Front-page "Blocks" from the original Velomobiling.net site
We've copied the information blocks from the original site and updated their links as of December 31, 2006. |
| Velomobile Site Information Velomobiling.net and Velomobiling.com feature velomobile information, photos, film clips, articles, event announcements, and links related to human-powered vehicles. Velomobile Albums include Aerorider, Alligt Alleweder, Berkut, Birk Butterfly, Cab-Bike, C-Alleweder, Flevo Alleweder (FAW), Go-one, Leiba, Leitra, Limit, Mango, Quest, Sunrider, Versatile, and WAW.
There is also an album for limited-edition and home-built velomobiles, including La Fleche
"Building a Velomobile" showcases velomobile construction projects. Velomobile Circus celebrates wild and colorful velomobile designs.
| Sixth International Velomobile Meeting
 43 velomobiles and 4 trikes streamed through the German countryside north of Frankfurt and assembled in the small city of Giessen for the Sixth International Velomobile Meeting. Twenty of the riders had made a 2-day journey up from the Netherlands, and one had ridden over 400 km in one day from Augsburg. Click on the photo for a link to the Gallery page. Cab-Bike hosts this annual event, which features two nights in a forest lodge, a group ride from Biebertal to Giessen and back, an uphill race, great food, and informative seminars on velomobile-related topics.
| Velo or velomobile? A velomobile is a pedal-powered, sometimes power-assisted, enclosed vehicle. The word "velomobile" was coined from the French/Swiss word "velo" -- meaning "bicycle" -- and "mobile." We joke that the logical term, "automobile," was already taken. Recently, North Americans unfamiliar with the origin of the word have shortened it to "velo," confusing a hundred million people who still use "velo" for a bicycle. |
Other topics include bike trips and trails in the U.S. and Europe, Minnesota HPV events and activities, transportation strategy (including the amazing European workbikes and family bikes), adapted bikes, racing handbikes, and other handcycles, and recumbents, folding recumbents, trikes, tandems and other vehicles. You might even see a unicycle horse, a side-by-side tandem two-wheeler, or a conference bike on the site.
See also: Fred's report on building an Alleweder and Tony Eastwoods detailed review of 5 velomobiles, and Brad Teubner's winter fairing for a trike.
For a quick look at different velomobiles, we have a link to velomobile photo page. | Velomobiles outside Europe
Bluevelo in Ontario, Canada has arrangements with several European manufacturers to import velomobiles to North America.
VelomobileUSA in Texas produces kit and complete Flevo Alleweders, with a power-assist option.
Reg Rodaro is producing the Stormy Weather Velomobile in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, and Lightfoot Cycles in Montana will be marketing it, starting in 2007.
Steve Schleicher of Nimbus Kayaks in Maple Ridge, British Columbia is close to marketing the Aurora - a delta velomobile.
Jon Nygren in Minnetonka, Minnesota offers the two-wheel Streetliner and mentions the possibility of 3-wheelers on his website.
James McLeod in New Zealand is developing a Coroplast-faired velomobile.
Greenspeed in Australia has been doing velomobiles for 10 years, but not for production. You can admire before and after photos from a race with their 2005 model. Greenspeed is also developing a quad racing velomobile that has potential to be used for other purposes as well.
Blue Sky Design in Creswell, Oregon offers a kit for making a racing velomobile.
A site to watch for a new velomobile in Austria is Bike Revolution, where the Thunderstorm velomobile is being developed. There are a few prototype photos online, but the official introduction will be in the fall of 2006.
For a light-weight home-built velomobile, check out the designs by John Tetz and others on the MARS site. | Featured sites
Ligfiets Plaza, the site of the Netherlands HPV/recumbent club has recumbent and velomobile news in Dutch, with translations to English and other languages.
Bent Rider Online's Velomobile Forum brings together enthusiasts from all over the world. This is the most active English-language news source for velomobilists around the world. Registered members can post photographs, so it's a good place to look for pictures of velomobiles.
Velovision, a terrific British cycling publication, has added a forum, including a (now-inactive) thread on velomobiles.
The North American Velomobilist Website, maintained by Ethan Davis in Maine.
l'Association pour le Developpement du Velomobile in France. This interesting site now shows two forms of the SpeedRider, a trike with a removable fairing available in either an open or a fully-enclosed version.
www.velomobile.info is the site for velomobile information in German (also English and Dutch).
A new German-language site at www.Velomobilportal.de offers a lot of up-to-date information, a forum, and many photos.
The Swedish site is at http://www.velomobil.se |
Tandem thoughts
Searches for a 2-person velomobile, a tandem velomobile, or a two-person velomobile keep showing up in our tracking system. The links we've found are buried too deep in our weblinks to show up in most searches. Other than the Twike, which is a pedal/electric hybrid, and the PPV, which was an open two-seater from the 1970's, you won't find much available.
If you are searching for a 2-wheeled velomobile rather than a two-seater, you can find a couple of links here.
For recumbent tandem bicycles and tricycles, including back-to-back tandems, we have some photos, and there is a side-by-side tandem trike that we like by Van Raam in the Netherlands. There's also a set of plans for a side-by-side recumbent trike available, which one builder is planning to convert into a tandem velo camper. |   FUN STUFF ON ONE WHEEL!
Florian Schlumpf (developer of the Schlumpf Mountain Drive and Speed Drive) visited Calhoun Cycle on February 17, 2005. We also saw the new wide rim and fat tire for snow and sand from Surly Bikes, which one of the Calhoun Cycle team was trying out. Florian was showing the new Schlumpf unicycle hub as well as the Mountain Drive, Speed Drive, and High Speed Drive. Click on the Unicyclist for an album of photos from his visit.
CHECK OUT THE GALLERIES
I've been adding photos to the Galleries and have most of them captioned and put in proper order. This is the place to look for photos of velomobiles, travel photos, event photos, and much more.
CONTENT
This is a space for our stories and yours. I've pulled up several old reports that have been hosted elsewhere on the web and have added a few more. I've also put up a photo page referring to Frederik Van De Walle and Peter Cox's ideas about how velomobiles can fit into the larger transportation picture.
In the Content area: a table comparing different velomobiles for rider size, adjustability, and luggage capacity.
REVIEWS
You can find Tony Eastwood's comparison of 5 velomobiles in CONTENT, along with my review of the Cab-Bike. We've shut down the Reviews section because it was vulnerable to link spammers. If you want to review a velomobile, send us the text and photos as Content or in an e-mail.
NEWS
News items that we come across or that you submit appear above.
LINKS
Submit links that you would like to see on the list. We're adding more as we go along. 
 MONDOFEST
On February 18, I rode over to St. Paul in the Cab-Bike for Mondofest, a unicycling, juggling, and yo-yo festival. Available to try out was this unicycle horse. Click on it to see how it rides! (Thanks to Jon Nygren for the clip.) See other photos from Mondofest in the Unusual Vehicles Album in the Gallery. | Does size matter?
Is a velomobile too big?
It depends what you compare it with. |
