Velomobiles

Quest Velomobile

I have been looking at my traffic and which pages get hits. What I find very interesting is that my readers seem to really like Velomobiles. Any post that have velomobile pictures, information or video does very well. I can understand that, my own interest is piqued by velomobiles as well.

One very interesting project that I have seen is John Tetz's foamshell Velomobile project.

From Foamshell Velomobile by John Tetz

The image is linked to his design documents and project info for the Velo. I love this project though making the trike itself is outside my skill set. But you can see the process of making a streamliner shell for a trike or bike. It is really amazing what people can make with limited facilities. There are also coroplast fairings that people make, there are even kits for various trikes.

I have to admit these home built projects are very alluring. The idea of doing my own work and making a fairing is pretty cool. Any time I build something, even as simple as a hack to fix my fenders, I feel a sense of accomplishment. I like to work with my hands, and the garage has been given to me as my domain. Additionally making a fairing is cheaper than buying a velo, though the process of prototyping and acquiring various tools will surely have the cost approach that of a velomobile. I do believe that having the skills is of itself valuable and the fairing will be lighter than a velomobile. So for myself I think I would strongly consider a homebuilt project vs a finished product such as the quest. One final point is that John Tetz's Velomobile is ~40lbs vs 75lbs for a Quest. But I think it is something that everyone needs to decide for themselves. And if there was a kit for a lowracer, or one of my trikes, then I would strongly consider it. I do wish that there were some US Velomobile manufacturers. Having them all in Europe makes the costs pretty high.