Living with a velomobile

Baalzamon
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Baalzamon » Thu Jun 28, 2012 6:59 pm

Well as far as I'm aware
The Quest is faster, longer, wider and heavier. Longer means the turn circle 11m.
Mango isn't quite as fast but is smaller in length and width and can get thru a standard door frame which is a big plus. My Ice Adventure FS HD doesn't fit thru standard door frame and causes me grief at work :roll:
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smoran
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby smoran » Thu Jun 28, 2012 8:26 pm

Saw this on another forum a while ago which sums up the differences nicely...

A Quest is faster as a Mango.
A Quest has more luggage room.
The Mango is shorter.
The Mango is cheaper.
The Mango is more manoeuvrable as a Quest.

Basicly: if you cycling most of the time in city's (and parking lots), starting and stopping a lot, squeezing through the traffic: by a Mango.
All other cases: buy a Quest

Rhubarb
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Rhubarb » Thu Jun 28, 2012 8:34 pm

Here's a good review of the mango including some comparisons to the quest and others.

http://www.hembrow.eu/personal/sinnermango.html

The quest will be 5 to 10 percent faster on a smooth flat road but the lighter weight and inreased agility of the mango will close that gap in the world of commuting where stops, starts, hills and obstacles come in to play.

In choosing the mango I have sacrificed some top end speed for increased practicality such as manouverability, storage/parking, stability, fewer spares to carry with 3 equal sized wheels, ease of maintenance with exposed wheels etc.

All that said, the quest and mango are fairly similar having both originated from the same place. Quest is the market leader by volume with many happy customers. I doubt you'd be unhappy with one.

Rhubarb
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Rhubarb » Thu Jun 28, 2012 8:41 pm

smoran wrote:Saw this on another forum a while ago which sums up the differences nicely...

A Quest is faster as a Mango.
A Quest has more luggage room.
The Mango is shorter.
The Mango is cheaper.
The Mango is more manoeuvrable as a Quest.

Basicly: if you cycling most of the time in city's (and parking lots), starting and stopping a lot, squeezing through the traffic: by a Mango.
All other cases: buy a Quest
I think you will find a mango has more luggage room due to mid drive and smaller rear wheel.

I would actually rephrase your last statement to read "if you plan on racing it, buy the quest. For all other cases buy the mango."

But it's never quite as simple as that.

John Lewis
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby John Lewis » Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:50 pm

I believe the quest XS carbon comes in at 30 kg.
The early quests had more luggage space as they had a mi drive and 20" wheel.
The current quests are all 26" rear and I believe have less space than a Mango.
The mango tour has more room than the sport too but is heavier.
One other thing to consider is that the mid drive can give more gearing options.
How tall are you? I'm 165.5cm and I have a little trouble with my mango because I'm a bit short in the legs. It can cause a problem with the chain tensioner hitting the big ring because yiu have to move the BB closer. I suspect that I wouldn't have had that problem with a quest.

Anyway make your choice and join the club. Whatever you decide you'll be pleasantly surprised once you get used to it.

John

mozart
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby mozart » Fri Jun 29, 2012 1:45 am

John Lewis wrote:I believe the quest XS carbon comes in at 30 kg.
The early quests had more luggage space as they had a mi drive and 20" wheel.
The current quests are all 26" rear and I believe have less space than a Mango.
The mango tour has more room than the sport too but is heavier.
One other thing to consider is that the mid drive can give more gearing options.
How tall are you? I'm 165.5cm and I have a little trouble with my mango because I'm a bit short in the legs. It can cause a problem with the chain tensioner hitting the big ring because yiu have to move the BB closer. I suspect that I wouldn't have had that problem with a quest.

Anyway make your choice and join the club. Whatever you decide you'll be pleasantly surprised once you get used to it.

