Living with a velomobile

petie
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby petie » Sun Jan 18, 2015 3:17 pm

Rhubarb wrote:
petie wrote:Second orange one is heading to brissy to another Pete!
Ha - I thought you were "that" Peter. He is itching to get his. How many kms did you do in it this morning?
Can't even ride this weekend, did ride it to work and back though (not far enough!). The usual little adjustments to do, but good fun. 50/50 from the great unwashed, hopefully it improves over time. Dork flag or no dork flag... Most of my riding will be around town and I feel like it *might* be useful in that scenario. I just can't get my head around the fact that people can't see a giant orange wheelie bin....?

Rhubarb
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Rhubarb » Sun Jan 18, 2015 3:29 pm

IMHO The flag is useless. The only places cars can't see you is filtering up the left where you are under the doorline, and stopping too close behind cars where they cant see you in the rear view mirror.
Outside of these blind spots, you are the most visible bike on the road.
Depending on where you ride, you may also be hidden by fences or shrubs too but riding proactively is much better than a flag.

John Lewis
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby John Lewis » Sun Jan 18, 2015 4:33 pm

Aushiker wrote:
petie wrote:Living with a velomobile has just started for me [emoji1]
Ah so you got the first orange one :) Enjoy.

I saw a blue one one the PSP at Cottesloe a couple of days ago ... anyone here?

Andrew
Theres a RV on here. Name Bargo so suspect that's the one.

http://www.zeemaps.com/view?group=11726 ... 326292&z=5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Don't know if he's on the forum though.
John

John Lewis
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby John Lewis » Sun Jan 18, 2015 4:38 pm

Congratulations petie.
That orange looks great and should stand out for sure.
Now no excuses you have to get out and ride. :D

Hope you will do a write up on your experiences as you get used to it.

John

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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Bargo » Mon Jan 19, 2015 3:38 pm

Aushiker wrote:
petie wrote:Living with a velomobile has just started for me [emoji1]
Ah so you got the first orange one :) Enjoy.

I saw a blue one one the PSP at Cottesloe a couple of days ago ... anyone here?

Andrew

Andrew, the blue RV in Cottesloe is mine. It is awesome for my Cottesloe-city commute every day. I have ridden over a 1000km on it already. do you want to come and have a look at it?

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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Bargo » Mon Jan 19, 2015 3:42 pm

John Lewis wrote:
Aushiker wrote:
petie wrote:Living with a velomobile has just started for me [emoji1]
Ah so you got the first orange one :) Enjoy.

I saw a blue one one the PSP at Cottesloe a couple of days ago ... anyone here?

Andrew
Theres a RV on here. Name Bargo so suspect that's the one.

http://www.zeemaps.com/view?group=11726 ... 326292&z=5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Don't know if he's on the forum though.
John
Yes that's me, I check on the forum probably about once a week. I agree with John's comments about visibility, it can be a bit scary when a big SUV (landcruiser) pull up beside you and all you can see is door. I don't have a flag, but I don't do much riding on the road. I might think about one as it would be good to be as visible as possible

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Aushiker
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Aushiker » Mon Jan 19, 2015 3:57 pm

Bargo wrote:Andrew, the blue RV in Cottesloe is mine. It is awesome for my Cottesloe-city commute every day. I have ridden over a 1000km on it already. do you want to come and have a look at it?
Nice to put an owner to it. You where moving along nicely when I saw you :) I think there is another one here as well.

Andrew

petie
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby petie » Sat Apr 25, 2015 6:33 pm

Image

Perfect parking spot?

John Lewis
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby John Lewis » Sat Apr 25, 2015 11:04 pm

Looks like its made to fit petie.

So how are you finding the RV and how many km to date.

Inquiring minds would like to know.

John

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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby petie » Sun Apr 26, 2015 12:18 am

Probably only just hitting 500km so far, it's not a long commute and I haven't had the time for recreational riding unfortunately. Today was the first wettish commute and I'm thoroughly pleased. I was quite damp due to the humidity though, which means I needed a shower anyway!

