OceanCycle’s Challenger velomobile at The Cycle Show

The Cycle Show, the UK’s principal Cycle exhibition for both the trade and the public, started on Thursday of this week.  This is the second year the show has been held at the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham, and Friday is the first day open for the general public.

Though the show is mainly geared toward upright cycles it is possible to find occasional recumbent offerings.  This year Ocean Cycle from Cornwall, with their Challenger velomobile, are on the exhibitor list.  I expect to be visiting the show on Friday and will make a point of visiting their booth so there should be a report posted in the next couple of days.

Meanwhile here is some video footage of a Challenger velomobile taken from an accompanying recumbent and presumably shot somewhere in Germany.

 

To Dronten and back by Velomobile

Yesterday I cycled 45 km (28 miles) from Dronten to Putten in an Alleweder A4.

Photo of the Alleweder A4 in PuttenToday was unsettled and I waited till early afternoon before I returned.  On the return journey I managed to avoid getting lost in Harderwijk, as I had done yesterday, and also managed to follow a shorter route, less then 41 km ( miles).  As it happened, waiting for the weather to clear in Putten had minimum value as I had to contend with a lengthy shower from before Ermelo till I reached Harderwijk.  Once on Flevoland the weather was much improved and I had a mixture of sun shine and clouds all the way to Dronten.

Photo of Alleweder A4 on HarderdijkAgain I had opportunity to chat with Leo Vischer before retuning to Putten this time in a covered Sunrider.  I was able to follow the same route back with a couple of deviations which added approximately 1 km to the journey.  It was good to be able to compare the two different velomobiles over the same route, albeit in opposite directions, as there were both positive and negative differences, but more of that later.

Photo of a Sunrider outside AlligtThe mild soaking of the morning journey was nothing compared to the weather I had to contend with on the journey back to Putten.  The Sunrider cover proved it’s value!  My route took me along Harderdijk for about 5 km.  A straight two-way cycle path along the dyke separating Flevoland from the Zuider Zee.  For almost the whole length I was battered with a heavy squall.  The rain was so bad I had to cycle without my glasses.  While the Sunrider did leak in places, compared to the Alleweder I rode earlier, I was kept very dry!

Photo of Sunrider Velomobile looking along HarderdijkMy limited level of fitness prevents me from pushing these machines anywhere near there limits, and I am very slow, but I was pleased to observe I was able to cover almost twice the distance of my first day without the jelly-legs of the day before.  I am looking forward to the return journey tomorrow.

Dronten – Take-two

Today I took the Bus and visited Dronten for the second time.  On the previous occasion only Velomobiel were open, as the other velomobile manufacturers had decamped to the SPEZI in Germany, so this time I visited both Alligt and Flevobike.

Flevobike came first, where I had an appointment to meet with Johan Vrielink, one of the original founders of what is now Flevobike.  Here I also met with Jos Sluijsmans of Fietsdiensten.nl.  Both were part of the team that organised the recent Velomobile Seminar, which is currently planed to be repeated in 2014.

Johan Vrielink is now retired but for all that he is still full of energy with an active mind, and ideas to promote and further the velomobile concept and secure a greater knowledge and acceptance of the velomobile as a very practical mode of transport.  Jos is quieter but similarly full of ideas and it is encouraging that both their minds, as well as others, are engaged on this problem.  I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and flow of ideas.

Johan also gave us both a tour of the Flevobike facility where the Orca velomobile and the Green Machine recumbent are manufactured. A professional facility.  Here we also met Andre Kjaersgaard, from Velomobil Center in Denmark, who is working a placement to gain skills to service the Orca velomobile in his home country.

Next I went round to Alligt where I was able to talk with Leo Vischer for a while.  Again more ideas, and reality checks too, a good conversation.  One is impressed with both the possibilities and also the fact, that at present, there is not enough time as resources to pursue them all.  Much material to write about another time.

I was then able to borrow an Alleweder A4 for my return trip to Putten.  Perhaps I was mad, some think I am, but I had to prove for myself what I already believed, that a 45 km (28 mile) trip was quit realistic when tackled with a velomobile.  First of all I am currently very unfit and secondly this was the farthest I had ever traveled in a recumbent position. To cut things short, I was slow, slower than I originally expected, but I made it with nothing worse than jelly-legs.  I plan to write more on the Alleweder later.  Now I must get some sleep and make the return journey tomorrow.

Photo taken from an Alleweder A4 on the Fietspad leaving DrontenLeaving Dronten

Photo taken from an Alleweder A4 on a farm road approaching HarderwijkBetween Dronten & Harderwijk

Battle Mountain – Final Day

World Human Powered Speed Championships 2012 PosterThe 2012 World Human Powered Speed Challenge at Battle Mountain comes to a close today.   Official results are tabulated here with breaking news from the blog of one of the offical timers.  There have been no records broken as yet, but a new record has been set.

As well as the high profile withdrawal, for this year at least, of Graeme Obree, Sam Whittingham has also decided to give this year a miss.  After defending and advancing his record for 12 years, he has decided that 13 would be 1 year too many.  None-the-less there has been a full field with teams from all over, but have been beset with technical and weather problems, with a number of crashes and “illegal” winds.

The team from Trisled in Australia, brought two machines, a bike (Nitro Glycerine) and a trike (Completely Overzealous).  Though Trisled are competing at Battle Mountain for the first time their have already honed their skills to a high level in the well developed Australian human powered racing scene.  Conventional wisdom has gone the route of dropping the third wheel to save rolling resistance anf hopefully also reduce cross-section.  It has no doubt come as a supprise therefore to many that Trisled’s trike powered by Gareth Hanks has bested 70 mph to set a record for three wheels of 71.79 mph.  This achievement has been recognised by the IHPVA who have upgraded the rules to recognise fully faired three wheels, as a separate class.  Well-done to the Trisled team for showing that there is still life in the conventional velomobile format!Photo of Completely Overzealous

The Dutch team from Delft with VeloX2 have not yet broken the record but are edging closer.  Jan Bos is now the third fastest human.