John
Thanks John. I have had email from Velomobiel.nl as well I phone there company in Netherlands on Wednesday .
Quest XS, it is designed for people till about 175 cm lenght (depending on how your are build a few centimeters more) and
the main difference is that people of your lengt can sit about 5 cm lower in
the bike which improves cornering stability and a smaller bike has also a
little less air drag.
Quest Xs has a little less space around the shoulders than Quest.
Quest and Mango is the more aerodynamic shape of the
quest and the direct chain to the 26 rear wheel, it makes the drive line
much more silent and the bigger wheel gives performes better on bad roads
http://velomobiel.wordpress.com/

I am 172.7 cm tall,

Gearing thinking about go with 11-34 at the back,
Quest Carbon 30 kg
QuestXS Carbon 27.5 kg
just have make my mind up
When I was on phone to Netherlands they said there only one Quest in Australia ? and one in New Zealand

James

Rhubarb
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Rhubarb » Sat Jun 30, 2012 8:39 am

Here's a vid that shows the real life comparison between a quest and a rotovelo. Rotovelo is actually about the same weight as a quest, but has a much tighter turning radius (5.6m).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWmyqPzjNUI

On the open roads, the quest stops to wait for the rotovelo. Towards the end of the vid, they are travelling on bike paths where even push bikes are faster. The quest actually has to stop and back up a few times to make 3 point turns whereas the roto goes straight through.

My primary purpose is everyday commuter usage, and parking these at work is always a bit of an unknown for me as I am a contractor with a high chance of moving work places every year or so. In Brisbane we have a CBD located Cycle2City facility which offers secure bike parking and shower facilities. This is my fallback if I ever find myself working somewhere without facilities / parking space for the mango. The entrance though is via a standard door. So Mango will fit, quest would not (yes - I have measured it :) )

I'm not dissing the quest at all - I'm just saying that top end straight line speed isn't the only thing to consider, and everyone circumstances are different. You need to consider your own.

mozart
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby mozart » Sat Jun 30, 2012 5:02 pm

Rhubarb wrote:Here's a vid that shows the real life comparison between a quest and a rotovelo. Rotovelo is actually about the same weight as a quest, but has a much tighter turning radius (5.6m).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWmyqPzjNUI

On the open roads, the quest stops to wait for the rotovelo. Towards the end of the vid, they are travelling on bike paths where even push bikes are faster. The quest actually has to stop and back up a few times to make 3 point turns whereas the roto goes straight through.

My primary purpose is everyday commuter usage, and parking these at work is always a bit of an unknown for me as I am a contractor with a high chance of moving work places every year or so. In Brisbane we have a CBD located Cycle2City facility which offers secure bike parking and shower facilities. This is my fallback if I ever find myself working somewhere without facilities / parking space for the mango. The entrance though is via a standard door. So Mango will fit, quest would not (yes - I have measured it :) )

I'm not dissing the quest at all - I'm just saying that top end straight line speed isn't the only thing to consider, and everyone circumstances are different. You need to consider your own.
Hi Rhubarb
Thanks Rhubarb for help and very good advice it is hard to work out the best velomobile for me,the last 9 months been looking, Am carefully deliberate on three velomobile, Mango Sport Red Edition as well Mango Tour and carbon Quest . My primary purpose is mainly be on country road & town than on bike trail that why I thinking more to the Quest .I have been reading a lot & looking on youtube I am very impress with nitramluap video. Where I store velomobile I will plenty room I have got a wide doors to go through If I do go way I will have velomobile in enclosed trailer for safety . I don't have to go work I retired in 09 , lease the farm out, more time on my hands.
I will make mind up next week, but I very happy to take your advice to

James

Baalzamon
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Baalzamon » Sat Jun 30, 2012 5:24 pm

Rotovelo wouldn't hurt the hip pocket too much, but then lights, turning etc which I love on the Mango. But I reckon could wire it up to do that anyhow.
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Riggsbie
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Living with a velomobile

Postby Riggsbie » Sat Jun 30, 2012 5:35 pm

Crikey, I didn't realise the Quest turning circle was that bad.....

