Another Police Stop

Another Police Stop

Today I went for a ride in the country, after another week of doing home renovations. Because of this, I haven’t had much chance to ride lately so I did not know if I would feel tired but after a few minutes, I realized that I had good legs today. 

I decided that I would keep the speed up and try to maintain a 40km/h average.  This ride has a few small hills to climb and descent and takes me through a few villages.  The road is fairly popular with local cyclists, I see the same people regularly.  Being a touristy area, there are a lot of cars on the road and the velomobile certainly attracts attention.

Approaching the mid point where I turn around, I come to the top of a small hill and see a cop car turning around at the bottom of the hill after a traffic stop.  The car turns left into an entrance with flashers going and stops, I’m coming down the hill at over 70km/h and pass the car.  I continue and after a short stretch, the road turns and there is another police car, they are busy issuing speeding and moving violation tickets!  I continue down the road at over 60km/h and one of the police cars pass me but a couple of minutes later, the second one appears in my rear view mirror with the flashers on.  I’m a bit upset because I had done nothing wrong, the posted speed is 90km/h and I was trying to get to the mid point in record time.

The young policeman asked me if I had a motor, I was curt and said I have no motor… The policeman well there is no need to get upset, it may take longer.  I said well it is the third time I get stop in you town, can’t you guys talk to each other; I ride here all the time.  I am training and trying to break my speed record.  Well at the speed you are going, I clocked you at 75km/h; I have to ask.  I reiterated that I had no motor, asked him if he wanted to check, he didn’t take me up on the offer.  I said please pass the word.  I took off down the road accelerating to cruising speed

At mid point I stopped for a nature break and I had several people interested in the velomobile, they were tourists, not cyclists.  I answered questions for a while then left. 

On my way back, I also lost time when I got stuck behind a line of cars that were not going particularly fast, of course, I could not carry much speed uphill through a village.  I made it back without incident; I improved on my time but unfortunately these little delays made me miss my goal but not by much.

Trisled

Ben posted pictures of the proposed commercial Coroplast velomobile kit he’s currently designing. Kit velomobile in a box is intended for enthusiasts.
What's in the box? A Chromoly frame, a selection of Corflute, Alloy and EVA foam parts, all necessary hardware and glues, instructions. The number of panels has been kept to a minimum to make the glue up easier.

What's not in the box (but can be ordered)?  Wheels, running gear and brakes, electronics, general accessories will be available as options.  Here are some specs: turning circle 8m, 20/26 wheel configuration as it both gives the most options for donor components.   For those not willing to assemble a kit Ben says that there is Rotovelo.

Velomobile Production

Here are the production figures for July.  July and August are usually slow months for velomobile delivery due  in large part to the European employee vacations but also it is prime riding season, there are many races and events to attend.

IntercityBike

Production at IntercityBike  is still below maximum levels.  In July there were 3 DF, 1 DF-S and 4 DF-Xl for a total of 8 velomobiles.  Orders are slowing down a little bit, at the end of July, there were 63 velomobiles on order or about 8 months at current rate but could be less if they increase production.

CycleJV an ICB distributor in France has prepared an excellent video review of the DF velomobile.  The video presented by David Massot is in French with English subtitles.  

Velomobiel

Velomobiel has delivered only 3 velomobiles in July; 2 Quest and a Quest XS.  This is probably a month with the lowest number of deliveries this may be due to the vacations.  On the positive side, the order book is slowly fattening, it shows 41 velomobiles on order with the majority (25) being QuattroVelos.  I’m sure this number is going to increase after the first QuattroVelo has been delivered.