Description of Bikin’ Fools courtesy its creator: 

ART: The bikinfools amalgam of performance art, creativity, and foolishly fearless humor has brought many smiles, along with danger, drama, and joy.

ENGINEERING: Engineered to convince people that they could build something better.

Description of Colfax Parcel Service courtesy its creator: 

ART: We plan to be the greatest delivery van that this race has ever seen us be. We have a two tone paint scheme covering the whole vehicle and our school mascot drawn on each side with a permanent marker. We also have a functioning hood and doors. I wish we could tell you that we have spinning rims but that wasn’t in the budget.

ENGINEERING: Our machine was once four separate bikes. when in the water, the two people in the front power two propellers which in theory and in a perfect world propel our kinetic sculpture through the water.

OTHER: The ”Colfax Parcel Service” van is about the size of a van. It weighs about a 1/4 of a van. It can go as slow as a van can go and in the water we can go as fast as a floating van can go. BUILT BY: The Colfax Engineering Arts Club. SOME OF THE MEMBERS INCLUDE: The mail man, a dog named Joe Duck, A hitchhiking teddy bear, and Colfax’s very own Bob the Builder.

Description of Chain Mail courtesy its creator: 

ART: Chain Mail is the offishul mail carrier for the 2016 Kinetic Grand Championship Race. Three-day Guaranteed Speedy Delivery from the Square in Arcata to downtown Ferndale traveling over 40 miles the hard way. Through rain, heat, gloom of night, mechanical breakdowns, sunburn, getting lost, scary downhills, mosquitos, unscheduled swimming, lack of sleep and Konfusion, Chain Mail will promise swift completion of their appointed rounds. Where one professional mail carrier is usually enough, we have employed two, for faster handling of all your important delivery needs. Other deliveries may one day be done by drone, but Chain Mail sees the future as one where human power and personalized service beat out convenience, low price and dependability. Branching off from over twenty years racing with Team Melvin, this is the first foray of Dave Rempe and his son Joey Rempe to go out on their own and try their hand at building and racing a sculpture. Rescued from the bone yard, Chain Mail is a heavily refurbished retired sculpture that was named Sushi from the early 90’s and originally built by Rick Nelson.

ENGINEERING: Engineering highlights include an entirely new drivetrain fashioned from recycled parts and genius. A great deal of the design work was done increasing the strength of Chain Mail’s drivetrain to accommodate the robust cycling power of the two pilots. Two-speed rear end gearing transfers power in the sand at a ratio of 10 pedal rotations to 1 axle rotation. Sand climbing power indeed. We’ve added grease to the main bearings when in previous incarnations of this machine, it appears they used only sand. “Strength through Flexibility” really comes into play with this machine and the pilots aren’t going to let fear intimidate them into going slow and easy. The flotation is large and helps Chain Mail skim over the water with its paddle wheel drive system at a rate higher than anyone could have ever expected. Aerodynamics are increased with the innovation of keeping the pilots heads down in a tucked position which brings Chain Mail’s top road speed up to a pace that hasn’t been determined yet.

OTHER: Chain Mail is a three wheel, two pilot, tandem riding position machine. It is about 4’ wide and 10’ long. It weighs about 100 pounds empty and has pneumatic flotation and paddle wheel water drive. The Chain Mail machine was originally built by Rick Nelson over 25 years ago but, after years of neglect and retirement, has been brought back to life by Dave and Joey Rempe.

Description of Dragonass courtesy its creator: 

ART: Dragonass is a 50 foot sea serpent, designed and constructed by Marilyn Kurka. His head is over 6 foot long and is constructed with 9 gauge wire, plaster caste to shape, with 1000’s of white bed sheet triangulars for the scales and affixed with exterior glue. The overlay paint and sealant is all hand brushed. He has a jaw that opens, smoke that blows through its nostrils and LEDs that light up his throat and glass eyes. His body is made to take apart for long travel and to be either a 40 foot or 50 foot dragon. It is made up of hulu hoops, pvc, vinyl and various fabrics sewn to shine. The LED light show continues down the length of its body with a programmable pattern by Keith Rasmussen.

ENGINEERING: The plans are ACE, LEO and Master sculptures with a great history of awards for engineering and speed. A few years back, two were put together and successfully Leo’d in Corvallis. This is the first time, 4 plans have been connected for a race. The hitch system was designed and built by Veg and Chris and includes 3 ball joints per hitch to allow for articulation. Then length is such that the trailing sculpture follows the leading sculptures tracks. Three plans also have a new hydrolic brake systems.

