I live in the N. Cascades and have a Bafang kicker with a 55T chainring and a 10-52 cassette. The assist really makes the long grades out here, a lot more enjoyable. I average about 9 mph up a 13 mile 8% grade, that I do fairly often. I was a bit leary of adding 16 lbs. to the base weight of the velo but it has turned out, very well.
Hi Kirk Jones, is that a pterovelo I see in your icon? With that combination of gears you must be able to go very fast on a flat. Thank you for leaving a comment. Marnix
@@kiwi_velonaut Yeah, that is one of Franz's Pterovelos. Actually one of the two prototypes. The other is all white and has a bunch of sponsor stickers on it. Without the e-assist, she does 54 mph on the flats. Not for long but you can do it. I was very surprised at how well it outperformed the Quest, Strada and Mango on the ROAM tour, in 2011. My next velo is going to be a Katanga. I like the idea of being able to disassemble the body, to work on it, as I live a couple of hours away from a bike shop. Not many people recognize the Pterovelo, do you know Franz also?
No I don't, I reseached the pterovelo when I was looking a buying a go-one evolution. I liked the look, except it had some fogging problems at the time.
@@kiwi_velonaut Franz added a NACA duct, which fixed the fogging problems, for the most part. The seat was a bit of an issue, in the first couple though. Still and all, the performance, makes up for a few sins ;-) Jennings and the other Europeans didn't like the disc brakes. We still disagree on that. That is a nice DF you have there, what prompted the choice of one? Jennings dropped his Quest for a DF but he has gone over to the QV, in recent times.
@@kirkjones9639 When I purchased the DF, I had a list of priorities that I was wanting in a velomobile. For example, my top priority was it had to keep me dry in the rain. It had to look cool, an electric assist had to be included or able to be retrofitted, Ideally it needed about 10cm ground clearance (for speed bumps), The list went on. I preffered the goone evolution, but it was no longer being made, also the beyss business was difficult to communicate with in english. The Orca was one I considered, but they only sold in the netherlands. Then when I got in contact with ympte, the DFXL seemed a good alternative, and indeed it was; I love it.
If I would live in area with that kind of hills I would also like to have E assist 😁 Btw. Nice beach. We also have few nice beaches here in the north, but we usually don’t have so high temperatures.
Hi Saukki, I've seen some nice beaches in your videos. You look like you are a rider that probably doesn't need a e-assist. In one of your videos you averaged about 50km/h, that is my goal, and you do that without e-assist, that's really impressive. Thanks for the comment.
Well that 50 km/h was on closed, mostly flat racing circuit on a competition. On normal roads with traffic and intersections I can’t keep that kind of average speed 😄
Oh, I may have got it wrong, but I saw "Velomobile vs. Group of Road Cyclists | Cycling event Arvon kuntoajo, Kälviä, Finland ", the name I thought was you was actually called Sauli Nurila. The icon next to the name is a orange quest velomobile like yours. This person averaged 49.3km/h and was averaging about 52km/h at the half way point. A large part of that ride looks like it's on public road.
You are so right... I have seen Saukki having days where he can't ride because of snow. Where I live, I would have to ride about 20km during winter to get to snow, or 50km to get to thick snow like in Saukki's videos.
Hi Johannes, thanks for your comment and your question. The day I recorded this video I had been riding my velomobile all day, some of it with assist and some of it without. The distance I travelled that day was about 68km. I still had more than half the battery left at the end of the day. The battery (accu) does drain faster when going up, but uses nothing when going down. On a flat I can ride 30-40km/h without any assist, or if I do use assist I go 40-47km/h with almost no pedal power necessary. I like to ride feeling a bit of pressure on my pedals, so I use about 40% assist on flat, 100% up hill and 0% down hill. You taught me something today; I didn't know that part of the hobbit was filmed here. Thanks again. Marnix
Hi, sorry for replying so late. In this video the downhill that I do required lots of braking. I have done the same ride at other times, and one time I went too fast which resulted in me not being able to make the turn safely. The road there is very windy/bendy, and my brakes were getting very hot. Another DF rider here in NZ uses heat syncs on his velomobile. The motor doesn't drag, it just doesn't assist anymore at certain speeds (around 50kph). Hope that answers he question, and thanks for leaving the comment. Marnix
Hi, just saw your comment. I ride a velomobile that has three wheels called a DFxl, the Quattrovelo is also a velomobile, but it has four wheels. I can't remember exactly how much it cost to ship my velomobile, or the tax to pay, but I think in total at the time it cost about 15k NZD. Hope that helps.
