GLENN
Windsor, Ontario


Given that Glenn took delivery of the first Quest we brought to North
America, we thought it only fitting that this photo be placed
as our first entry in the Rider's Corner, which will feature
photos and letters from our North American owners. So, bluevelo
alumni, send us your photos.....





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A VELOMOBILE STORY


Every now and then a customer sends us an e-mail that
helps to remind us why we're doing what we do. Here's an e-mail we received following a recent shipment that really stands out. Thanks again John!

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There is an anticipation in the air equaled to that of my youth, waiting for another Christmas to arrive while autumn is still wearing its most furious colors.  Knowing that just ahead in the weeks to come, lay surprises and presents.  It is almost too much to bear.  I am waiting on my Team Velomobile to come to my home in Texas from Canada.

To give you a sense of my excitement, I just returned from a week’s vacation in Cabo San Lucas, where, for the entire seven days, I thought of little except the Team.  Women in thongs parading their shapely figures in front of me on the pristine beaches did little to draw my attention away from my thoughts of the bright yellow Team that would soon be whisking me around Dallas.

It is no different than waiting for one’s first child or perhaps more realistically, one’s first bicycle or car.  It was like the anticipation one has for that new-job offer call to come.  A Team ¬– my Team – trucking its way toward me, it was almost too good to be true. The lottery has called my numbers.  I have won.

I have downloaded every picture the Web hosts of Teams.  I have read every word available about them.  I took the introduction letter that Bluevelo, the Team’s manufacture in Canada, sent me and virtually set its two pages of start-up instructions to memory, not unlike a rookie priest learning the mass, word for word. (Had Bluevelo written the instructions in Latin, I promise you I would have memorized that as well.)

I tingle with expectation. My work productivity has slipped, I am sure.  Clients are probably wondering why doodles of a cigar-shaped vehicle adorn the projects, which I send to them.  Colleagues wonder why I am lost in the halls, searching for another climbing gear as they pass without any recognition of them from me at all. My family knows, of course, that it is that time: the gestation period for the “NEW BIKE” as they so rudely call it.

But soon the truck will pull up in front of the house and the wooden crate, a little larger than an adult coffin, will be unloaded and inside will rest one of the true delights of modern man…a Team Velomobile.

I have wanted one of these before I even knew they existed.  Allow me to explain what I mean.  During my college days, which can be found archived in the last century, I got to travel around Mexico. There bicycles and trikes were in such demand that people all but lived on theirs.  All type of dog proofing, weather proofing and sun protection was home-built onto all types of self-propelled vehicles.  And I loved it.  It captured my imagination much the same way as rockets did for a young Warner von Braun. (Luckily I was never conscripted into anything like the Nazi war machine, although our scout troop did have its own self-inflicted death march, but that is for a different article entirely.)

I used to draw pictures of the little bike with a “cabin” on it.  My sailing days had me thinking of fiberglass shells that could fit over a bicycle.  Then I found the recumbent trike, a category that set my imagination further into motion. The next step was as easy to take as “Demon Weed” had warned us about. I wasn’t slipping into hard drugs… but from the trike I did find my way to velomobiles.  I was hooked!

The thought of waging a one-man battle against old man winter– the notion that rain and cold were no longer obstacles, nor the furious Texas sun for that matter –the idea that wind could be harnessed on something other than a sail boat: it was breathtaking.  And now one is heading my way.  I wait with anticipation.

                X     X    X

The truck has stopped in front of my house. Inside is a pine crate with my dream.  I can barely control my breathing.  Deep within me comes a queasy feeling.  What if my new child emerges with defects?  I knew this feeling.  I had felt it before– right at the birth of my three wonderful children.  But they don’t count.  They are not velomobiles.
The box has been unloaded and opened.  The prize has been spotted, wrapped in swaddling clothes– no wait that’s bubble wrap. Slowly I wheel it out into the sunlight.  Neighbors take pictures.  I stare.  I want to sob.  It is a velomobile.  Mine.

The first ride was about as meaningful as a first date. It was total love at first sight.  Fearing to do anything wrong, as if I might lose her by treating her too rough on the maiden adventure, I remember not an inch of the outing, because I was so caught up in simply being in my velomobile, that I forgot about what it was I was actually doing.  But the Team worked.  Like a jeweled Swiss watch it worked to perfection.  It hissed at the wind, it spit in the eye of sour weather that offered to ruin the day with a drizzle fit for Seattle. My Team knew no natural predator. It engulfed me and whispered your wish is my pleasure. And I am told we drove around the block.

Me and my Team are now one.  It is an extension of me. 

My Ducati, which sits in the same garage where the Team will call home, looks on jealously; yet, with a smile draped across its headlight.  “I can go further and faster” It sneers, with a slight Italian accent.  The Team answers right back confidently, “True, until dinosaur juice runs out and all that’s left is the energy my master generates with his powerful legs.” And the Ducati sneers again and returns to silence.  They will soon learn to be friends, or at least share a common room with some respect for one another.

I stand in the driveway until well past the sun’s bedtime, simply staring – transfixed in time and space– watching my Team.  I swear it can move without me. Its sleek lines are so seductive.  The mere stroking of a gentle Texas breeze is enough to recount Fangio in his Formula One days roaring along the streets of Monte Carlo.  Yes my Team is my Formula One ride.  And I stand and stare at it.  Dreaming of rides we will take deep into the future.

