Today we visited Dronten in Flevoland, the location of three of the Netherland’s velomobile producers. Alligt, Flevobike and Velomobiel are all located on the same side of the town and Alligt and Velomobiel are in adjacent buildings.
Entering Flevoland one was impressed with the number of wind turbines dotted allover the fields, testimony to the natural force that opposes cyclists in this country, the wind or, the “Dutch hill.”
The plan was to visit all three manufacturers. As it happened only Velomobil was open as the proprietors of Alligt and Flevobike were away in Germany in preparation for SPEZI, which starts tomorrow. Velomobiel occupy a typical metal clad industrial unit which contains: a small exhibition of velomobiles, including a couple of aluminium Alleweders; their office; and their workshop where they currently assemble the Quest and Strada.
On entering we found several staff busy in the workshop working on a number of velomobiles in various stages of construction including one in for a 30,000 km service It was clear from subsequent conversation that Velomobiel give a high priority to serving their existing customers.
We were greeted by Jos who willingly stopped what he was doing to set up a Quest and Strada for a test drive and answer questions. While it is possible to adjust both the Quest and Strada to fit a range of sizes the machine you buy is built to your size. It took Jos about 15 to 20 minutes to perform a simple adjustment to each machine to fit for our test ride. The temporary nature of the adjustment resulted in a limited range of 9 gears, rear gear selector only, and a slight risk of chain grease on the leg. Jos emphasized that these limitations are only present on machines that are frequently adjusted like these. In my experience this was not a problem, but it might be a good idea to wear suitable clothing when taking a test ride. The nine gears available were also quite adequate and allowed speeds above 30 km/h (20 mph) without much effort. I will give more details on the test ride in a future post on the Quest.
Velomobiel are currently producing about 150 machines per year but are in the process of moving production to Romania to a new custom built site where they will also build the QuestXS. Service, design and development will continue at the present site.
The Quest, Strada and QuestXS form a related family. The Strada and Quest share 95% of the same parts, the main difference being, the wider track and tighter turning circle of the Strada, and the improved aerodynamics of the Quest’s enclosed wheels. The standardisation achieved between the Quest and Strada is a large part of the reason Velomobiel sold the production of the Mango to Sinner as the Mango uses a different drive-train which does not fit with the current Velomobiel philosophy.
To conclude, the experience was very enjoyable and left a very positive impression. If I had upward of £5,000 to put down I would be ready to add my name to the current 6 month waiting list.