Hi Andy, thanks for the comment, my velomobile cost me about 13000 New Zealand dollars. However on the flip side, I have saved about 2000 new zealand dollars compared to driving a small car, because I use it to get to work.
I bought mine new from Inter City Bike in Holland, there are many different models of these kinds of bikes. Regarding clubs, there is a club of sorts in Christchurch, (Kiwi HPV). However I tend to just join other diamond frame cyclists. Thanks for leaving a comment.
Hi Roman, I have so far gone up to about 84 km/h on the downs. On the windy downs in this video, I go up to about 56 km/h, after which I have to brake; that speed is faster then cars going down the same hills.
Sorry I just noticed I didn't really answer the second part of your question. Regarding if it is stable at high speeds.. The short answer is yes it is stable at high speeds. Now for the details, my suspension, if too soft, can make the velomobile unstable when it hits a bump in the road that causes it to "bounce"a bit. Also if there are strong side winds, I tend to slow down, because they can move me suddenly, and allthough it is not sketchy for me, another road user may not be able to predict that movement. I have gone down hills in many places where the road is staight or gently curves around the hill.. in those instances I love my velomobile as it gets to very high speeds and remains nice and stable. I could make it even more stable by fine tuning the alignment of my front wheels.
Gee, you are selling me on the electric assist, the speed up some of those gradients was amazing! No reason to be concerned about hills and velos any more. On another note, how do you find people and their sticky fingers with your velo? I like to keep mine in sight all the time, mainly as I worry about people damaging the bonnet which is wafer thin. As a result I don't ride to supermarkets or shopping etc- perhaps I need to be a bit less precious!
Hi Terry, yeah, the e-assist makes a massive difference in speed up hills. When it comes to sticky fingers, the velomobile does get quite a few people touching it without asking. mostly kids touching the mirrors. From a theft point of view I'm not worried at all, that is because it draws a crowd and not many thieves like to steal while a crowd is watching. I do take mine to supermarkets etc. I just lock my velomobile up and try to take any valuables with me. The worst I've seen is when a child (approximately 7yrs) jumped up on to the "bonnet" for a photo... I was a bit concerned then, because that is the weakest part of the DF velomobiles. I often sit or rest on the body nearer to the seat.Thanks for your comment, God bless. Marnix
Hiya Marnix , Have too say to ya Mate suck an sweome sight your NZ wonderful awesome place and the bike ride seems sweome and so beautiful lovely Mate :-)
If I understand your comment correctly, you enjoyed seeing the New Zealand sights during that ride to Whites Bay. I agree that Blenheim and New Zealand is a beautiful place. Thanks for making that comment :-)
No Marnix , I havent yet been to NZ Mate just keep watching your videos Mate luv seeing the beautful place you travel with your Velo was planning next visiting NZ with my Velo traveling around your Beautiful NZ of yours :-)
The bad news: A good climbing speed would be double as high as your max. climbing speed, so: 40kmh. The good news: Between 20-40kmh aerodynamic resistance is low, so, to double your speed, you need double the power, not 4-times the power.
Looks lovely. It's a pity they're so bloody expensive, it's exactly what I'm looking for.
Hand Made perfection. No need for a car ever! No gasoline to buy! I got mine on orrder 10 mounth wait. Actually 9 months 25 days..
very good info from you- tells me alot of what I needed to know- thx
Hi Tom, I'm glad it was useful. I'm always keen to help with queries regarding bikes etc. Thanks for the compliment.
Reminds me of Vancouver Island. A lot. Two giant islands separated by a hemisphere and an ocean. Who knew?
