The Perfect Winter Bike
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 12. 4.07
No matter what the weather, lawyer Ray Mickevicius rides right across town in his yellow velomobile, or enclosed recumbent bicycle. According to the Star, it is "a ground-hugging, three-wheeled horizontal bicycle, sheathed in fibreglass. About three metres long, it looks like a miniature race car, but it's powered by pedalling. It has a steering bar, 27 gears, turn signals, lights and a speedometer."
He has even started a business with his dad selling them, and has moved 22 in the last 18 months. Collin wrote about it last year here.
I so want this Versatile "a Rohloff hub, turn signals, horn, lights, SA drum brakes, full suspension, Flevobike soft top (not shown) and adjustable mesh seat" for $10,350, used
The Star notes concerns about safety:
To be stable, three-wheeled vehicles need to be close to the ground, otherwise they'll flip. But by being close to the ground, they're also less visible, says Kelly Londry, an Ann Arbor, Mich., engineer who has designed velomobiles and consults for American bicycle manufacturers. "The cars can't see you," he says. "It's small and low to ground and it's more likely an accident will occur and if it does, it will lose."
"Alleweder kits (3x8 Dual Drive) for a remarkable $3,795"
Although it weighs a lot more than a regular bike, the aerodynamics compensate:
"It's all about the wind," Mickevicius says. As cyclists know, they use more energy when bucking a head wind. When cycling at speeds greater than 25 km/h, 90 per cent of a rider's energy goes to overcome wind resistance. "A well designed human-powered vehicle can cut aerodynamic drag by 80 per cent, reducing rider effort by a massive 70 per cent," the Ultimate Bicycle Book reports.
"You don't have the benefit of aerodynamics until you go at least 15 to 20 km/h, then the air flows nice and neatly around you," says Steve Schleicher, who designs and builds velomobiles out of his kayak manufacturing shop in Maple Ridge, B.C. (Treehugger here) "That's the most important benefit." ::The Star and ::BlueVelo
The Perfect Winter Bike? Perfect if you want to look like a complete idiot and have spare parking space.
Not sure if I'd call it the perfect winter bike. Lets see you ride that thing in over an inch of snow and slush.
$10K? Used?
As for it being a perfect winter bike, I'd love to put this through the paces on my winter routes and see how much of it rusts to the core by the end of the season. I'd also be curious how well it takes paved trails that don't get shoveled often. A mountain bike with good nobbies is fairly effective in those conditions. The only advantage I'd see is in icy conditions and getting a break from the cold wind.
But the price is ridiculous.
I've looked into getting a velomobile.
In my opinion, the best design is made by Leitra ( http://www.leitra.dk/news.php ) made in Denmark
(go figure).
It can be yours for 5-6K. Still kind of steep, but it really could replace a car for commuting to work even in snow (up to a few inches at least).
Although, for only 550 bucks, a near perfect regular bike for commuting is the Jamis Commuter 3.0
Internal hub, 700cc wheels, upright riding position. Put some nokian studded w106 tires on it and you're set for winter!
(http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/bikes/08_bikes/08commuter3.html)
Disclaimer, I have no affiliation with Jamis or Leitra.
This is dumb. It looks highly impractical, and it will not get any more people out of their cars. Who will try it? Probably some rich gadget obsessed "ecologically minded" folks looking for the latest green product.
Just get a cyclocross or touring bike, put on some panniers/bags, and fatty tires (fenders if you need them), dress warm, and call it good. It's not new. not high tech, not fancy, and not much money (especially if you go used), but good enough.
Nothing new here. Not even worth a place in this site. Like others have stated, get a good old bike, PERIOD!!!
In this thing you ride way too low and cars may not see you. And......10K???
3 wheels are always better than 2 in winter. Sure you're lower to the ground, that doesn't mean you can't make yourself visible by adding lights, flags and reflectors. These certainly can be car replacements, especially for people with moderate commute distances. People who wouldn't normally bike to work may choose one of these and possibly add a hub motor for hills or to extend range.
If these things represent perfection let's give up now...
We call a three-wheeled bicycle a tricycle round these parts... And the lightest one weighs about 30kg according to their site. All very well zooming into the wind, but it's not going to be much fun going uphill is it?
We call a three-wheeled bicycle a tricycle round these parts... And the lightest one weighs about 30kg according to their site. All very well zooming into the wind, but it's not going to be much fun going uphill is it?
I think it's funny to see any Treehugger post about alternative cycles immediately dismissed by those who have never ridden them.
Your closed mindedness is startling at first, but after reading the same responses for a couple of years, I've come to expect it.