My wife finally comes out, draped in a sweater, as the weather has turned ugly again.  “Time to put the bike up, John,” she says.  The Bike.  The uneducated.  Does this woman not know that this is not a bike, but rather, a velomobile.

I lie awake tonight in anticipation.  Just like before Christmas morning decades ago as a child, waiting to discover what the great bearded elf had left me for having been a good boy.  Now my present is – I will ride tomorrow.  The Team awaits its master as it rests in its stall next to the sulking Italian Monster. I anticipate tomorrow. 

I will not sleep tonight.

John Crawley

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REX WRITES

Rex recently took delivery of his Quest and sent us this photo,
together with his ride report below.

Ride report/things I am discovering about my new Quest that I like

·         I love the extras

o   Horn – cars definitely react to a “car” horn

o   The bicycle bell is great for pedestrians. It will be useful on the bikepaths.

o   Turn signals- they even have a beeper so that they are not inadvertently left on.

o   Map light- useful inside the cockpit and outside the vehicle

o   Individual switches for tail light and head light – in case I only want to run the taillight.

o   Hazard lights – don’t really know how necessary they are, but they are way cool to have.

·         Attention to detail by bluevelo.

o   The bike was set up for my size. Really, I just got in and started pedaling.

o   Excellent bluevelo decals

o   The battery was charged (it was night time when I took the maiden voyage, so it was nice to not have to wait to charge the battery)

o   The packaging was excellent.

·         The gearing range seems to be sufficient for now. It may be that the 170mm cranks help a bit. (My Catrike has 165mm). Haven’t tried the “killer hill “ yet, but from the way it climbs the other big hills, I am confident I should be able to climb it too. I am very pleased by its climbing ability,  as I expected it to be a poor climber compared to my tirke due to its weigh. Addendum: I tried the big hill, the one that you just have to grunt up because it is too long and your momentum runs out. I am amazed I am about ½ mile per hour faster compared to the Catrike. I can’t explain this, maybe it is because the pedaling position of the Quest just suits me better, maybe it is a bit of placebo boost, but I am tickled because this was the one thing I wasn’t sure would work for me in a velo.

·         The brake light has a very clever device that when you lock the parking brake, the brake light turns off so you don’t need to disconnect the battery. Whoever came up with that actually rides a velo.

·         The enclosed drivetrain is really nice, now I have no qualms about riding in the rain.

·         This is just an impression, but it seems that the bottom bracket doesn’t move as much as on the Catrike while pedaling. It just seems more solid. This too could help climbing.

·         As compared to the aforementioned Catrike Trial with 100 psi Primo comet tires. It is faster on the flat and certainly on downhills (that was expected) but it does not feel slower on the climbs. Also on most hills because of the run up, you don’t have to climb as long. Also, it absolutely crushes small rollers.

·         The suspension not only gives a comfortable ride, but seems to help minimize speed loss when going through rough tarmac. I often ride on chipseal and it just kills the speed on my Catrike.

·         It is plenty warm down to freezing temps (that is a big deal to me) but is easily adjustable for temperature. My feet do get cold after a while, but that is just me.

·         I thought the fact that the bottom bracket is 9 inches higher than the seat was going to be a big deal, but in practice I don’t really notice it. I do think that I am still adjusting to it (as is expected) but it may even be partly responsible for its climbing ability.

·         This thing puts you in a different frame of mind from my trike. It begs to be pushed, and it rewards your efforts with performance. On the trike, pushing harder gave little return for your investment. With the Quest, it seems it is almost less work to push a little harder because that extra kinetic energy will help with the next little incline.

·         This vehicle is a thing of beauty. I know that is very subjective, but to me it is beautiful. I love the color, the glossy surface (can you say shinny) and how its shape is there for a reason, speed. I really do enjoy just looking at it, like it was art, a sculpture of some sort.

JOHN IN TEXAS WRITES....

 I’ve got to tell you that the hardest part about owning this thing is people stopping me along the trails and streets wanting to talk to me about it.  I had two Dallas cops flag me down and ask to ride it.  (Or is it drive it?)  They were very impressed.  Each wanted one. 

We have a rather large park around White Rock Lake in Dallas, which sits centered in the city and his home to many miles of bike and hike trails.  On a weekend day it is not unusual for me to be stopped once every mile or so by someone else who wants to know about this racy-looking vehicle.  Several of my friends who ride recumbent trikes are saving their money because they want one, too.  And hills are a thing of the past with the electric assist BionX 350.  It makes getting around town simple and carefree.

The other day I was riding through the park and a guy on a racing recumbent came up and gave me the old “let’s race” look.  Not realizing that I had a secret weapon under my fiberglass, he took off I laid back for a while: then I kicked the BionX  in and in no time, he was a spec in my dual rear mirrors.  When we met back up at the lake bridge he was amazed.  I confessed that electrons and magnets were working in conjunction to do him in.  He was blown away.  I let him ride around in the “Yellowmobile” and when he came back he was hooked.  The next week I saw him and he had a BionX on his trike.  It’s a little harder to put him away now, but the aerodynamics of the Team are still superior and I usually have to wait for him at the bridge.  But he’s catching up.

In short, this is just a note to say thanks for the great ride.  Having a blast.  Let the world know, these things are FUN and FAST.  Get one today and start riding like you’ve never ridden before!