I'm finding it fun and interesting on the whole. It took a huge amount of fiddling to get the ergonomics dialled and I'm still making adjustments. The seat shape created by the mold is not at all comfortable for me and needed radical change. It certainly doesn't hide it's weight well up inclines or starting off. I think because of this it really isn't any quicker (probably always slower) over a short commute for me. I am really enjoying the stability and perceived feeling of safety of a trike, and cars generally give a very wide berth (I really don't cope with close passing and the general treatment of DFs by cars). The RV itself is ingenious. A fibreglass velo would be trashed by now on my route where I try to stick to bike paths. It scrapes up footpaths and I've bumped fences etc on tight turns and you can't even tell. I am finding it an interesting challenge of route planning, the trike footprint and weight means the long way is mostly best. It really exposes the complete lack of thought/attention applied to bike path building and footpaths in general. The handling is fine, the brake steer is a little annoying but no problem after you work it out. The lighting is decent, I would dearly love to convert to dynamo power but can't see it happening any time soon. As I said, fun and interesting!

John Lewis
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby John Lewis » Fri May 01, 2015 9:15 pm

Thanks for the write up petie.
I agree it takes a while to get things dialed in. I think I can still make minor improvements to seat position etc.
Cars in general give lots of space but then I get the odd driver hanging out the window trying to take a photo which is a bit unnerving.

Speedwise I'm about 5kmh faster on the velo than the trike and I put it down to the velo being stiffer. A lot less flex.

One thing I've noticed is that if I have a quartering head or tail wind then for some reason I'm much faster. I think the body must act as a sail. I imagine that would be true of the RV as well.

I have a few scratches on the Mango. Mostly underneath and near the wheels from speed humps and sticks and pot holes on paths. I totally agree about the lack of thought given.
Here they just take a shoulder line or a crummy footpath, add bike symbols and call it a cycle path. I don't use them unless its unavoidable. There is one spot that is steep uphill and it would be unfair to use the road at 4-5 kmh so I use the path.

I really like the velo when its wet or very sunny. Of course I'm not heading to work so the problem of being sweaty doesn't apply so much.

Great to hear you are enjoying the ride. I just wish I had more opportunity to ride mine . I've had it 2 years or so and still only a couple of thousand km. We often take the dog in the trailer on longer rides and I use the trike for that so the velo mostly gets used when I want to go into town for some reason or other.

Again thanks for the comments. Most interesting.

John

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recumbenteer
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby recumbenteer » Mon Jun 08, 2015 1:53 pm

Image

I wish the owners/users of these things, would use a bit of nouse & place them at wider parts of the path.

It only has to be moved 100 meters. FFS!
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Rhubarb
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Rhubarb » Mon Jun 08, 2015 3:01 pm

recumbenteer wrote:
It only has to be moved 100 meters. FFS!
It only has to be moved 90 degrees ;-)

Hergest
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Hergest » Mon Jun 08, 2015 3:41 pm

Rhubarb wrote:
recumbenteer wrote:
It only has to be moved 100 meters. FFS!
It only has to be moved 90 degrees ;-)

Alas no as it's as long as it's wide. It only really needs the handbrake undoing and to push it in the road where it belongs.
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Rhubarb
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Rhubarb » Mon Jun 08, 2015 3:44 pm

Hergest wrote:
Rhubarb wrote:
recumbenteer wrote:
It only has to be moved 100 meters. FFS!
It only has to be moved 90 degrees ;-)

Alas no as it's as long as it's wide. It only really needs the handbrake undoing and to push it in the road where it belongs.
I meant 90 from the vertical axis, ie toppled over onto the road or into the bush. I've never done it and almost certainly wouldn't, but I love the thought of it :-D

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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Hergest » Mon Jun 08, 2015 4:52 pm

Rhubarb wrote:
I meant 90 from the vertical axis, ie toppled over onto the road or into the bush. I've never done it and almost certainly wouldn't, but I love the thought of it :-D
I like the sound of that :D
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John Lewis
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby John Lewis » Mon Jun 08, 2015 10:30 pm

I read the last post first and thought you were referring to a velo toppling .
Further reading put me right but I recalled an incident with my better half when she got her trike and was in the early stages of learning to handle it.

