Recumbent - Where do you get a velomobile???

I saw a picture of one of these things and have been fascinated ever since. I WANT ONE!!! Problem is, they dont seem to be widely available in the US. The aerorider and go-one look really sweet!!!

Anyone know how you get one of these things? Do I have to go to the country of origin and hunt one down and find a way to ship it back?

Usually you can order it online and they ship it to you.

And check this one out: http://www.go-one.de/ukindex.shtml

This guy (http://www.velomobileusa.com/) makes Alleweders in Texas.

Check out www.velomobiling.net and www.velomobiles.net which have lots of information on velomobiles. Basically you can buy an Alleweder from David in Texas or order one of the various models in Europe and arrange to have it shipped stateside.

I ordered my Mango from the velomobiel.nl and used Menlo shipping to have it shipped to my house in Maine. You can read all about this on www.hazbro.com/mango.

Similarly, I have ordered a Quest, slightly longer/faster version of the Mango. It will be built next summer.

Enjoy!

Check out www.velomobiling.net and www.velomobiles.net which have lots of information on velomobiles. Basically you can buy an Alleweder from David in Texas or order one of the various models in Europe and arrange to have it shipped stateside.

I ordered my Mango from the velomobiel.nl and used Menlo shipping to have it shipped to my house in Maine. You can read all about this on www.hazbro.com/mango.

Similarly, I have ordered a Quest, slightly longer/faster version of the Mango. It will be built next summer.

Enjoy!

Question: How do you convince your wife/sig. other (if you have one) to let you buy these things? Is it just a question of having enough money kicking around to afford them, or is there more to it? I really want one, but I don't think I'd ever be able to convince my wife unless we won the lottery or something...

I commute to/from work via bike. I run errands using the bike. I explained to her that I would not have to purchase a health club pass, would stay in great shape, be safer, happier, and do nice things for the environment.

She loves to cycle so I purchase spiffs for the tandem once in a while (like Rotor Cranks this past spring). Your mileage may vary.

Ha, well, my wife says that I can do all that stuff on a regular bike... which is true. It's what helped me convince her to let me buy my $800 (CDN) Trek 7500fx. But to convince her to spend thousands on what she views as one of the most rediculous things she's ever seen on three wheels..... that's a bit harder. I suppose it might help if she were as avid a cyclist as I am.

I'm working on convincing her to let me get a simple recumbent trike, hopefully that will happen next year.


Oh, and as for velos... Exactly how good are they in wet, windy, rainy snowy and cold weather? All-weather capability is probably my strongest argument for getting a velomobile, but if it can't handle everything that mother nature throws at me (within reason, of course) then my argument goes out the window.

Jeff-o. Put it in perspective. Around here, lots of people spend $7-$8K Cdn or more on snowmobiles, a hefty trail fee and lots of insurance, not to mention the gas and perhaps a trailer to get around to distant trails. Some families own two; his and hers. Last year, they got maybe 2-3 months of suitable, snowy riding conditions. The year before, barely a month! My wife and I figure we get 6-7 months of good cycling weather in this same area, so spending big bucks for a high end recumbent tandem, (Rans Screamer) and riding 74-100 km each week, makes perfect sense. It's a lot more comfortable than our DF Trek tandem and a lot more fun. As I've pointed out, it is a lot cheaper than a snowmobile that sits unused in the garage for 8-9 months of the year. Just my two cents worth.

good point mchell, I may end up using it. But I think she would say, "we can't afford a snowmobile either."

I have her half-convinced anyway. We'll probably be selling one of our cars in the spring, and getting a scooter. The reasons we'll be getting a scooter instead of a trike or velomobile are as such:

- my wife doesn't like to ride a bike... she has never tried a recumbent, however.
- because of our height differences, we cannot share a bike, trike or velo. at least, not easily.
- the scooter is faster for in-city driving. since it's replacing a car, it should go as fast as a car.
- did I mention that my wife doesn't like to ride?

