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Introduction - Road Test - Visibility - Gearing and Hills - Practicality - Maintenance & Accident Record - Production & "Commercials"

On 12th November 2004 my home made velocycle was destroyed in a 70Mph collision with a car. Through the grace of God (I was inside my vehicle) I survived with very minor injuries. Soon after the accident I decided to replace my machine with some commercial equivalent. I found evaluating commercial machines quite difficult across the internet - and thus as part of this process I visited the Low Countries in order to make a personal assessment of velombiles. This document is a result of my visit. It is presented here in the hope that it will save time for future purchasers.

I should say straight away that I was seriously impressed with all five of the vehicles I drove; that is the Waw, Versatile, Mango, Cab-Bike and Quest. All five showed careful design work and durable and professional construction. Although the stress in each machine is on different characteristics all five can to be used for commuting, touring or shopping. All offered a significant improvement in speed, weather protection, safety and reliability over more conventional bicycles and recumbents. What ever your current back ground; club cyclist, commuter, green transport enthusiast, or just wanting to lead a healthy lifestyle I can assure you that the investment in one of these machines is not one you will regret.

Finally, I should stress that this document is nothing more than my own impressions and views. Perhaps in time, as velomobile usage increase, others can also contribute to this type of comparative survey. Prices, weights and availability should be checked at relevant web sites.

Versatile	Price approx € 7,800. Waiting list approximately 6 months This was tested in the Dronten area on a wet and windy day in February. Dronten is essentially flat and I was able to use a variety of quiet roads and (somewhat rough) cycle ways. Very complete machine designed for practical every day use with zero maintenance. Drive chains are not only fully enclosed but Rohloff gear is mounted inside vehicle at chain 'cross over' so protecting this device fully. Both brake levers operate both brakes - this is useful but might make cable replacement more complex.
Mango	Price approx € 4,500. Waiting list approximately 18 months This was tested in the Dronten area on a wet day in February. Dronten is essentially flat and I was able to use a variety of quiet roads and (somewhat rough) cycle ways. Less wind than Versatile and Quest test. A basic machine designed for eveyday use. (Very inexpensively priced and can be stored in small space.) At € 4,500 represents very good value when compared with the many unfaired, non-suspension recumbents currently on the market.  Criticisms:  To my mind there were a surprising number of small ways in which this vehicle was inferior to the Quest e.g. the fact that the speedometer was not really visible, possibly the roughness of the ride. In comparison every detail on the Quest has been pretty much perfected.
Quest	Price approx € 5672. Waiting list approximately 18 months This was tested in the Dronten area on a wet and windy day in February. Dronten is essentially flat and I was able to use a variety of quiet roads and (somewhat rough) cycle ways. In general Quest is remarkably perfected and smooth - it should be possible to ride very long distances.  The design is very gradually evolving and future Quests will have direct drive to a 26 inch wheel (single side mounted as before) rather than the existing crossover drive. This should eliminate a considerable portion of the machine noise inside the vehicle. In addition there will be yet more luggage space and there will be a small improvement in mechanical efficiency (and presumably in speed). Another effect of this change is that wider gear ratios will become possible, eg. 30,42,52 chain rings to a 11.34 mege range block. Velomobile will continue to ensure that the chain is totally enclosed.  Criticisms:  The indicators are currently switched via a latching toggle switch on the steering. Given that the indicators are invisible from the rider's position, and that the flashing mechanism makes no noise it is a little too easy to leave the indicators flashing. The problem could be solved by adding an audible click, by adding an LED in the rider's range of vision, or by simply using a non-latching toggle switch. The brake lever (identical in Mango and Cab-bike is rather uncomortable).
WAW	Waiting list approximately 6 months This was tested in the Ghent area . Ghent has some small hills by the river. In test I was forced to use a variety of busy city roads cross cobblestones onto terrible cycle ways and generally fight it out with the traffic. The three-part construction of the Waw allows it to be transported by a far greater range of vehicles - for example estate cars - than is possible with any of the other vehicles tested. All the other vehicles tested would require some form of van to transport them.  Criticisms:  1)The lever which operates the rear handbrake - actually a disc brake on the real wheel - is most inconveniently mounted on the left-hand steering lever - together with the left-hand front brake. It is also not a latching lever. It would make far more sense to operate this brake from a simple latching (or friction) lever mounted somewhere else in the vehicle - this would simplify entry and exit to the vehicle.  2)Acoustic isolation between the rear wheel and the body shell would be very desirable.  3) The test machine did not have a head rest on the seat. This would be desirable.
Cab-Bike	Price approximately €7500 This was tested in the Ghent area. Ghent is has some small rises by the river. In test I was forced to use a variety of busy city roads and cobblestones and terrible cycle ways and fight it out with the traffic.

