Cycling UK Forum

Recently we had a thread about cycling alternatives to the car. Here's a velomobile that answers some of the demands for urban transport. My own view is that it sits between an open air recumbent trike (stability, comfort, low gears as required) and an aerodynamic, enclosed velo (high speed, sporting profile)
It won't be to everyone's taste, and (as with anything) there are pro's and con's. But I applaud the chap getting it into production.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lKq1fGtXFM

Nothing new.... The Leitra has been around since the 1930s as a kit and into production by George Rasmunsssen in 1983

[youtube]enuQIbK62eU[/youtube]

I like the idea of the Pod car and the more practical velomobiles,as transport options.But as I posted in the other thread the problem isn't the vehicle so much as the perception of safety due to a dire lack of anything resembling cycling infrastructure in the UK,which forces such vehicles to share the roads with motors driven by the kind idiots hi-lighted in the WVM thread posted by Kwackers.
That as I see it is the main stumbling block for any of the sort of vehicle that "gets in their way".
So we either build the infrastructure or police the roads effectively,until that happens people will remain in big and perceptively safe cars.
The UK is waaaaayyyyyyyy behind the rest of the more enlightened countries in Europe.

Paulatic wrote:https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=108665&hilit=Podride

I totally forgot about that thread

Another missing link :- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=037CAW4Yeug

Not a pedelec but some thing that would fit the bill for many:- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU_lOx7Dtp4

reohn2 wrote:Another missing link :- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=037CAW4Yeug

Thanks: hadn't seen that one before. The roof retraction is just brilliant

squeaker wrote:Thanks: hadn't seen that one before. The roof retraction is just brilliant

+1
The retraction is really elegant

Geoff.D wrote:

squeaker wrote:Thanks: hadn't seen that one before. The roof retraction is just brilliant

+1
The retraction is really elegant

Side weather protection is lacking though

reohn2 wrote:Side weather protection is lacking though

Which might be an advantage if it reduces cross wind sensitivity....

squeaker wrote:

reohn2 wrote:Side weather protection is lacking though

Which might be an advantage if it reduces cross wind sensitivity....

My own view is that ALL vehicles are compromise in one way or another. If there were one vehicle to fit all situations, functions and tastes then it would be a no brainer. Manufacturers would make it and we'd all be happy.
I enjoy the variety of options available and the weighing up of the good points and compromises inherent in each. I also enjoy hearing differing views from others. It makes for interesting reading. An all enclosed, commuter/town velomobile gives all weather protection (an advantage?). A roof-only velo still gives the buzz of the wind on your face (an advantage?). You pays your money and makes your choice.

This axiom (all vehicles are a compromise) is universal and can therefore be applied to the cycling world, where it's expressed mathematically as N = n+1.

Cunobelin wrote:Nothing new.... The Leitra has been around since the 1930s as a kit and into production by George Rasmunsssen in 1983

Since Georg Rasmussen designed the Leitra himself, I highly doubt it was available as a kit before 1980.
You are probably referring to the Swedish Fantom pedal car blueprints sold in the 1930, but that was a completely different vehicle (a four-wheeler with plywood body).

squeaker wrote:

reohn2 wrote:Side weather protection is lacking though

Which might be an advantage if it reduces cross wind sensitivity....

But not if that cross and is full of hail and sleet as it is ATM the other side of my (car) window