Velomobile - future of transport?
 

Since there is no velomobile forum here, I decided to ask this question on the recumbent forum. Do you think velomobiles will be a future method of transport? In case you do not know what a velomobile is, check this out

https://www.google.se/search?q=velom...IVQYcsCh2Bbw94

Technically, yes there are people using them today for their commutes and their cycling transport needs. But it is not popular at all. What do you think are the main reasons for this and what would a future velomobile have to have in order for you guys to consider trying one or living with one?

The price. There is the reason. I simply cannot afford one.

I am currently looking at the silver bullet shell. However, I will probably build a Coroplast body on my trike.

The trouble is that the homebuilts I have seen pictures are generally either well beyond my skill level, or quite ugly. I went and looked at a homebulders job this summer and I liked it and left with a lot of ideas for how to make a vello work for me.

My main desire has to do with winter condition commuting.

And by price, what are your limits for a complete velomobile that will take you through winter commutes?

I ride one - sort of. A home-built Coroplast shell on my diamond frame bike (not a recumbent). It costs me about $100-150 to construct. I've been doing that for about 4-5 years. My apologies for posting in the Recumbent forum, but there's no such thing as an upright Velo so I'm taking some liberty to add my 2 cents.

There are some inherent drawbacks which make it an unlikely for general use in my opinion. Briefly, it's hot, less maneuverable, more trouble to store, somewhat heavier, and presents greater surface to cross winds. And as Robert said, can be ugly. However for specific purposes the advantages are greater than most people imagine.

Any pics?

This guy gopro'd me on the local Greenway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akTv5ZwTBSM

A couple of different versions

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=469891http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=469892

Go to bentrideronline.com there are several discussions of velos there and a lot of people who ride them. They are used more in Europe than the US. A lot more bike lanes and safe places to ride in Europe. There are also several discussions about building one, many with pictures. Good luck! Am thinking about building one myself.

Here's my FORMER riding buddy Chris in his Quest velomobile. I say former because I can't keep up with him anymore and he gets bored if he's only doing 22-23 mph with me. A velo is a slow car, and one that can only hold one person. You may see more of them in the future, but unless prices drop catastrophically, you're not going to see them taking over.

http://www.biketcba.org/TRICORR/ride...011/1quest.jpg

For tropical warm conditions ventilation is the bottleneck

The future will be Electric and aerodynamics will be a major factor....

Would love to move to netherlands or norway even swede and drive a mango around. But velo is so expensive. Maybe if you could get financing than i would probably.

I was checking them out and would totally ride one. Problem for me is the price.

Not practical in many situations. Hot in the summer, and, with a full cover, condensation problems in the cold. Parking and storing is much different from a bike. Handling, like carrying up steps or putting in a car is difficult. Having a flat tire must be fun. As mentioned strong side winds can be a problem. For the price of a new Velomobile, or less ($3,000) I bought an old Corolla that gets 30 mpg around town. Over the years put maybe another two thousand or so, and it runs perfectly. Four passengers with a bike in the trunk, or using my four bike rack on the back. It's not worth anything the taxes and insurace are very low. I could store a couple more bikes here, but, not one Velomoble unless outside, which would ruin it eventually.

In 2003 I built My Litespeed for $6,000. It has thousands of miles on it. Last Saturday 110 miles on it. Worth every penny. Same for all my bikes.

I spent all summer riding a Mango around DFW .. No problems with the heat .. at 25+ you have plenty of a/c .. Its actually a bit easier to deal with in the heat as with the cover over it the sun load on your body is limited ..

That's some good feedback from someone who has actually ridden one in the Texas summer heat.

For me, the weather isn't the issue. It's my strength and fitness.

That said, I really hope that a vélo mobile becomes an effective option.

