Recumbent - Anyone know about a "Vacuum Velocipede?"

Just like the title says. I may be in a position to buy one and I was hoping someone could tell me a little about them.

It has a linear pedalling system apparently ... wow. This means a tight tapered fairing could go on it.

Can you post any pictures - this is a rare vintage machine.

TTW - Tilting Three Wheelers
Mitch Casto's Research
List Of All Human Powered Tilting Three-wheelers on WWW
(http://www.maxmatic.com/ttw_links_mchpttw.htm)
says:

Berkstresser Dave Berkstresser Vacuum Velocipede 1988 ?
http://bikesmithdesign.com//temp/VV.jpg [ not sure if this is the V V ]
http://www.ihpva.org/com/Vacuum/comments.txt
http://www.ihpva.org/pipermail/trikes/1999q4/000196.html

Its a tilting job with 700c wheels

Let's see if I can get the pic to work. I've not had to post any pictures on this board yet.

Hmmm, first pic was too large. The other one may not be big enough to give much detail but here goes.

That's one radical machine... Bound to turn heads!

Well there were two of them, listed on ebay, but now the seller has ended the auctions early. I'm waiting for him to explain, and it better be a good one, or I'll do my best to drag his name through the mud.
*whistles the jeopardy theme song*

Got a reply. The good thing is that he's relisting them, the bad thing is that he seems now to know he's got something special.

Hopefully this isn't the same guy that keeps listing and yanking an auction for a go-one...

Have they relisted it on Ebay yet. I just tried to look for it but came up empty. Do you have the old listing by chance?

Bernie

http://www.pedersenbicycles.com/vacuum.htm
This link is the most informative one on the velocipede I have found.

Yeah I saw that article, geebee, very nice machine, if a little cantankerous to handle. Here is the former ebay listing BeeZee... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7163108905&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

and here is a shot of the pair of them together, though I don't know how long that site will continue to serve it.


Jeff-o, I agree, though I can't figure what point there would be to listing it then dropping the auction before there is even one bid. Then again I don't buy or sell often on ebay.

Check out the insane gearing on that thing. In one of the pics you can see the red ones gears well enough to count teeth. The larger chainring has 72.

Wow! Those are cool!

Yeah I saw that article, geebee, very nice machine, if a little cantankerous to handle. Here is the former ebay listing BeeZee... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7163108905&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

and here is a shot of the pair of them together, though I don't know how long that site will continue to serve it.

Jeff-o, I agree, though I can't figure what point there would be to listing it then dropping the auction before there is even one bid. Then again I don't buy or sell often on ebay.

Well, this guy selling the go-one would apparently list the item, and wait for interested buyers to ask a question. As soon as someone did, he would end the auction but send the person (or persons) who originally asked the question an email, saying that he'd still be willing to sell privately. If someone were to go through with the deal, the buyer would wire the money outside the watchful eye of eBay, and this is where the scam could be carried out.

Now, I'm not saying for sure that the guy I talked to is the same one as was discussed on these forums in the past, though the whole end auction-send personal email thing matched previous descriptions. The pictures displayed in the auction sure matched up though...

Anyway, those velocipedes sure look cool, though according to that website they aren't really suited for anything other than long-distance rides and showing off. And, there's a steep learning curve! Lastly, I don't think I've ever seen a bike more likely to strip the skin off your arms than this one. ;)

It has a linear pedalling system apparently ... wow. This means a tight tapered fairing could go on it.

Can you post any pictures - this is a rare vintage machine.

SOME had linear pedalling systems, not most.

Yeah I saw that article, geebee, very nice machine, if a little cantankerous to handle. Here is the former ebay listing BeeZee... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7163108905&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

and here is a shot of the pair of them together, though I don't know how long that site will continue to serve it.


Jeff-o, I agree, though I can't figure what point there would be to listing it then dropping the auction before there is even one bid. Then again I don't buy or sell often on ebay.

It appears he had two identical auctions going at the same time:
7163106780
7163108905

Could have been an honest mistake and cancelled it for that reason or could have been a scam.

It appears he had two identical auctions going at the same time:
7163106780
7163108905

Could have been an honest mistake and cancelled it for that reason or could have been a scam.


On closer inspection, it did identify in the text one auction was for the red one and the other the blue one.

Yes it was two separate auctions. So far they have still not been relisted.

I had one. The machine kicked ass. You ca learn to ride one in a day. A good month to perfect the balance. The best thing was turning without steering. The rear portion sterred however the front section pivoted and could take a 90 at 20 mph no problem. I'm looking for one now.