That and the long nose, you'd be forever scraping the front of the Velo until you found your limits.......

Makes me glad I ordered the Mango, best compromise !!


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Rhubarb
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Rhubarb » Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:34 am

mozart wrote: .... Am carefully deliberate on three velomobile, Mango Sport Red Edition as well Mango Tour and carbon Quest . My primary purpose is mainly be on country road & town than on bike trail that why I thinking more to the Quest .I have been reading a lot & looking on youtube I am very impress with nitramluap video. Where I store velomobile I will plenty room I have got a wide doors to go through If I do go way I will have velomobile in enclosed trailer for safety . I don't have to go work I retired in 09 , lease the farm out, more time on my hands.
I will make mind up next week, but I very happy to take your advice to

James
OK in that case it seems that a Carbon Quest XS should do you very nicely. I think you are wise to go the Carbon XS though as you do need to minimise weight as your leg strength will slowly deteriorate at your age (it is even at mine - 44 ha! ). There are lighter velos (evo-K etc) but these are minimalist velos biased towards track racing, with reduced ground clearance etc. The mango can also be made in carbon to reduce about 4 kgs.

Luggage may be your last consideration. The Mango Tour has 130 L of luggage space compared to 65 in Mango Sport, 60 in normal Quest, assume something less in Quest XS. This is the space behind the seat. You also have storage beside the seat. This may be a factor if you intend to do some touring, or utility cycling (bringing home groceries etc).

Lastly, if you have any decent hills in your area, go the 11-34. You can always swap cassettes if you need to. The mango actually offers a wider range of gearing options (NuVinci, Rohloff, SRAM Dual Drive etc) as well as e-assist options due to its mid drive configuration, but I assume you have already thought through this.

Keep us updated on whatever you do.

burnt
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby burnt » Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:04 pm



A short clip from a tech challenged Brisbane Mango owner. For all you southerners, check out the weather-suffer in your jocks!!

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Riggsbie
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Living with a velomobile

Postby Riggsbie » Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:29 pm

Good work !

Next time we expect videos of nitramluap's quality ;-)

I hope to see the SMUG Brissie group ride videos soon !


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John Lewis
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby John Lewis » Sun Jul 01, 2012 11:11 pm

Good one Terry,
Nice to see another mango out and about.
What camera were you using?
I tried to do some of Baalzamon on his trike a while back. Quality was good but it was so shaky it was hopeless even after running the deshaker program so I deleted it after grabbing a few still frames.

John

burnt
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby burnt » Mon Jul 02, 2012 11:05 am

Hi John,

I was just using a Flip camera http://support.theflip.com/en-au/home hand held. The vibration was pretty bad as well, it was only when I uploaded it to YouTube that I found a stabiliser option in the editing tools. It makes it much more watchable, however there is the floaty feeling with it. The part where you can see the wheel seems to have been cropped, there was more in the original footage. I am just having a play around and trying to learn the software. Not in the same league as Paul!

Of course being hand held, I'm not capturing the essence of speed-i definitely need both hands on the tiller when going above 30kph! Maybe one day I'll go down the GoPro path, but happy to play and learn at the moment.

Hope you are putting in a few miles on yours. I'm loving it and the more I ride it, the more I think it the best money I've spent!! Its also forcing me to learn some maintenance skills, you really do have to be self sufficient with this sort of machine. I admire some of the tech stuff you have done with your bikes, it must be very satifying to have those skills, so I'm working on reducing my five thumbs down to two at least!

nitramluap
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby nitramluap » Mon Jul 02, 2012 11:06 am

smoran wrote:Saw this on another forum a while ago which sums up the differences nicely...

A Quest is faster as a Mango.
A Quest has more luggage room.
The Mango is shorter.
The Mango is cheaper.
The Mango is more manoeuvrable as a Quest.

