Mountain Bicycle

Well, what an interesting concept to vission. Just like in the cartoons, or better yet, Gilligans' Island. First you might want to take a ride to your local hardware store, Home Depot or Lowes, and study their compressors on display. Most two stage compressors for the home shop use are 5 HP rated with a motor turning 1750 rpm. They have a 5" primary drive pully on the electrical side and a 16" to 18" secondary pully on the pump head; giving you an ~ 3:1 drive ratio. A 5 HP compressor, pump head weight would be about 100 to 120 lbs. On your output, if you have the system set up properly, that is your output air will be stored into a suitable storage tank. The pressure stored is dependent on the sefety factor of your storage tanks bursting line. You never want to over pressurize a tank. The symple output of a compressor, with out a storage tank is non-usable. The comprssor will only output about 100 lbs per sq"of pressure per stroke of the piston. And then that is only for a brief moment on the upper compression stroke of the piston. A two stage compressor will help keep the presure from bleading down on the return stroke of the primary piston on the pump head. Your storage tank will need a suitable regulator, gauge, check valve, one-way flow valve, presure sensor-shut-off valve with a bypass once you reach your tanks maximum holding pressure. If you are using the bycicle to drive the pump head, you will need calculate your primary drive pully to give you ~ 3:1 ratio to the pully on the pump head. This set-up will require a steady shift of persons to peddle your bike once it is placed on the platform with the pump assembly. Your drive belt length is another concideration as well. You want the belt to be as short as possible to eliminate any type of slipage to the pump pully. Good luck with your portable mountain bike compressor rig. This is a real possible scenerio if you have all correct elements in place. The key is safety overall with the set up. You must have the safety features in place to help maintain your presure in the storage tank. For efficiency and reliability, I would recomend a dual head, two stage compressor head. The weight would be increased by ~ 60 lbs, bringing your head wieght to ~ 180 lbs. Mind you, if you have carriage setup to carry the pump, that would allow for two bycicles to help pull it along, you would stand a better chance on the ease of transporting this assembly. Don't forget to order the proper compressor oil when you order the pump head. With out the oil, your compressor will not work. Good luck.