Blind Spots
Most vehicles had very good visibility in the forward two quadrants, and in the rear 45 degrees of each side of rear. Any difficulties occur in the two 45 degrees areas off to the side, i.e. between direct vision and the range of the mirror(s). Fortunately ths is probably the least dangerous direction, except at roundabouts and oblique junctions where the inexperienced driver needs to check mirrors carefully.

Maintenance
All vehicles arranged for most, if not all, the transmission parts to be totally enclosed. This should result in extremely long life for all drive components, including gear control cables. There are differences in how pefectly the drive system is protected from ingress of dirt and water, in each case this is noted above. However in all vehicles the limiting factor in terms of maintenance could well be wheel-life, not least because recumbent trike wheels are subject both to side and braking loads. Here so much will depend upon wheel build quality, hardly something which can easily assesed on a test ride, and also, of course, driving style.

Lighting
The Low Countries are relatively benign places to ride bikes and drive velomobiles. Many Dutch cyclists seem to carry quite feeble lights, and yet, presumably, survive. To survive in the harsher environments of North America and Great Britain I would recommend upgrading the lighting on all these vehicles especially at the rear. This usually can done for you on order.

Summary

Here finally are a few general notes on the characteristics of the vehicles I tested.

The Versatile. This is a well-equipped stylish machine, designed from the ground up to be a reliable commuting vehicle. All wheels are single side mounted and it uses the Rohloff hub as standard. The Versatile rides and steers well - a strong side wind had almost no effect on steering.

The Quest is the Velomobile flagship machine. Its behaviour, and design resemble a 'canoe on wheels' - its motion over rough surfaces is gentle and floating. Its speed is remarkable, I reached 45Kmh in my first hundred metres without even trying. It is not, however, a machine for idiots. If you drive it really badly it will roll. However if you leave it to its own devices it runs beautifully straight and true - its freewheeling is amazing - its glide appears to defy the laws the friction.

The Mango is on one level a cut down Quest. It is more stable, lighter, and shorter than a Quest - but unless you have a special reasons for wanting the Mango - for example you want to take sharp bends very quickly, need to keep it in a small shed, or simply can't afford a Quest, I would recommend the Quest any time.

The WAW. For the adventurous (or nervous) driver the WAW offers the best handling all the machines I tested. It is fast, low and small. Real hard cornering is possible. The body work on the WAW is probably the toughest of all the machines I tested. My test-drive (carried out in central Ghent during rush-hour!) showed it could handle all the issues - stop-go traffic, terrible surfaces, potholes and cobbles - comfortably and smoothly. The WAW also offers a head-in option .

The Cab-Bike. This is the only complete head-in machine I tested. This was also driven in downtown Ghent. It is not as fast as a WAW or Quest; but inside it is massive. I could easily have got a week's shopping for my family in there with me.

Conclusions
In general the thing that really impressed me about all these machines was their sheer practicality and the robust engineering. I had assumed, before my test rides, that the price of the extra speed, weather protection etc was achieved at the expense of a certain fragility and delicacy. Not at all. On any one of these machines you can go charging along across the sort of rough surfaces that no road bike would ever cope with - and in perfect comfort. Good driving!

Tony Eastwood.
Penrhyndeudraeth
Gwynedd