In the Sunday Star’s Ideas section Leslie Scrivener wrote about the velomobile, the fibreglass-clad three-wheeled horizontal bicycle. In the (long and contentious) comment section of the recent Fred Flintstone – pedal car post there was some discussion of the velomobile and its potential in Toronto.
About three metres long, it looks like a miniature race car, but it’s powered by pedalling. It has a steering bar, 27 gears, turn signals, lights and a speedometer.
A cyclist who watched the velomobile skim by on the Martin Goodman Trail, said longingly, “I want one.”
While its aerodynamic form allows for speed — Mickevicius easily cruises at 40 km/h or more — its protective shell may offer a solution to the problem of cycling in Toronto when the weather turns foul.
Could velomobiles be the future for energy-conscious Toronto commuters?
Mickevicius, a City of Toronto lawyer, lives in the Beach and rides/drives his velomobile to Metro Hall most days. A life-long cyclist and daily bike commuter, he became intrigued by “recumbent” bikes, as the horizontal models are known.
That led to investigating velomobiles and creating a business called Bluevelo. With his father, they are the first to sell velomobiles in Canada — 22 since they opened 18 months ago.
The article does discuss the low nature of the velomobile, and what might happen if it should meet a car on the city streets. They almost need one of those high orange flags kids have on their bikes — but that would ruin its smooth lines. Of course, many safety concerns would be diminished if Toronto had an extensive bike lane network.
Photo by Colin McConnell/Toronto Star
12 comments
Some other good local links to related stuff:
Profile of Michal Kapral, a velomobile rider, on ibiketo. Good followup discussion too.
Recent MSN article….oddly enough, in their “autos” section. Featuring Michal Kapral and his velomobile.
Toronto Human Powered Vehicle group
Another shot (of mine) to give you a sense of its scale:
http://www.smlg.ca/pblog.php?showimage=1178
Hrm.. looking at it closer, the one I shot is different from the one pictured in this post.
For inner city commuting in toronto, it is only really good for travelling east/west, since there are very few elevation changes, and the city’s quite long in that direction.
Commuting with a large north/south component is another matter. There is constant elevation change with some relatively steep areas across Davenport. There are also only abbreviated straight sections.
I rarely get above 20 km/h north from College/St. George to Yonge/Davisville. Taking a longer route up through the Don Valley paths doesn’t really work since the machine is large and you need to be going quite quick to gain any aerodynamic advantage.
Oh, and recumbent bicycles are not as popular as traditionals because 1) it’s unnatural for a human body to keep balance in a seated position 2) It’s very hard to get going on a hill 3) they tend to be more complex
I wondered about the start-up time and such, are they as good as 10/12 speeds? No, it seems. And not having been on a recumbent, I wondered if you could “bear down” the way one does when climbing the Davenport/Gallows Hill.
That (electric) motor assist for the hills does seem like an interesting addition.
Perhaps this is good for those with long, largely suburban commutes.
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I wonder too about creating some kind of ultra-light aerodynamic bubble around regular bikes — that you can sort of clamp around yourself. That’s somebody else’s million-dollar-idea.
I don’t find it difficult at all to keep balance on my recumbent, and I can start just as easily on a hill. It’s just a matter of getting used to it.
My recumbent bike isn’t really all that complex either. It just looks different. The frame, handlebar, and seat are the only unusual components. The rest is pretty standard bike stuff that can be serviced and replaced at most bike shops.
I feel far less “natural” riding one of my “upright” bikes.
I think the biggest things that keep people away from recumbent bicycles are 1) the price, and 2) misconceptions about safety, difficulty, etc.
Mind you….there are certain things that recumbents generally aren’t as good at too. Different styles of bikes for different purposes…. My ‘bent is a kick-ass touring and commuting bike though!
Cheers,
Vic
Shawn,
You definitely can’t stand on the pedals of a recumbent (well, you could, but it would be awkward). What most recumbent riders do when climbing hills is just gear down and spin faster. Actually, that’s what I do on an upright anyway, as I rarely stand on the pedals. On a recumbent you can also brace your back up against the seatback to give extra power when needed.
You’re not the first to think of putting bubbles around upright bikes. 🙂 Never really caught on though. There was a guy in Vancouver who designed a rain canopy called the “Rain-Go”. Website is gone, unfortunately.
You can also get smaller front fairings that would help break some of the wind and precipitation, though I’m not sure how effective they are overall. Zzipper makes some: http://www.zzipper.com/Products/prod_upright.php
This guy have a full bubble around his body on his upright bike:
http://www.bentrideronline.com/messageboard/member.php?u=275
And yeah…I’d love to have a velomobile for my long suburban commute out to Mississauga.
“I wonder too about creating some kind of ultra-light aerodynamic bubble around regular bikes that you can sort of clamp around yourself. That’s somebody else’s million-dollar-idea.”
(Comment by Shawn Micallef
December 3, 2007 @ 4:24 pm)
Shawn, I don’t think you’re the first person to think of the portable faring, but it must be hard to make much money off bicycle riders. Speaking for myself, I ride a bike because it’s pretty cheap. On a related note, I’ve often thought if the cops were to throw some pennies on the road near stop signs they’d have better luck getting cyclists to stop than all their “safety blitzes” put together.
Vic, thanks for the link to the “zzipper.” Back when I was a teenager on a 10-speed, bicycling! magazine wrote how wind-resistance rises exponentially with speed. Back then I made a lot of drawings of a bike faring that would double as a shipping crate, but the idea faded with time. Now there’s a million dollar idea!
I used to commute on a recumbent (a short wheelbase SpeedLiner BlueGlide) in the UK. Enormous fun. A little slow up the hills, but insane on the level or downhill.
Chain management was a bit of a problem, and most accessories were either custom or held on with cable ties. Things are a bit better these days …
How about using this device to form a bubble around a bicycle rider: http://www.nubrella.com/?
I have not tried a race car, maybe I can by now with this velomobile.’Tis looks fine and dashing.