Those are some serious gyros to keep that balanced.

I've always wondered how one of those would work exactly, and why a a military would use such a wobbly, unstable chassis. Have they developed hover technology, but find that using a wheel to provide movement cheaper and safer than using props or jets?

It's already possible with current technology.
http://www.the-uno-tomorrows-transportation.com/

The Segway or however its spelled? It works... mostly. But it doens't weigh 40 tons or have a 5 ton recoil. And if hit by an incoming shell, all bets are off.

No, not a segway. But a uniwheeled motorcycle that uses similar balancing technology. Essentially it's the unibikes from the Venus Wars anime that DAQ mentioned.

I'm sure that when it comes to military procurment, it really doesn't matter if a thing can be done or not, or whether anyone needs it. *Spending* is the thing!

Sweet ride! ^-^

Reminds me of the cycle from the Venus Wars anime.

I was gonna say the same thing!

Never saw it, but its the sort of thing you would expect in anime.

Yeah, the uni-tanks in 'Venus Wars' were alright, though. This design is much neater.

yeah, I was thinking that too. that was a cool anime.

Thing is, you have the knack to make it look not only workable, but workaday. Good show!

Now I wouldn't mind building a model of this rig. I'd have to lock the wheel so it could stand on it's own though. The Lagomorphic crew really sets the scene off.

cool design !

I seem to recall reading an Iain M. Banks novel that had a high-speed, single-person transport that ran on a single wheel mounted at forty-five degrees. I guess it could look cool, but whether it could really work is anyone's guess.

Very cool design!

If memory serves, Alita had a one-wheeled transport-thingie in a few volumes of Battle Angel Alita (since everyone else seems to be mentioning unicycliar vehicles)

I used to have a Vaughn Bode poster featuring a motorcycle that ran on a tank tread instead of the usual two wheels fore & aft. I suspect that IRL it would have been much less practical than your design, since tanks are always throwing their treads at inopportune moments,and there are some good balancing tech available. Just today I saw someone maneuvering one of those Segways over broken pavement and railroad tracks etc, no problem.

Tank treads were designed for broken terrain and muddy conditions. They're so heavy I can't see how anything as lightweight as a unicycle has to be could employ treads. Nor would a unicylce seem conceptually to be the right solution to traversing the trench landscape of World War I.

I remember that Bode poster now. I think I probably had that in the back of my mind when I drew my cycle-tank, but like you I didn't think much of the treads. It would lack agility, so why bother with a finely balanced vehicle?

They say Segways will climb stairs, navigate craters on Mars, and even play the stock market profitably, but when it comes to practical use, you keep hearing about curious failures. For instance, it turns out not to very useful in snow or slush. And I heard of early problems with sand or gravel.

But ultimately the thing might find its place in the world when the cost comes down. One place I understand the Segway is useful is in huge industrial plants, like the Boeing assembly line. Inspectors and messangers who might otherwise have to walk miles and miles every day, and used to drive bulky gold carts, find the Segway useful. But a gold cart costs what? A couple of thousand? Not $15,000, or whatever a Segway does.

Da Bode's machines were never about practicality...