A Street Bicycle....

[Kenny]

... Sam Whittingham style...

Gives new meaning to 'bike paths'... eh? I figure 40 mph cruise easily, and weights about the same as your retro Schwinn Phantom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=642mqiarXw0

[redneck]

Nice bike. Beautifully engineered.

I was checking out the builders website to see what something like that costs.
I couldn't find any price information on that bike. But, I did find some pricing
on another velo that he builds.

Birk Butterfly

Swiss Franc to US Dollar

CHF 32,500 = $ 34,373.34

Yikes...


>

[finehard]

Originally Posted by Kenny

I figure 40 mph cruise easily

yeah, that sounds about right.
i wonder how hard would 60 be, because that would be awesome.

[Kenny]

Originally Posted by finehard

yeah, that sounds about right.
i wonder how hard would 60 be, because that would be awesome.

Sam Whittingham can sustain an average of 275-290 watts, but is clearly capable of between 500-600 watts briefly. In his Varna, that's approx. 50-55 MPH sustained, and 80+ MPH for brief sprints (Battle Mountain).

[XYZ]

I want to know how long you can stay in an enclosed cabin with little or no ventilation. Maybe the length of your ride tells us that.

Interesting, yes. Insightful, yes. Innovative, yes. Inspirational, yes.

Yes, yes, yes. Everyone loves to hear the word "yes". No one likes to hear the word "No".

But is this PRACTICAL?

NO.

[lordherald]

If you look at the front of the velo when he stops you can see an air hole by the headlight.
If he is keeping the weight down then there probably isn't a complete enclosure around both wheels.
Three wheeled velos can be bought between $8000-16000 US
There is a company in Canada (bluevelo) that sells a line that are around $8000 depending on the model.
I agree with XYZ that the two wheel version in the movie is not practical. The three wheelers with an electric assist could be quite practical depending of course on your local traffic.

[Kenny]

Originally Posted by XYZ

Interesting, yes. Insightful, yes. Innovative, yes. Inspirational, yes.

... But is this PRACTICAL?

NO.

I would tend to agree, but my definition of 'practical' is likely different from others. I learned long ago that it's difficult, at best, to see through someone else's eyes.

I assume, at least one of birkenstock's intentions, is a bold experiment in efficiency... not unlike ripping-out one's A/C... in search of 1-3 MPG. We all know, or should know, that it ultimately boils down to compromises.

[Sven7]

I would definitely buy that for $5,000, but at $32,000 I'd rather have a Subaru BRZ. Hopefully someone will find a way to mass-produce these for a fraction of the cost. Of course the market's not there, but a guy can dream. Time to build my own.

[BarelyAWake]

Forgive me but I gotta rant a bit, I hope it doesn't seem too spammy lol

I'm sure most are well aware of this but recumbent pricing is often disproportionate to the actual product, very specifically components & it's often true identical, cross-platform compatible items (axles, wheels, cogs etc. vs freestyle BMX etc.) will cost twice as much or more than their counterpart... on the other hand anyone willing & able to eco & areomod their transport is very likely able to build their own recumbent, resourcing parts and not only reducing costs drastically but having a great time building it.

Some of that is based on fad/fashion & "specialty parts" but with examples like the above a lot of it is labor & R&D so while justified to a degree, the DIYer obviously needn't pay themselves for their own time.

The aerodynamic shell that makes it a velomobile is in my opinion the most difficult part to fabricate. However there's many fine examples of the concepts, construction processes & materials needed here on this forum, Aerodynamics - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com so folks here are no stranger to that aspect lol

The recumbent bicycle/tricycle part is perhaps more mechanically complicated, but it isn't difficult to build provided only you've access to a welder - with a plethora of DIY tips tricks & plans from places like AtomicZombie - Downloadable plans for DIY Recumbent Bike, Trike, and Choppers all the guesswork is only what you've decided to add & modify to suit your project's needs, they've gone out of their way to simplify the process as much as possible & using pre-existing components like chopping up a bicycle is always fun.

As an example (not necessarily a recommendation lol), I built the http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ole-18414.html for around $3500 - including the motors;



I'm not disparaging commercial offerings or the engineering & development like what's in the OP, doubtlessly the quality is unparalleled & I'll admit much of the science is beyond me - still there's no reason to not avail ourselves of their research, they've done the hard bit so we only need to zot something together if we've the hankering... but lack a spare ten grand or so

...we'll just skip over how long it took me to build one right?

[Kenny]

Yes, I've managed to fab a few too. A handful of 3-wheelers....





And a ton of various 2-wheelers...



My fetish is primarily in the build, moreso than the finished product - just never satisfied. However, the 2-wheeled rig pictured above is my daily parts chaser.