I've ridden two velomobiles and really thought they were fun. I don't think they're the machine for my daily riding though. But one big advantage they have in the winter is the riders say they don't get cold at all. The shell contains their body heat. After riding home in -7C temperature here in Minneapolis today, I think a warmer ride sounds nice.
And I thought that cycle parking was an issue now ... just imagine how horrendous it would be with a bunch of these around!
Additionally, in Oxford, this would get stolen so fast, unless you had a secure garage both at home and work to lock it into.
Looks nice for dedicated bike trails, but for city driving where you have to complete with cars for road space made more narrow due to snow banks, this appears to be too wide.
FYI: Yesterday, I created a webpage with tips and suggestions for winter bike riding. In the coop house where I live in Toronto there are at least four of us that bike all winter.
See: The adventure of riding a bike in the winter: tips and suggestions
I have ridden the Versatile and it was a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y amazing (Ray was selling them out of my store Curbside Cycle). Winter bike? It would keep you warmer on days when the streets are shoveled, but over snow could be tough. Seriously, don't knock it till you tried it. And it does make a fine commuter. Want proof? Go to Holland (where everyone is a bred in the bone cycle commuter) and you won't believe how many velomobiles are on the road. Why? They are perfect for commuters with longer routes, who don't want to sweat as much, and who want to wear their office clothes on a rainy day. Plus its fast. And fun!
www.curbsidecycle.com
Holy denouncitating negative Nancys! Some nice raw organic goat cheese with your whines?
It's too expensive for me too but obviously not everyone is poor and so this may be a nice solution for some people. It beats a gas burner. I especially like the idea of electric assist option I noticed on one of their models.
I've also looked into velo-mobiles. They are much more practical then one might think.
-No they won't rust. The exterior is carbon fibre and most of the metal compnenets are enclosed on the inside.
-As for visibility, the typically suggestionis to do what the handi-cap in motorized vehicles due. The put on a 4 foot tall bright orange flag.
-As Eric pointed out: "They are perfect for commuters with longer routes, who don't want to sweat as much, and who want to wear their office clothes on a rainy day. Plus its fast. And fun!" Not too mention it produces zero tail-pipe emmissions.
-Hills could be a problem but you can also add electric assist to a velo-mobile which will help over-comr this short-coming.
-I work in an office and live in Winter-peg, Manitoba. Typically I walk to work, but it gets below -40 C for more than 2 weeks here (-60 C when you condier the wind chill factor). I would love to be inside on enclosed velo-mobile on a frigid cold Windy Winter-peg day.
THE DRAWBACK: THE PRICE! Yep there very expensive, but they are aslo all custom made right now. As they get to be more popular (like they are in Europe) then the costs can hopefully come down.
JRB says "Keep covering the velo-mobiles TH, and tone down the coverage on bio-fuels because bio-fuels are the real unpractical solution."
Never mind going up hills in this thing. Try going DOWN an icy hill. Can you say tipped bobsled?
On a normal bike you can get on or off in a hurry, and walk it up and down slippery slopes.
The standard bicycle design is about as perfect as you can get. Belt drives, internal gears, and disc brakes have solved all of the usual pains in the necks for most cyclists.
I'm with Rob--why is this dismissed immediately? Perhaps the readers divide into the "anything less than the same size, speed and power as my car is not worth considering" camp, and the die-hard bicyclists who are happy with what they've got.
$10k is cheaper than a Prius, and its footprint is a lot smaller, both for manufacturing and for fuel consumption.
As for that Jamis, it's nice, but for a winter bike I like a fully enclosed chain-case, like are on Dutch bikes. Very few US bikes have them but one is the new version of the Breezer uptown:
http://breezerbikes.com/bike_details.cfm?bikeType=town&frame=d&bike=uptown&new=true
Try one, you'll be amazed. I use it to commute, with a bike trailer to move the kids around as long as they cannot cycle for themselves, go shopping, go to the recycling park to go sort out my trash ... anyone interested in an obsolete 2CV ? uses only 5liters/100km, like 30x the consumption of my velomobile : 1bread/100km ;)
As we do not encounter icy hills in our flat gulf-stream-heated-country, solve that problem, someone solved it for automobiles too, so it couldn't be that hard ;) and if you tip over, you'll find out the falling from a low hight and sliding in a shell instead of getting brusers all over a very safe side effect of the aerodynamic design.
Ever wondered how much parking space your car takes, and how much that car costed you when you bought (there are 2nd hand velomobiles too, you know) it, and how much it's costing you driving it ?
Who's the idiot here !