Velomobiles

[jtbo]

So, has anyone got one or build one?

I have gotten even more interested of such things lately, must be because summer is coming in few months (still 50cm of snow here).

Some profile square tube and metal pipes might be needed to build one, probably not very expensive, but might be bit challenging. Just wondering here a bit if such is much harder to cycle up to hills as here there is nothing else than hills.

[macplaxton]

as here there is nothing else than hills.

Therein lies your problem. Take a perfectly good simple idea (a bicycle), add more weight, and voila! A lot more energy needed to get up hills!

Now add some electircal assistance (more weight) and we get this:


and we all know how shite batteries are in the cold.

[volvosneverdie]

[macplaxton]

VND, I see your Dumb and Dumber and raise you Hale and Pace...

[jtbo]

You can break 80MPH in velomobile though, so it really is better when going down to hill or if there is lot of wind.

[macplaxton]

When I was a young lad, I would happily pedal fast down a long steep hill and touch 60mph.

80mph+ downhill might be nice in a velomobile, but you have to kill yourself dragging all that surplus weight up it. A bicycle with at most a simple screen would do, such as this Moulton AM with Zzipper fairing

[volvosneverdie]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Quest-Velomob ... 162wt_1177

[jtbo]

This is route to my local small shop, it is 8km trip, this is from shop to home direction:


It is almost level ground all the way, I guess that route to there is where I could use velomobile or tadpole bicycle.

I did replace single gear rear wheel with 3 gear rear wheel on my back up bicycle, but it is so annoying at heavy wind because it is grandmother bike, you sit perfectly upright on those, so wind is like hitting brakes.

In two-three weeks I should have all parts to convert my Renault hybrid to Triathlon type bicycle, so I should be able to go bit faster then and without so much of wind affecting my going.

VND, maybe I should start making such things and get rich fast, I could give you 10% discount

[Chris_C]

If you have a hybrid you shouldn't have any issues I'd have thought dude? I've always been a mountain bike person until I got the hybrid, even when super unfit the thing manages a squillion* mph (maybe small exaggeration) with very little effort!

[jtbo]

If you have a hybrid you shouldn't have any issues I'd have thought dude? I've always been a mountain bike person until I got the hybrid, even when super unfit the thing manages a squillion* mph (maybe small exaggeration) with very little effort!

It has cheap gears, I bought it at 2006 I think and it was then one of the cheapest ones, so it has no cassette rear hub, just threaded version, which means 14 teeth sprocket is smallest one for rear and also that it is fail prone, at front I think there is around 40 teeth that largest gear, so grandmother bicycle is as fast as that 'hybrid' which is perhaps bit overestimation, imo. Anyway that is what the ad claimed.

For me trekking bike is closer to what it looks, but I don't really know if it is such, light alloy body with large diameter tubes, driving position that is too upright for any speed, too many gears which all are short.

I will change gears, tires, pedals and steering bar thing, which should make it much more like what it should be. If I could afford, I would like to get some very light wheels and very light 23mm narrow tires too, but first stage those should be enough. Front gears might perhaps need some work too at some point, something like 50 teeth gear at front would certainly make some serious speed possible.

When at some point I will start Velomobile build, I plan to make body from fabric of some sort, maybe some clever support structure so that I would not need heavy supports either, low, light and fast, can't afford petrol or diesel at the moment

[jtbo]

This is my current bicycle and state of it:


This is my backup, today got it to speed of 52.9kph and it would of gone even faster but I got afraid at that point, oh and you can see bit of 'trailer' there too


And yes, as I write this there is more snow coming down, yesterday got 12cm of new snow, I have pics where at this time of year there is no snow at all, it is close however that we are getting rid of that stuff.

Hills are not really bad, but that wind, that is big issue, on relatively level ground I had difficulties to reach 20kph today, to another direction over 50kph at same place, so I don't know how velomobile would be, heavier of course at uphills, but maybe not as much as that trailer with flat tire, even that was not very heavy to pull.

[Chris_C]

The Renault will go faster with round things between the forks dude! No wonder it's slower than the granny bike!

Nothing inherently wrong with that frame from the looks, should make a nice hybrid!

[jtbo]

The Renault will go faster with round things between the forks dude! No wonder it's slower than the granny bike!

Nothing inherently wrong with that frame from the looks, should make a nice hybrid!

I knew it, there had to be some major flaw in design. That might even solve uneven ride quality too, it was rather bouncy at speeds above 30kph, frequency of bumps was awful close to pedaling

This is direction to west, which looks relatively flat when looking towards there, I have always wondered why it is that my car does not want to go to that direction... Graph contains 4km.


I did told you that it was relatively flat ground for my granny bike speed testing, also there was wind of 8m/s from uphill, it felt bit of work to climb to be honest...

[jtbo]

Current state is this, top speed is bit over 60km/h at the moment, but I guess there is still more to come:


I just don't know what bicycle that is now, hybrid, trekking, something else?

48T and 11T is top gear, so there is no much larger ones, 50 is commonly largest with 2 chainring models and 52 is largest I have seen commonly available, but I think that with 48 and 11 there is plenty for me for years worth of training until I'm able to use full potential of that gearing.

There still is things to do, maybe even some parts to change, but it seem to be rather capable as 40km/h is not even hard to get, maybe I will do some aerodynamic improvements next so that I can go bit faster, speed limit here is 80km/h, getting fined by riding bicycle above that might be some achievement

[Chris_C]

Hehe, that's roughly the speeds I see on my hybrid, sounds a bit faster! Great stuff mate, glad you mobile again