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 16. The next issue is out early March 2005.

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Yet more rounding-up

• I'll be away on Friday for the SPEZI show in southern Germany - a major show for specialised cycles, and there looks to be lots of interest. Check out the exhibitor list on the website... and see many previous reports in Velo Vision. The office will also be closed on Monday, but I'll be back in action again on Tuesday morning.



• Carlton Reid of BikeBiz has teamed up with cartoonist 'Brick' to create some posters pointing out the deficiencies of the proposed UK helmet law, which would make 'lids' compulsory for child cyclists. The posters, which could be faxed to your MP, can be found with back-up info at http://www.bikebiz.co.uk/daily-news/article.php?id=3997.



• Greetings to Eduardo in Brazil, who writes: "My name is Eduardo and I write from Brazil. Our country doesn't have a recumbent tradition, but we have some enthusiasts who make their own efforts to do something new. I think I'm one of these enthusiasts. As we have almost no recumbent factories here, some friends ask me to homebuild recumbent bicycles for them and I have some completed machines. I invite you to view my work at http://www.ypebike.cjb.net/". Look like nice bikes, with interesting front-wheel-drive transmission.



• Florian Schlumpf, bottom-bracket gearbox supremo, sent pictures of a mini-bike equipped with his High-Speed-Drive, which when engaged gears UP 2.5 times. Usually woefully undergeared, he reports that these little machines are really quite rideable for his children when so equipped. The minibike can be seen here (towards the bottom) along with other machines which will be Schlumpf-equipped at the SPEZI. Among them will be the Schlumpf unicycle drive, as reported earlier.

• First up is Vintage Bicycle Quarterly, a magazine out of Seattle, WA, USA. The description on the homepage includes: "Vintage Bicycle Quarterly is not just about old bikes, but about the enjoyment of the sport we love beyond the latest fads and ads. The focus is on French cyclotouring bikes - light, comfortable and fast bikes with integrated lights and fenders that are as beautiful as they are practical - and their riders. You learn about the famous French builders René Herse, Alex Singer, Jo Routens, and others; the history of the amazing Paris-Brest-Paris event; and the technical trials where makers competed with fully equipped 18 lb. cyclotouring bicycles in the 1930s." Sounds good!



• And at the other end of the scale is a soon-to-be-produced carbon-fibre recumbent called the Bender. Looks very neat, but I'm not sure the name works so well in UK English...



• One for the techies: these modular dropouts seem like a neat idea. There's a 'carrier' mounted onto the frame, to which can be bolted horizontal, vertical, disk-brake-mount equipped or all sorts of other dropouts. Should be a nice versatile and easily-repaired system. Incidentally if you're interested in bicycle frames then the Framebuilders forum is a good place to check out.



• Going a bit more esoteric now, here's a new-to-me amphibious HPV, the Pedal-Paddle.



• You want esoteric? Try this rocket-powered trike from www.the-rocketman.com!



• And on to a couple of Russian patents (I think): first a page containing a drawing of a geared pedal-powered boat drive unit here and then this rather fine page describing how to make a human-powered, fin-driven boat from three truck inner tubes :-)

Posted on 21 April 2004