Its a blast .. I probably can never go back to a "normal" bike again .. Comfortable and ridiculously fast. I can easily hang with our fastest racers (or scoop up an occasional KOM)

Here's a couple of videos

KOM'ing: https://youtu.be/T3GRKGPOhvw
My lights: https://youtu.be/TAPfyhu9R4E ( I do a lot of night riding / commuting )

I recently (3 days ago) have a new velo, a Milan GT .. We are still getting to know each other

Those lights are super cool :P

Alas, pricès would have to greatly decrease; I have yet to find a recumbent bicycle that is less costly than all the four automobiles I have owned, even should their pricès be summed together. Though I must grant that all these were previöusly owned, a recumbent--or any quality bicycle--remains almost ruïnously expensive.

Now I bring into consideration this: The vast majority of velomobiles are recumbents; diamond-frame velomobiles are no mere exception, they are outright a rarity.

Futhermore, velomobiles with but two wheels are also rare; most have three wheels, a significant minority has four. Of all velocipedes that I have viewed, recumbent tricycles have the most dismaying pricès that ever I clapped eyes upon (I dare not imagine the cost of a recumbent quadricycle).

And yet that--even that--is not all.

The velomobile, by its very definition, has a weather shell.

And with that, "costly" becomes but a word.

If prices dropped by 50%, I might, maybe be able to convince SWMBO to let me get one. It too bad there aren't more roto-molded options. I like the Rotovelo concept, but the $3700 trike inside of it sort of limits the cost savings inherent in the body.

There are a lot of reasonably clever inventions in this world that nevertheless don't fit the available infrastructure, and I think velomobiles are one of them.

better, once again, in a place where the Infrastructure was not built so Automobile centric ..

Do you think trikes fit the infrastructure? What about horse and buggy? What about a farm tractor? Where I live these things along with bikes (DF & recumbent) are a common sight on the road. I ride a Velomobile 99% of the time, I think it fits the infrastructure fine along with any of the other modes of transportation I list.

A Velomobile is actually faster and can keep up with traffic better than the other modes of transportation I list. I am curious as to why you think Velomobiles don't fit the available infrastructure if these other modes of transportation are already out there? Just because someone doesn't use what someone else does as a way of transportation, does that mean it shouldn't be on the road? I am speaking of rural & city roads, not interstates.

in my experience of riding a Velomobile most people are excited to see it as their are so few of them around. I think one of the things that keeps people away from them is that they just don't now about them. Then there are the people who can't phathom going anywhere under there own power. A Velomobile is very comfortable hot or cold and keeps you out of the elements.

I'm familiar with the country you're speaking of, the people you are speaking of are probably my cousins. And even the ones who are no longer Amish don't use velomobiles. It's not because they couldn't see the advantages. It's because the advantages don't balance the disadvantages, and they live in a world of gasoline and diesel where a bike is a convenience for short distances and for long distances you get in the car and turn on the heater / AC... or make the horses do the work. In this world the velomobile is a toy for retired engineers, just like a kit plane in a world of 747's. It cannot in any reasonable sense "keep up with traffic" which on those roads is going 50 or faster, and has hundreds of horsepower to accelerate and can turn at nearly 1g. It takes as much garage space as a car. For the price you can buy a used car and a lot of gasoline. If you are stuck cycling, you can buy a decent DF bicycle on minimum wage and it will last for years and years. The cheap bike is small, light, easy to use. If you can't fix it then a local bike shop can. And I'm 100% certain it's easier to pedal up a hill than a velomobile. Once you are going down the other side of the hill, who cares how aerodynamic it is? Normal people, not dedicated cyclists, will coast. If you're cold you own a coat for that.

Darth, while everything you say is true, I could use those same type of arguments to assert that nobody needs a $3000+ bike when a $500 bike will do the same job. While nobody needs them, a lot of people get them and enjoy them. (That refers to both the $3000+ bikes and the velos.)

Nobody needs a $10,000 boat, either; based on my opinion anyway. I bet if I posted that opinion in a boater forum, I'd get a lot of responses. A couple of them might even agree.