I live in the N. Cascades and have a Bafang kicker with a 55T chainring and a 10-52 cassette. The assist really makes the long grades out here, a lot more enjoyable. I average about 9 mph up a 13 mile 8% grade, that I do fairly often. I was a bit leary of adding 16 lbs. to the base weight of the velo but it has turned out, very well.
Hi Kirk Jones, is that a pterovelo I see in your icon? With that combination of gears you must be able to go very fast on a flat. Thank you for leaving a comment.
Marnix
@@kiwi_velonaut Yeah, that is one of Franz's Pterovelos. Actually one of the two prototypes. The other is all white and has a bunch of sponsor stickers on it. Without the e-assist, she does 54 mph on the flats. Not for long but you can do it. I was very surprised at how well it outperformed the Quest, Strada and Mango on the ROAM tour, in 2011. My next velo is going to be a Katanga. I like the idea of being able to disassemble the body, to work on it, as I live a couple of hours away from a bike shop. Not many people recognize the Pterovelo, do you know Franz also?
No I don't, I reseached the pterovelo when I was looking a buying a go-one evolution. I liked the look, except it had some fogging problems at the time.
@@kiwi_velonaut Franz added a NACA duct, which fixed the fogging problems, for the most part. The seat was a bit of an issue, in the first couple though. Still and all, the performance, makes up for a few sins ;-) Jennings and the other Europeans didn't like the disc brakes. We still disagree on that. That is a nice DF you have there, what prompted the choice of one? Jennings dropped his Quest for a DF but he has gone over to the QV, in recent times.
@@kirkjones9639 When I purchased the DF, I had a list of priorities that I was wanting in a velomobile. For example, my top priority was it had to keep me dry in the rain.
It had to look cool,
an electric assist had to be included or able to be retrofitted,
Ideally it needed about 10cm ground clearance (for speed bumps),
The list went on.
I preffered the goone evolution, but it was no longer being made, also the beyss business was difficult to communicate with in english. The Orca was one I considered, but they only sold in the netherlands. Then when I got in contact with ympte, the DFXL seemed a good alternative, and indeed it was; I love it.
If I would live in area with that kind of hills I would also like to have E assist 😁
Btw. Nice beach. We also have few nice beaches here in the north, but we usually don’t have so high temperatures.
Hi Saukki, I've seen some nice beaches in your videos. You look like you are a rider that probably doesn't need a e-assist. In one of your videos you averaged about 50km/h, that is my goal, and you do that without e-assist, that's really impressive. Thanks for the comment.
Well that 50 km/h was on closed, mostly flat racing circuit on a competition. On normal roads with traffic and intersections I can’t keep that kind of average speed 😄
Oh, I may have got it wrong, but I saw "Velomobile vs. Group of Road Cyclists | Cycling event Arvon kuntoajo, Kälviä, Finland ", the name I thought was you was actually called Sauli Nurila. The icon next to the name is a orange quest velomobile like yours. This person averaged 49.3km/h and was averaging about 52km/h at the half way point. A large part of that ride looks like it's on public road.
finland is a bit colder then NZ there is 30 degrees saukki but flat and some hils in his earea
You are so right... I have seen Saukki having days where he can't ride because of snow. Where I live, I would have to ride about 20km during winter to get to snow, or 50km to get to thick snow like in Saukki's videos.
in that earea on nz was the hobbit filmed too . so e assist helps a lot how mutch drained the accu til home marnix, gravety works +speed
Hi Johannes, thanks for your comment and your question. The day I recorded this video I had been riding my velomobile all day, some of it with assist and some of it without. The distance I travelled that day was about 68km. I still had more than half the battery left at the end of the day. The battery (accu) does drain faster when going up, but uses nothing when going down. On a flat I can ride 30-40km/h without any assist, or if I do use assist I go 40-47km/h with almost no pedal power necessary. I like to ride feeling a bit of pressure on my pedals, so I use about 40% assist on flat, 100% up hill and 0% down hill. You taught me something today; I didn't know that part of the hobbit was filmed here. Thanks again. Marnix
Why so slow on the downhills, Is it just braking or motor drag?
