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Welcome to Velo Vision magazine, covering specialised bikes, cycling as transport and human power. It's a quarterly dose of cycle inspiration.The current issue is Issue 12. The next issue is out early March 2004.
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First Versatile test-ride reportA Dutch mailing list reports a ride in the eagerly-awaited 'next-generation' velomobile from Flevobike... The Versatile from Flevobike Technology is a rather tasty-looking fully-faired trike with neat features like fully-enclosed Rohloff-based transmission and much more... if you visit the (Dutch-language) website don't forget the tabs at the top of the screen for more info and pics on seat (Zitting) and chassis. The first public showing of it was at CycleVision earlier this year (we'll have a full report in Issue 11) but they weren't offering rides. And apparently they're still just starting semi-production of about one a month, with the first ones due for delivery in September. But that's set to rise. Now, a first user report has been posted to a Dutch-language mailing list, and kindly translated by Bruno Tiham for the velomobiles mailing list at ihpva.org: *** Message: 1 From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Tiham=E9r?= To: Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2003 10:47:19 +0200 Subject: [Velomobile] Versatile Testride Hi, On Fri Aug 1, someone put a short impression of a testride of Flevobike's new Versatile on a Dutch mailing list. For those of you who are interested, here's the translation (sort of, I'm not a translator!) : "At last I was able to testride the Versatile. With thanks to the creators. There are quiet some differences with the Mango and the Quest. This really is a luxurious velomobile. Designed less for speed than the Quest. A divine seat that can be adjusted in height by pulling out two simply tubes. Now there is a velomobile which actually gives you a very good sight. If you want to sit deeper, you simply glide your seat down. A very short radius makes it very manoeuvrable. Very direct steering : the slightest movement of the steering can be felt. Took some getting used to. There's also no rattling inside. It strikes me how quiet the Versatile is. The integrated mirrors can be adjusted from the inside. You keep having a good sight on the traffic behind you. Ride for a little while and you can easily maintain 33 km/h, without SPDs. A recommended velomobile, another dreambike." Greetings, Bruno Tiham *** Sounds like a really nice machine. It is known to be quite heavy - the site claims 36kg - but that does include lights, indicators etc and all the rest. The price? A not-inconsiderable 5980 Euros, including Dutch sales tax at 19 percent. That's about £4200 at today's rates. Posted on 05 August 2003 Your comments ...
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