OTHER: The length of the four plans hooked together is 40 feet with the tail adding another 10 feet. The plans are 5 foot wide, 8 foot long tricycles, that individually weight 280 lbs fully race loaded without pilots. The original designers and builders are Veg and Chris. Many builders helped construct, improve and repair the subsequent plans.

Description of Trilo Bike courtesy its creator: 

ART: In 2015 we found ourselves running out of time (fancy that) even though we started 12 months in advance. The curved thin plywood fairing we made last year got crunched during the race so we started over. We brought Eureka Sculptor Jack Sewell onto the team and he has created the front fairing out of carved foam and papier-mâché. The fairing is a giant boulder with a four foot long trilobite fossil embedded in it. The floats and other features are painted match. We also made carved trilobite helmets, flags, tee shirts, and plenty of bribes sporting the Trilo Bike logo. Our pageantry crew will be back in force with matching outfits and displaying their new choreographed dance routines and cheers throughout the glorious race course.

ENGINEERING: We built the machine for the race in 2015 and have upgraded it throughout. We cracked the differential axle last year on Day 3, which nearly put us out of the race, but we made good use of several ratchet straps to keep it in place and we still Aced the race and won Best Engineering and Most Improved to boot. This year we rebuilt the rear end with additional axle supports for the new differential axle. We built an entirely new set of 29” wheels and have upgraded our sand tracks after we pretty much shredded off our previous design after Dead Man’s Drop last year. We also made a set of strap on sand treads to provide extra grip to the driving wheels when the going gets tough up the dunes. The low end gear ratio has been improved with up to 13 revolutions of the pedals to one revolution of the drive wheels. We added a bit more foam to our pontoons to give us more freeboard and have made improved speed handles for operating the jacks that lift the machine out of the water. Our reverse gear will allow the machine to back out of the water and up the ramp. Our water drive is killer and last year we got scolded by the Coast Guard for violating the No Wake Zone on the bay.

OTHER: The Trilo Bike is a three person in line craft, which turned out to be a tremendously difficult configuration to build. Getting all the clearances to work with all the gearing, steering, brakes, and everything else took a lot of trial and error. We got pretty good at using the cutoff wheel and the torch. There is more engineering in the first two feet of the Trilo Bike than most builders put into their entire craft. Our machine is rear wheel drive and so we exit the water in reverse which is accomplished through a figure 8 chain (not so easy to do with a 40 Pitch chain). The machine was built by the father son team of Steve and Westin McHaney with help of Westin’s more artistic brother Carson. Carson is in Switzerland this year so pilots Steve and Westin are joined by nephew Andrew on the machine. Mom, Patty, created all the accoutrements for pilots and the entourage and sisters Zhanna and Kristina along with many friends and family cheer us on and provide support. Thanks to Jack Sewell for the greatly upgraded artwork this year. 

Description of Ipa Nema courtesy its creator: 

ART: The theme is tropical like the Ipa Nema area of Rio in Brazil (which nicely corresponds with the 2016 Olympics).

ENGINEERING: Our engineering philosophy is KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) so we try to make easy transitions from street to sand to water. One of our highlights is front and rear wheel drive to ease water exits.

OTHER: The machine is a two person, two wheel modified bicycle approximately ten feet long, 100 pounds with a maximum land speed of the legal speed limit. It was built this year by David Hunt (Buba the Kidd).

Description of Atomic Funguys courtesy its creators:

ART: This sculpture is the Atomic Funguys. Glory in its purest form, at the Atomic level. Reaching a height of over 13 feet tall, and presided over by the the Atomic Mushroom Man, the sculpture can be seen from a country mile thanks to the Atomic Fluorescent Green Glow emanating from the body. BOOM!!!

ENGINEERING: After last years wheel failure just an hour from the finish line, the Funguys have been busy. All four wheels were re- spoked with a higher test cable, going from 480lb test to 960! All the bicycle parts, most of which were rusty and hard worn have been replaced. The most significant change though is the gearing. With a few sprocket changes, the machine in now over 40% faster (gearing matters). Add in new pontoons and new water steering, this machine in no longer one of the slowest. Time will tell just how fast it will be.

OTHER: Machine: Unladen weight 760lbs, Length 14 feet, width 7 feet 9.75 inches. 40 total gears, BIG wheels.

