Ce n’pas une entrée de blog

Seon wrote, “I'm looking forward to seeing the next steps. I'm glad that you have developed sound reasons for a long wheelbase.I had always hoped that somebody might come up with something based on the designs that you list in your influences. The idea of an affordable home-built velomobile is too exciting for me. I've often wondered about bendable plywood, if it could be used to form parts and panels for a velomobile, or if dacron could be shrunk over a light structure using modern tent poles and so on. If I had any money at all I would have tried a lot of different materials around a simple recumbent base. I gave up cars some years ago, partly because of costs and partly because the weather has been so wet that I can't work on old cars outside - I have no electric in the garage. I use an electrical bicycle for getting the messages and visiting. I don't mind the rain or snow when I'm on the bike and funnily enough I don;t feel frightened on the road the way I do in a car now. But wind and hills are a real problem. Which is why I've built a wee recumbent. It cuts through the wind like it wasn't there and its not even radically inclined or low. I had a beautiful shop bought LWB recumbent and ran a small, 200 watt electric hub motor on it and 36v 15 ah battery. It was great. 30 mile range with moderate pedalling. Lack of work forced sale. The reason I mention all this is that I think there must be numbers of others in a similar situation, needing transport that isn't a car or an upright bike. One of the difficulties with adding electric power to a recumbent is that the law in europe allows only 250 watts, 300 for a trike. But that could be looked on as a good challenge. There are hubs geared for torque that might help take a velomobile up to speed and be handy for hills and in stop-start traffic. And batteries can be used for range rather than speed. Here's a really nice example of a 350 watt hub motor used as a mid drive. You'll maybe have seen it? http://endless-sphere.com/forums/download/file.php?id=76964&sid=9fad216c4e549a3904c2ce7323de4ace http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=23259&start=135 You'll maybe also have seen the King Midget single seater? http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=king+midget+mini+car&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1008&bih=670&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=JLAMSWwHrlrrpM:&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/clharbaugh/galleries/72157623575350103/&docid=i9UiJn4Dv8tpOM&imgurl=http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2760/4135004434_1503436968_z.jpg&w=640&h=480&ei=8yKfT87JIoXL0QW0u63vDg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=526&vpy=225&dur=2539&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=130&ty=99&sig=103323667651219689391&page=3&tbnh=148&tbnw=197&start=28&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:28,i:158 And the Atomic Zombie quad? http://www.atomiczombie.com/StreetFighter%20Recumbent%20Racing%20QuadCycle.aspx Anyhow, I like the way you've responded to criticism and I'm looking forward to seeing what your next step is. Good luck.”

Patrick Fenner wrote, “Of course, 200-300W from electric assist isn't really a hindrance at all, It's like having another person pedalling! It's only a limitation if you're thinking about cars, but it still makes you effectively an electric tandem. I do like the idea of thinking about electric drive as an acceleration assist, instead of a top speed assist — if would help with moving off and getting up to speed, but with the better aerodynamics of an enclosed body, you'll be going faster than a bike with the same effort anyway. When I took the Atomic Duck mock-up to Maker Faire UK, I was getting a lot of interest from the visitors interested in electric power. There's a really nice position ahead of the pedals for batteries, and a spot between the rear bulkhead and the rear wheel for motor positioning; either as inline or as the sole motive source. There's such a wealth of innovation in this area (I hadn't seen endless-sphere.com before), creating platforms that enable people to build upon and try things will lower the cost of innovation and allow may more people to try out their ideas. Like the mid-mount motor on the recumbent you link to makes that Linear Recumbent look like the ideal test mule for in-line motor testing.”