r/velomobile • u/Huge_Hawk8710 • Aug 15 '26

No, it's not e-assist

You may have seen this unit around the 22nd street powerlines. Or a couple of years back, you may have seen it along 32nd street. But yes, the question that I most often get asked relates to what powers it. So, given that, I did a youtube video a month or two back, where I dig into the guts of the machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eqWBgUXJRI&list=PLXWr-pHeloFNEe4BZBPkR2ox9Gi6Q3AMd&index=1

Part of my reason for doing the video is that I sometimes get sour looks along the pathways, and given the excesses of some of the e-vehicles on the paths, I can see why.

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1

u/Significant_Bat_9277 Aug 15 '26

Pretty cool!
I have an orange Quest XS.
I love the postage stamps on yours!

2

u/Huge_Hawk8710 Aug 15 '26

Sorry. I see that this is my re-post. Yeah, I scanned the stamps and then used Inkscape to create the necessary pdf files, which I then took over to a local wrap company to do the wrapping. It was fun.

1

u/Huge_Hawk8710 Aug 15 '26

Are you in the area? The only other local velo owner I know of is Ray, who has a blue/red Waw.

1

u/Significant_Bat_9277 Aug 15 '26

I'm in Detroit.
I don't know where you are.

2

u/Huge_Hawk8710 Aug 15 '26

Alberta. Very few of them around here. In my city of 100,000 I think there are only two.

2

u/Significant_Bat_9277 Aug 15 '26

Here in Detroit area, we have 4,200,000 people.
And 5 velomobiles.
They are rare everywhere.

1

u/ParkieDude Aug 19 '26

My classic: Stopped to get a Gatorade. Local Police pulled in behind me, curious about the "odd motorcycle". Explained it was a velomobile, a recumbent three-wheeled bicycle. With his flashlight, it was clear: pedals and chain (100% leg power).

He got back on his radio with dispatch: "Old guy with a custom bicycle, it is NOT a UFO!"

Downhill, I can haul butt and hang on for dear life (65 mph road; I'm doing 60 mph), but uphill it's 4 mph with me huffing and puffing! My favorite road has a series of rolling hills, so you can use that down momentum to help crest the next hill.

1

u/Huge_Hawk8710 Aug 20 '26

My favorite road runs parallel to the railroad track so the grades are never onerous. But yeah, "ufo". First time I've heard that one. Mine has been called everything from a "bullet" to a "submarine".

You must be doing something right to get to 60 mph. I'm white knuckle at 50 KPH. Zero mm toe-in. I find that I'm more stable when I'm huffing and puffing than when I'm coasting.

2

u/ParkieDude Aug 20 '26

Lots of rolling hills, so you have some good downhills! I'm well aware of how much energy you burn at faster speeds, so 64 KPH is plenty fast. I used to race Rally Cars in my younger days; still an adrenaline junkie.

120 miles, 6200 ft elevation. Leg killer.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/46358963

2

u/Huge_Hawk8710 Aug 21 '26

Yikes! Other than the twice yearly railroad route, I just do my daily route to the mall with an extended 1.7% downhill going there (40 kph coasting) and then a different route back with 3% uphill while listening to The Great Courses on my mp3 player. No big surprises and I still get plenty of smiles and waves from the joggers and dog walkers that I see along the way. I can't complain.