Big Wheel Scooter

I saw on the internet, where else, that Jim Galant had built a scooter like this with a big front wheel. Apparently those dang Europeans have been racing this things even in the mountains. It sounded like a fun cross between my bike and skateboard interests. I came up with a variation that would use a skateboard truck at the back. This gives it front and rear steering. My hope was that I would be able to pump it and go for long distances without kicking. Well, it did steer interestingly, but wasn't very pumpable. The result was this first picture, shown complete with Flintsone brakes.

Due to this mediocre success, I decided to scrap the rear steer and small wheels in favor of a 16" wheel. I was hoping it would give me some more speed, the HPV'ers relentless quest. Bottom line is that it's not any faster. I even tried some high quality alloy wheels and it didn't improve much. In coast down tests against one of my longboards it was slower and went less distance, but it was also shod with the crapy wheels as shown. The problem is that there's no gearing, your speed is limited to how fast you can kick. One the plus side it's a smoother and safer ride than a skateboard or Razor, so you can go long distances as long as you throw a kick in ever few seconds.