I guess it works.  I strapped it to a C-Clamp and that's about it.  Not too glorious, but I'm fine with using it over spending $300.

At least it easily secures to mostly any location on the bike.  I attached it to the side of the seat looking down at one of the rear wheels.  I figured it'd be cool to have a video of one of the caster wheels rotating as the bike went around different turns, so I'll see how it comes out tomorrow.  The metal hasn't been scratching the screen on my phone yet, so I'm alright with it.