Wednesday, October 28, 2015

End of October Update


End of October Update

Cycle JV

Cycle JV posted pictures of the Mulsanne velomobile being built.  The pictures show a shell partially built. 


Velomobiel

This week Velomobiel.nl announced the base price for the QuattroVelo… the price has been set at €7,500.  The price will be for a limited set of features and will not include things like Schlupmf drive, these will be optional.  The new velomobile will be officially introduced this weekend at the Velomobile Seminar.

IntercityBike

This week Ymte announced the move of ICB’s operations to a new 500 m2 (5,400 ft2) much larger than the workshop next to the Templeman’s bike shop.  The new workshop  situated at Koperweg 3, 8251 KA Dronten, 0321-340928.will offer test rides, sales and all maintenance and repair services.  In addition Daniel will operate from a workshop in southern Germany.  Daniel will continue the design of new products and support customers in the area.  

Velomobile Seminar

This is a reminder that the 8th International Velomobile Seminar 2015 is taking place on 30 October to November 1st at the Kulturhaus in Dornbirn, Austria.  The program is now available in English here.

Schwalbe

Schwalbe has released the Schwalbe Pro One, a tubeless version of the Schwalbe One.  The prototypes of the tire in size 28-406 have been released in Europe and they are being tested.  Using this tire will require the installation of compatible rims.

Wim Schermer

Speaking of tires, Wim Schermer has released rolling resistance test results for fastest tires currently on the market.   It looks like Schwalbe will have to work harder to develop faster tires.  Check out the whole report here

Cab-Bike

The Cab Bike molds have ended-up in Poland some time ago, this was the last place were they were produced.  A few months ago I reported that someone, was trying to restart production with a newer design of the old Cab-Bike.  Well it appears that some progress has been done and there is even a two-seater version of the Cab Bike that may be called Cab Bike Duo or Car Bike.  In an on-line article (in Polish) you can see the Cab Bike Duo.  The new four-wheel vehicle seats two persons side by side and looks a bit like a sports car, it has two sets of pedals but one tiller on the left hand side.  Overall, the vehicle looks a bit like the Duo-Quest.  The wheels are narrower at the back and they appear to be all 20in, drum brakes at the front and it has a lockable trunk.  Models appear to be available in a cabriolet and sedan version.

This is an interesting news item with video and pictures where you can hear Maciej Kaczmarek talk about his velomobiles and you will see his shop with many velomobiles in different state of completion.

The last web address I had for the Cab-Bike was for a company that made truck fairings Cab Bike Hawk, an updated version of the original http://www.wejkama.com/en/cab-bike-hawk-en but there is very little real information.  So I don’t know if or how Maciej (or Maciek or even Mieczyslaw) Kaczmarek is associated with wejkama.  He is very difficult to get in contact with, I have not been able to find a website or an e-mail address for the product or the Mr. Kaczmarek so if anyone has more information, please share.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Luc,

    Some people still have a phone and take the horn when you call. Maciek is one of them as I know. :) Speaking Polish is best, German is ok and if you only speak English you will have a hard time to understand.

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    1. Thank you Leo. Maciek's phone number is not widely published and I don't want to be the one publishing the number for privacy reasons. but maybe you could direct the readers to a place where his number would be available if they want to contact him. Since I can't speak German or Polish, I will not be able to get in touch with him. The inability to use e-mail is one of the reasons why these communications are difficult because in written communication we could use a free translation service to at least initiate a conversation. As a result, people are unable to make a transaction that would benefit both the manufacturer and the potential client but also the community in general through wider choice and increased velomobile penetration in the market.

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    2. New Cab Bike Hawk : www.cabbike.pl

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    3. Thank you, it was on my list of items for my next post.

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  2. Hi Luc. It is a big misunderstanding that more communication leads to more benefit for producer and marked in general. For me and a lot off anther manufactures, their time is their bottle neck. For me is how more communication the less production. The more I got involved by opinions and wishes of other people the less time and energy and focus I have for my own list of to do who is always endless.

    I see a lot of people have problem whit braked clamps. I hoop you can do something with http://www.alligt.nl/bodies/Alu-vermoeiing.html. Only in Dutch. Perhaps that make a solution better possible. I can not say that I have a problem with my clamps.

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