More next week once the dust has settled.

Photo of Completely Overzealousphoto of Nitro GlycerineWith thanks to Jun Nog for the photo’s from her blog.  The secret to Trisled’s succuess (beside their musceles)? – Wax!

Velomobile for sale in the UK

Ben Cooper of Kinetics in Glasgow is advertising the sale of a velomobile, a green Rotovelo.  Those who were at SPEZI in 2011 will recognise this as the velomobile Trisled brought over which subsequently went with Peter Eland to York for a review in Velovision Magazine. I saw the machine myself at the 2011 York CTC Cycle Show before it was then sold on to a purchaser in Scotland.

The Rotovelo received a lot of attention at it’s launch in 2011, both because of the novel (at least in velomobile terms) construction method, and the realistic potential of this construction method to significantly reduce the cost of a velomobile.  Rather than using the time-consuming method of laying up a glass or carbon fibre body, the Rotovelo uses the same rotating moulding method used to form a kayak.  This is both cheaper, quicker and more easily scaled to support large production volumes.  Unfortunately, as Peter in the Velovision Review (Issue 41 Jun 2011) highlighted, while the production cost in Australia is low, once you added shipping and European import duties the cost was comparable to a much better equipped European built machine.

Photo of a Rotovelo outside Kinetics in Glasgow

Seen here outside Kinetics in Glasgow, upgraded with a Rolhof hub, and asking for offers around £3,500 it certainly looks like a good deal.

Velomobile Seminar 2012 – Secondhand Reportage

7th Velomobile Seminar

By all accounts the seminar and tour went very well.

Photo of Dronten Mayor in DuoQuestThere was a favourable report in the Dutch press and, the Mayor of Dronten, after describing industry as, “These are people who look at life differently. They do not wait, but just do it,” himself joined the tour, riding for a short way in the DuoQuest.

The official 2012 Velomobile Seminar blog, among other things, concluded that:

  • Both the Location in Dronten and the Venue, der Meerpaal were ideal.
  • Organisation and support were excellent
  • The tour
    • had good weather
    • was a well chosen route
    • and was a good advert for the velomobile
  • The Mayor of Dronten gave an inspiring speech

Reading between the lines, and from comments on other sites, there are plans to do it again, and sooner rather than later!

Fietsdiensten.nl, a Dutch site dedicated to the promotion of cycles as a realistic alternative to motorised vehicles, have a page covering the Seminar including links to several photo galleries.

Photo of a row of velomobiles on tour

A pretty thorough report, courtesy of Google Translate, is on Theo van Goor’s blog.

The seminar itself had a mixture of presentations, something for everyone, ranging from practical reports through to social theory and in depth technical papers.  It is expected that the proceedings of the seminar will be made available on the Seminar Website.  A few papers and slides were already available for download via the program page and a couple of Power Point slide presentations of papers are also available from the presenter’s own websites.

First, Wim Schermer’s paper on the Velo Tilt concept velomobile, to be built on the Fast FWD Munzo tilting trike, is available as a series of images on his blog.  CAD generated photoreal image of Velo Tilt

Second, Titus van der Brink’s presentation on the development of his Plywood Velomobile, is available as a .ppt download from his original post.  He also has some brief comments on the Seminar.Photo of Plywood Velomobile Prototype 2

Alexander Vittouris and Mark Richardson from Australia, whose paper is already available, took the sustainability idea of the velomobile to the next level with a paper presenting ideas for bamboo construction.

The seminar concluded with what sounds like a very interesting presentation by Miles Kingsbury covering many of his projects of the last 40 years.  Naturally his Quattro four wheel velomobile which travelled across the US in the ROAM of 2011 was featured.CAD image of Quattro Velomobile

Battle Mountain – Speed Challenge Starts Today

World Human Powered Speed Championships 2012 PosterThe speed challenge at Battle Mountain starts today and the first piece of news is that Graeme Obree will not be competing.  As Recumbent Gallery reported late last week, there are still some outstanding issues with the fairing for Beastie so Mr Obree is now planing his speed attempt latter this year somewhere in the UK.

One interesting aspect, illustrated in an article on Humans Invent, is the transparent fairing.  True to form Mr Obree has decided that he can produce something better. Rather than hurtle down the road hidden inside an opaque bullet he plans to make the “engine” visible, so you can see just what is going on inside.

After his UK attempt, maybe he will continue to refine his design and have something to take to the US next year?

Photo of Beastie with transparent fairing

York Festival of Cycling

Aside

Visited the York Festival of Cycling put on by York City Council. For a free event it was fantastic! Equipment and support were provided by Get Cycling, also based in York, so there was plenty of pedal powered equipment to play with, a mini-mini SPEZI you might say, but no velomobiles. None-the-less there were plenty of smiling faces. I hope to update this post with a couple of photos next week.

Velomobile Seminar

Aside

Unanticipated personal circumstances have prevented me from flying and as a result I will not be attending the Velomobile Seminar as I had stated I would be in a previous article.  Naturally I am disappointed, and I apologize to any readers who were expecting “live” coverage here.  However I should be able to travel to Holland later in the month at which point I plan on test riding as many velomobiles as possible, which will hopefully make up for it.  Meanwhile I will attempt to cover the seminar from a distance and report what can be gleaned from others.