She came hurtling down a small hill,ran off into gravel and slammed on brakes. The trike veered off the road and over a small cliff.

It rolled inverted and landed in a small bush with her hanging below it from the pedals by her cleats.
It took a bit of extricating her and getting the trike out of the bush.

Fortunately no harm was done. And worse..... I didn't have my camera with me.

John

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Bartek
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Bartek » Thu Jun 11, 2015 1:19 pm

I have changed my front tyres, removed the Kojak's and fitted the Shredda's. Although there seems to be still sufficient tread left on them (difficult to tell really!) the side walls are showing some serious damage which I think is from running over road debris and it flicking up and impacting the side of the tyre. I have had two punctures recently in the side of the tube!

I have done nearly 7000 km on the kojaks, is this about normal for tyre replacement or should they have lasted longer?

The rear tyre is a Marathon racer which still shows very little sign of wear, so I will hold off on replacement.

I have inflated to the max recommended of 70psi, anybody else running shreddas what tyre pressure are you using?
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John Lewis
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby John Lewis » Thu Jun 11, 2015 10:19 pm

I'm still using Kojaks. I notice a bit of sidewall damage which I put down to
The tires hitting the side of the wheel well on sharp turns.

I recall reading that it was a good idea to turn the tires around each 500 km or so to even out the sidewall wear.
Best place to ask may be on BROL in the Velo sub forum. More chance of finding people using Shreddas I'd think.

John

Rhubarb
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Rhubarb » Thu Jun 25, 2015 6:53 pm


smoran
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby smoran » Thu Jun 25, 2015 7:03 pm

Your quick! I havent even thought about editing my video together!

Rhubarb
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Rhubarb » Thu Jun 25, 2015 7:10 pm

smoran wrote:Your quick! I havent even thought about editing my video together!
Its not exactly the best editing ;-)

PS - your little cameo is at 31:20

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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby smoran » Thu Jun 25, 2015 7:12 pm

Lol - not only did I have to go but I had a packetfull of Jellybeans that I need to fish out from under the chain ...

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Bartek
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Bartek » Sun Jun 28, 2015 1:26 pm

John Lewis wrote:I'm still using Kojaks. I notice a bit of sidewall damage which I put down to
The tires hitting the side of the wheel well on sharp turns.

I recall reading that it was a good idea to turn the tires around each 500 km or so to even out the sidewall wear.
Best place to ask may be on BROL in the Velo sub forum. More chance of finding people using Shreddas I'd think.

John
Hi John I do "rotate" my tyres and not just by cycling :lol: I have posted on BROL as well, I have had 3 punctures in two years and then 7 in the last 5 weeks. 2 were in the sidewalls which prompted the tyre change, and now I have had 5 on the wheel side of the tubes (front wheels only) since changing the tyres. so I have installed new rim tape on the front wheels and I am considering adding slime or stans to the front tubes.

Does anyone have experience of using these tube sealants? Pro's/Con's ?

Do they work with presta valves?

I have also noticed that since changing my front tyres to the Shredda's my average speed has increased, so the question is do I change the rear tyre from the Marathon Racer to the shredda? the racer is showing very little signs of wear and has never punctured!
also will I need to remove the wheel to change the tyre?
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Bartek
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Bartek » Tue Jun 30, 2015 12:11 pm

fitted the new rim tape and the tyres stayed up overnight so went for a test run (coffee!) yesterday, also needed to check the cameras were still recording so decided to upload a video when I got home.

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