 Topic Name: Lightening the Load with Helium Balloons
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on: July 20, 2013, 05:15:38 PM
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maxsong123
Posts: 1
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« on: July 20, 2013, 05:15:38 PM » |
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Hey all, great to be here, I am a new comer and have a question that I can't seem to find online, but thought with the experienced crowd of
bike-packers here, an answer might arise.
A friend and I are considering a 30 day trail through some high altitude regions, and are exploring different ways so that we can keep a necessary portion of our
supplies cool (maybe around 0 C) for the trip. One idea I thought of is to get a bunch of helium balloons, tethered to the end of our bikes, and use it to lift parts of our gear, to lighten load, and if we can get it sufficiently high, to keep the supplies cool.
However, I have no idea about the feasiblity of something like this - would it work? Would there be too much drag to make the helium balloons feasible? Has anyone gotten curious about the potential to do load saving with balloons?
Thanks! Look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Max
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Topic Name: Lightening the Load with Helium Balloons
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Reply #1 on: July 21, 2013, 08:34:18 PM
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hmaddox
Posts: 29
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« Reply #1 on: July 21, 2013, 08:34:18 PM » |
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I think you'd run into a few problems with that approach.
1. You would need a LOT of balloons to even make a noticeable difference (I'm thinking hundreds)
2. You wouldn't be able to see anything with hundreds of balloons attached to your bike
3. All of the balloons would lose their helium after only a few days, and if you're going on a 30-day trip it'll just be extra weight carrying around deflated balloons.
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Topic Name: Lightening the Load with Helium Balloons
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Reply #2 on: July 22, 2013, 12:29:18 PM
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jendrzych
Posts: 1
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« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2013, 12:29:18 PM » |
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Not to mention aerodynamic drag of such bunch of balloons.
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Topic Name: Lightening the Load with Helium Balloons
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Reply #3 on: July 22, 2013, 03:46:48 PM
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FatCloud
Cross check at Briones
Location: Oakland, CA
Posts: 62
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« Reply #3 on: July 22, 2013, 03:46:48 PM » |
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Topic Name: Lightening the Load with Helium Balloons
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Reply #4 on: July 22, 2013, 04:43:59 PM
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Buttermilk
Location: Bishop, Ca.
Posts: 191
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« Reply #4 on: July 22, 2013, 04:43:59 PM » |
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Up & down on dirt & snow
I've got all my eggs in one basket
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Topic Name: Lightening the Load with Helium Balloons
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Reply #5 on: July 23, 2013, 09:48:58 AM
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Done
Posts: 1434
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« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2013, 09:48:58 AM » |
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If you breathe some of that helium, then you could talk like a chipmunk--which would lighten up the mood during a hard climb!
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« Last Edit: July 23, 2013, 10:34:26 AM by TobyGadd »
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"Done"
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Topic Name: Lightening the Load with Helium Balloons
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Reply #6 on: July 23, 2013, 10:33:50 AM
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Mark_BC
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 47
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« Reply #6 on: July 23, 2013, 10:33:50 AM » |
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Considering air weighs 1 kg/m3, to say, halve your total weight of say, 100 kg you'd need about 100 m3 of helium!
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