A Haiku by Melvin

A description of ¡Luchadores Piñas! courtesy its designer:

ART: This year, Team Pineapple brings “¡Luchadores Brand Paletas™ - Sabor de Piña!” We are fighters for the pineapple flavor, and all things fruity, delicious and amphibious. We are excited to be adding pink to our palette this year, and racing stripes.

ENGINEERING: This year, ¡Luchadores Piñas! have upgraded from 29” wheels to 36” wheels, and have crafted up a new “surfboard” style roof rack, for better (we hope) loading and unloading. Once again, we are using our “all wheel drive” system which includes hand-cranks for the front wheel. We are testing new spoke-insert-style paddle blades, carved from old pepsi syrup barrels, so you know we will smell sweet on the water.

OTHER: As always, ¡Luchadores Piñas! is built and modified, and coaxed through time and space by Dawn Thomas and Robert VanDeWalle. We originally built this vehicle in 2014, but have rebuilt it every year, differently, in our pursuit of the ever- out-of-reach ACE status. This year, of course, will be different. !Viva La Piña!”

A description of lotecnotec courtesy its designer: 

ART: minimalistic

ENGINEERING: minimalistic

OTHER: minimalistic

A description of Kinetic Dragonfly courtesy its designer:

ART: Our art was designed by Tina Kerrigan and was built/handsewn by Tina, Molly Durham, Jenette Kime, and Michele Estabrook. It has many cool features including a lightweight aluminum body, awesome teal holographic fabric, flapping iridescent wings, internal storage, carved sand tires, logo branding throughout, and glass art (of course). Our costume skirts and dragonflies are handmade of the same fabric as the wings and body of the dragonfly. We also have an awesome variety of artistic bribes for judges, race teams, and spectators. Tina will be racing with co-pilot Molly Durham this year with Steve Cross and Michele Estabrook as pit crew. We’ve grown to an 11-person team and have a fabulous entourage this year. Wave your TGR flag to cheer us on as we strive to ace our very own sculpture in the Kinetic Grand Championship!

ENGINEERING: The bike portion of our sculpture was designed and built by Chris Shmatovich last year. Steve, Tina, and Molly did a complete rebuild over the winter with all new bearings, jack shaft, chains, brake rebuild, and a new Delrin roller to replace the tensioner sprocket. The art and dragonfly frame was designed and built by Tina and Steve and is made to disassemble for easy transport in a horse trailer.

OTHER: Racing as Team Goddess Busy Bee last year, Tina and Goddess Jen-O completed the entire course for the Grand Championship, even though they were hella slow with a number of mechanical issues including a broken differential on day three of the race. They came back after rebuilding the differential to win Grand Champion at the Corvallis Race in July. Goddess Jen-O and Molly went on to race in the Port Townsend race after Tina fractured her kneecap last fall. Tina and Molly are excited to be racing together for the Kinetic Grand Championship!

A description of Ominionated courtesy its designer:

ART: “This was a 26” bike, more like two or three, which was highly modified into a 120 lbs kinetic vehicle. The width is less than 8 ft, we have to make it legal. It is set-up in a delta trike configuration with duals on all three sets of wheels making it a hexacycle. This will be its first race although it has been through a few parades. With all hopes the major bugs have been worked out. Calculated max speed is about 11 mph running a peddle speed of 60 rpm. The lowest speed with this peddle speed is less than 1 mph with everything set at the lowest gears see the attached worksheet. It has been clocked doing 17 mph for a short distance on level roadway.

ENGINEERING: “The drive system is set up based on three 5 speed clusters. This gives me a 15 speed vehicle that can be set on 5 different drive ranges, giving me a unit that has 75 forward gears. Speed on the water is unknown at this time. I have gone back to a paddle wheel set-up. This removes the power drain that the propeller drive train gave me during last year’s race. Also, with the move to the river crossing, the second half of the crossing is in fairly shallow water. This generates a problem for propeller depth. Hopefully my paddles will be large enough to propel me at a suitable speed. Currently I am unable to water test the craft because I would have the same speeds as on land, you cannot test floatation on thick ice. I have run my spreadsheet that calculates draft and it looks like that it can be balanced on its pontoons with no problem. This craft build was started over a year ago. It was put on hold until I had completed last year’s race. The lessons learned last year confirmed a number of concepts that I had planned for this craft. 

OTHER: “This is the tenth year that I have been in kinetics. I do kinetics because it is fun and I like to see people smile. The challenge of building a craft that can do everything that is required in kinetics keeps the mind young.”