Eh, it's a tricky situation. Mostly it comes down to money, and the fact that we have more important things to spend it on (a new house+renovations for it). If only velomobiles were available for under $2000...

I ride the Mango year round here in southern Maine. It is a head out design, but other than in really heavy rain, I barely get wet, other than my head and shoulders. The wheels are isolated from the rider so there is no chance of water getting in from the road. And they otherwise do fine in wind (unless really gusty aka over 40mph) and in snow unless it is more than 2 inches or so. I refrain from driving the Mango on really snowy days due more to the fear of having a car slide into me than the ability to pedal it thorugh the snow.

You can read all about my adventures in my blog which is linked off http://www.hazbro.com/mango

Try this website for US info:

http://www.velomobiling.net

dick

Hi; Just wanted to pass on the news that there is currently a Velomobiel.nl Quest for sale here in the US. Information can be seen at:

www.velomobiles.net (http://www.velomobiles.net/wildfire/quest/questforsale.htm)

The Quest is by far the fastest and most popular velomobile in production today. It is slightly bigger than my Mango and a tad faster.

Enjoy!

About the wife thing: maybe that's why men flock to fundamentalist churches - because the pastors tell'm that it's the man who makes the decision in the house, damn it!
Not my piece of cake. My best suggestion would be to list/promise/make sacrifices with other purchases and count those real savings toward the purchase price.
Your problem may be deeer, though - perhaps your wife is mainly embarrassed that you'd want to draw that much attention to you.
A friend owned an Allewedder (and a garage filled with weird bikes, including the 7 person "conference bike". He always draws a crowd, some of which openly ridicule him. Know what you're getting yourself into.

Are there any two-wheeled aero type recumbents?

Are there any two-wheeled aero type recumbents?

Yes, but they're rather impractical for commuting because of all the starting and stopping. You'd need to lower a landing gear at each red light!

I was intrigued by the post above on the go-one3 so I made a wee inquiry. Here's what I learned from Stephen Mosca. The taxes are enough to scare me away, and I can't believe the company suggests that the maximum speed for the trike is only 16 km/hr.

Mike


Hi Mike and Pam:

Here is some info for you. LEt me know if you have any questions...

Stephen MOsca



From: mike and pam chellew <mchellew@ptbo.igs.net>
To: mosca_usa@msn.com
Subject: go-one
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 15:10:09 -0500

I would be interested to know more about the availability of a go-one "kit" to a Canadian buyer and what the price would be in Canadian dollars.

Thanks for your help,

Mike Chellew

?

Yeah, there will be a 13% import duty, plus about $1000 in shipping, in addition to the kit price that's advertised on the website. I once emailed go-one and asked if they'd be interested in my helping them find a North American manufacturer/contractor to serve this market. They said they had no plans at this time to expand across the ocean. Oh well.

I'm working on convincing her to let me get a simple recumbent trike, hopefully that will happen next year.
.

Get a Greenspeed TANDEM! She'll love it!

Dr.D

Get a Greenspeed TANDEM! She'll love it!

Dr.D

One could just buy a velo for what that thing costs!

Well good news I suppose, as long as we can afford it, it looks like both me AND my wife might be getting trikes. Hopefully, sometime in the summer...

One could just buy a velo for what that thing costs!
Maybe so, but I can take the whole famn damily on the GTT. I "captain", the wife as "stoker", the 5 year old on the rack/seat and the 3 year old twins in the Burley trailer. Sure it's 15 feet long, but what would a velo that can do that cost? :rolleyes:
Solo ride? I take the GTX, of course!
:) Dr.D

Does someone know where to buy volomobile in Europe(south-estern)? Sory for my English.

Check out http://velocityvelos.com/.

Build your own, if you like a good challenge. http://microship.com/bobstuart/article1.html
and check others at http://www.ihpva.org/building.htm

Does someone know where to buy volomobile in Europe(south-estern)? Sory for my English.