Basicly: if you cycling most of the time in city's (and parking lots), starting and stopping a lot, squeezing through the traffic: by a Mango.
All other cases: buy a Quest
That's pretty much it in a nutshell, although Rhubarb's further explanations fill in the gaps.
My bike is heavier than your bike. :D

John Lewis
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby John Lewis » Mon Jul 02, 2012 10:54 pm

On the camera Terry.
I have an Oregon ATC 3K. Looks nice but is not very good quality image. I bought one of those cheap ebay spy cams. Its a jumbo 808 HD No 11 I think. The quality is very good in the image. I reflashed the bios to get rid of the annoying date stamp. It is small and light but I need to find a way to mount it vibration free. I hand held it for the vid I mentioned previously and I have a natural tremor anyway so that didn't help. If you have watched some of Harry's ROAM vids many of those were done with a No 11 camera.

If you use windows go have a look at VirtualDub. Its a free program and you can get a plug in for it called Deshaker that works well. Not as polished to use as the $$$$ stuff but it does as good a job. Now that I use Linux I have to find other means to do the job.

You are right. The deshake programs do trim the image a bit. If not you would see a dancing edge.

John

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Poiter
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Poiter » Wed Jul 04, 2012 12:04 pm

John Lewis wrote: I bought one of those cheap ebay spy cams. Its a jumbo 808 HD No 11 I think. The quality is very good in the image. I reflashed the bios to get rid of the annoying date stamp. It is small and light but I need to find a way to mount it vibration free. I hand held it for the vid I mentioned previously and I have a natural tremor anyway so that didn't help. If you have watched some of Harry's ROAM vids many of those were done with a No 11 camera.
John
I have two flat magnets (DealExtreme) stuck on the bottom of my 808 camera which align with a similar pair stuck on the top of my helmet.
That way I just have to put the camera close to where it should be and it clicks into place.

https://vimeo.com/user9599638
Sometimes dual 406 wheels and a Greyhound physique don't cut it when you are up against heavyweights.

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Aushiker
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Aushiker » Wed Jul 04, 2012 12:18 pm

Poiter wrote:I have two flat magnets (DealExtreme) stuck on the bottom of my 808 camera which align with a similar pair stuck on the top of my helmet.
That way I just have to put the camera close to where it should be and it clicks into place..
Great idea. Never thought of that.

Andrew

John Lewis
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby John Lewis » Wed Jul 04, 2012 11:45 pm

Great idea Poit.
Thanks for the suggestion.

John

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Poiter
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Magnets

Postby Poiter » Thu Jul 05, 2012 11:59 am

These are the ones I get from Deal Extreme.
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/super-stro ... x-1mm-5962
Check out the $5 flasher tail lights too.
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/3w-2-mode- ... aaa-110252

Pete

Joeblake
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Joeblake » Wed Jul 11, 2012 5:25 pm

Sometimes you can find some pretty hefty magnets inside old computer drives, eg 3 1/4" floppies.

Joe
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Baalzamon
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Baalzamon » Wed Jul 11, 2012 5:40 pm

Joeblake wrote:Sometimes you can find some pretty hefty magnets inside old computer drives, eg 3 1/4" floppies.

Joe
If you want magnets from computer hdd's let me know, they are very strong and I pull apart the odd hdd every few weeks typically
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Rhubarb
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Rhubarb » Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:27 pm

Riggsbie wrote:Crikey, I didn't realise the Quest turning circle was that bad.....

That and the long nose, you'd be forever scraping the front of the Velo until you found your limits.......

Makes me glad I ordered the Mango, best compromise !!


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I was just looking at the specs of the Milan SL - turning radius 14m !!!! :shock:

Joeblake
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Re: Living with a velomobile

Postby Joeblake » Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:34 pm

Just to divert a little bit, did anybody see what appeared to be an orange velo riding round in a circle in a paddock in Le Tour during the time trial?

There was also a few seconds of a bloke riding a 'bent trike alongside the peloton a couple of nights ago as well.

Whadya know, the world is starting to recognise us.

Joe
To acquire immunity to eloquence is of the utmost importance to the citizens of a democracy
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