Hi, sorry for replying so late. In this video the downhill that I do required lots of braking. I have done the same ride at other times, and one time I went too fast which resulted in me not being able to make the turn safely. The road there is very windy/bendy, and my brakes were getting very hot. Another DF rider here in NZ uses heat syncs on his velomobile. The motor doesn't drag, it just doesn't assist anymore at certain speeds (around 50kph). Hope that answers he question, and thanks for leaving the comment.
Marnix
What is it your driving velomobile or Quattrovelo? You said got your from Holland tones Zealand how much did shipping cost?
Hi, just saw your comment. I ride a velomobile that has three wheels called a DFxl, the Quattrovelo is also a velomobile, but it has four wheels. I can't remember exactly how much it cost to ship my velomobile, or the tax to pay, but I think in total at the time it cost about 15k NZD. Hope that helps.
your velo looks a lot of fun. how much do they cost?
Hi Andy, thanks for the comment, my velomobile cost me about 13000 New Zealand dollars. However on the flip side, I have saved about 2000 new zealand dollars compared to driving a small car, because I use it to get to work.
Hi Marnix, this looks cool, where do you buy them from and are there any clubs in NZ? Great vids.
I bought mine new from Inter City Bike in Holland, there are many different models of these kinds of bikes. Regarding clubs, there is a club of sorts in Christchurch, (Kiwi HPV). However I tend to just join other diamond frame cyclists. Thanks for leaving a comment.
How fast do you go on the downs? Is it pretty stable at high speeds or is it sketchy?
Hi Roman, I have so far gone up to about 84 km/h on the downs. On the windy downs in this video, I go up to about 56 km/h, after which I have to brake; that speed is faster then cars going down the same hills.
Sorry I just noticed I didn't really answer the second part of your question. Regarding if it is stable at high speeds.. The short answer is yes it is stable at high speeds. Now for the details, my suspension, if too soft, can make the velomobile unstable when it hits a bump in the road that causes it to "bounce"a bit. Also if there are strong side winds, I tend to slow down, because they can move me suddenly, and allthough it is not sketchy for me, another road user may not be able to predict that movement. I have gone down hills in many places where the road is staight or gently curves around the hill.. in those instances I love my velomobile as it gets to very high speeds and remains nice and stable. I could make it even more stable by fine tuning the alignment of my front wheels.
Gee, you are selling me on the electric assist, the speed up some of those gradients was amazing! No reason to be concerned about hills and velos any more. On another note, how do you find people and their sticky fingers with your velo? I like to keep mine in sight all the time, mainly as I worry about people damaging the bonnet which is wafer thin. As a result I don't ride to supermarkets or shopping etc- perhaps I need to be a bit less precious!
Hi Terry, yeah, the e-assist makes a massive difference in speed up hills. When it comes to sticky fingers, the velomobile does get quite a few people touching it without asking. mostly kids touching the mirrors. From a theft point of view I'm not worried at all, that is because it draws a crowd and not many thieves like to steal while a crowd is watching. I do take mine to supermarkets etc. I just lock my velomobile up and try to take any valuables with me. The worst I've seen is when a child (approximately 7yrs) jumped up on to the "bonnet" for a photo... I was a bit concerned then, because that is the weakest part of the DF velomobiles. I often sit or rest on the body nearer to the seat.Thanks for your comment, God bless. Marnix
Hiya Marnix ,
Have too say to ya Mate suck an sweome sight your NZ wonderful awesome place and the bike ride seems sweome and so beautiful lovely Mate :-)
If I understand your comment correctly, you enjoyed seeing the New Zealand sights during that ride to Whites Bay. I agree that Blenheim and New Zealand is a beautiful place. Thanks for making that comment :-)
No Marnix ,
I havent yet been to NZ Mate just keep watching your videos Mate luv seeing the beautful place you travel with your Velo was planning next visiting NZ with my Velo traveling around your Beautiful NZ of yours :-)
oh okay, well, if you do visit someday, I might see you then.
The bad news: A good climbing speed would be double as high as your max. climbing speed, so: 40kmh.
The good news: Between 20-40kmh aerodynamic resistance is low, so, to double your speed, you need double the power, not 4-times the power.