Most velomobiles seem to made in the Netherlands or Denmark. This company sells a kit for you to build.
http://www.alleweder.eu/en/contact

A German Velomobile site http://www.velomobile.de/

Most velomobiles seem to made in the Netherlands or Denmark. This company sells a kit for you to build.
http://www.alleweder.eu/en/contact

If you think that buying one would be cool, being able to tell people "I built it myself." would be off the charts.

Now you've got me thinking.

^^^^^
I just got back from taking Mrs. Grouch to lunch. We discussed the topic and she didn't have a heart attack. Anybody know the dollar/euro exchange rate?

Just looked it up. The actual price is about 20% less than I anticipated. Hmmm.

^^^^^
I just got back from taking Mrs. Grouch to lunch. We discussed the topic and she didn't have a heart attack. Anybody know the dollar/euro exchange rate?

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&cp=25&gs_id=2&xhr=t&q=dollar+euro+exchange+rate&tok=pjDhde2T5w17Fnm5oXUoMA&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&site=&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=dollar/euro+exchange+rate&aq=0&aqi=g4&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=2228c18e14abc1c6&biw=1146&bih=573

`www.spincyclz.com

Most velomobiles seem to made in the Netherlands or Denmark. This company sells a kit for you to build.
http://www.alleweder.eu/en/contact

A German Velomobile site http://www.velomobile.de/

Thank you very much.

Here's a Canadian connection for anyone interested: http://velomobiles.ca/

Quest has a north american manufacturer in Toronto, BlueVelo (http://www.bluevelo.com/). The US dealers include Bentup Cycles in N. Hollywood. Also, Rotovelo has a US distributor in California, which was previously mentioned: Spincyclz (http://www.xpincyclz.com).

VA.-- BlueVelo. I am amazed it took 2 pages to say that! Thanks Blazing Saddles.

I've got a buddy who built his own, from the trike frame on up. I haven't talked to him in a while; I wonder if he's still riding it or if he's moved on to something else and needs to free up some garage space? Hmm...

http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/wianecki/velomobile/web/ClosingTop_sm.jpg

OK, I'm back to my senses.

I was thinking about how neat it would be to build one. (I still think that.) I even have a friend who does custom paint jobs on motorcycles. (That would be cool too.)

My problem is whatever would I do with it once I got it built?

[QUOTE=Retro Grouch;13662266
My problem is whatever would I do with it once I got it built?[/QUOTE]

Boy! That is a tough question! I had to ride mine 6 years. Forced temporary move and change of storage ended that, but I found terrific storage by moving somewhere else, rather than back into the old place after rebuild.

Boy! That is a tough question! I had to ride mine 6 years. Forced temporary move and change of storage ended that, but I found terrific storage by moving somewhere else, rather than back into the old place after rebuild.

I'm a wimpy rider. I don't ride in bad weather, I don't generally carry a bunch of stuff with me, and I don't care (within reason) how fast I go. I'm having a hard time imagining a situation that would be more fun in a velomobile than on one of my other bikes.

Check out http://velocityvelos.com/.

not my favorite velo, but Tyler is good people. certainly a great one for commuting and winter training. really good price, and one of the few velo's I've actually taken around a track.
I'd comment more on the ride, but I've yet to ride a velo that fit me. everyone in the world seems 3 inches taller than me.

There's Nibus kayaks in BC, too. You can buy a trice trike (i think) and add the shell later. velomobiles.ca? something like that. The Aurora and the boriellas. (sp?)

T

Anybody know the dollar/euro exchange rate?

Just looked it up. The actual price is about 20% less than I anticipated. Hmmm.

are you asking about importing the Alleweder?

http://pedalyourselfhealthy.org/

sells the kits out of Texas. I've thought about this often. Trying to convince my brother to build one. he's always wanted to do an airplane, and this would be a nice easy way to acquire the 'shop'.

T