Velomobiles for Begginers Ep. 3: Is riding a Velomobile safe?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2024
- Riding a bicycle seems dangerous enough. But a velomobile? Surely I'll get run right over by a big SUV! But is that really true? Is it possible to actually cycle safely in a velomobile in an area designed entirely for cars?
For more information on velomobiles, visit www.velomobileworld.com
If you'd like to look into ordering one, email me at sales.usa@velomobileworld.com
Congratulations on reaching 1000 subscribers!!👍
Thank you. The adds will be annoying, but it is nice to make a little money for all the time it takes to make videos.
Great video. I love the wooden velo.
Thanks for watching.
Great tips! 🤘
I ride my recumbent trike to work on occasion. I find your advice is very sound. My trike has e-assist and it is most useful getting across busy intersections. The downside to e-assist is the extra weight which some of the e-energy is used to propel itself up hills. Finding alternative side routes is the best strategy where cycle lanes and paths are not available. Being vigilant, expecting to be startled with stupid traffic, and anticipating pinch points and stops are the best mental strategies while riding any kind of bike/trike/VM.
Great video 👍🏻👍🏻
Thanks!
Yes! Taking the lane is a great defensive cycling tactic!
I was amazed at first what a difference it made. I wasn’t sure if it was legal when I was in Germany on vacation this summer. So many crazy passes. I learned later that it is accepted practice there too. Should have asked before I went. Lesson learned.
One of your best videos so far!
Thank you. It is an important topic that I wanted to try very hard to do justice to.
great video with good advice here -- indeed, many new cyclists follow their car preferences. In my city, the experienced cyclists will use alternative routing a lot. I also do that for most of the roads across country -- even there back roads can be found that are good to ride, quiet, and scenic.
Thanks for watching and the great feedback. Routing was the biggest thing I needed to learn as a new velomobile rider. Routing is very different from a car or where I would ride with my bike. Once I learned how to pick my routes, riding velomobile became much more enjoyable.
Another great video! What changes would you make to a velomobile for daily use? Ie trunk lid for groceries? Thank you!
For me the Bülk has everything I need for everyday riding, which is the majority of my riding. The seat is super easy to remove to give ample access to rear storage space. If I need to haul more than I have space for I can install a trailer hitch. The designer of the Bülk has also made a trailer that will go into production hopefully this winter. I hope to get one in the spring to review and use for myself when I need to haul bigger things like buckets of cat litter.
@@mnveloguy ok thanks!
Likewise, I can say that you don't need a trunk for groceries. Seat moves forward (or can be removed) and you pack bags of chips in the pod behind the driver, and light flat thin things on the right (chain, derailleur, less room) and almost everything else on the right behind or under the seat. At times groceries will be piled high on either side, and there's also a bit in front of the seat but behind the tiller - if it's not so tall that it interferes with pedalling. The only trick is not to expect to bung a full grocery bag anywhere without a bit of creative repacking.
@@CadboroBaySunrise yep. What I do is lightly pack the bag, then stick it in the back and pack the rest of the stuff in there. Works great. It’s sort of like Tetris for adults. I actually enjoy seeing how much I can cram in.
Most current velomobiles are designed for speed not utility. Back in my youth, there were a lot of flashy sports cars on the road. Now, they look like large appliances. I often wonder what it would be like if more velomobiles were more utilitarian. Discuss...🙄😀
Velomobil = no scrumblezone
Here is a very helpful page about the design of the Bülk velomobile that I ride. The safety features section explains about how the design helps protect the rider in the event of a crash www.velomobileworld.com/bulk/
You can also watch my video “my velomobile saved my life in a crash” to see how my Quest XS absorbed the impact from a car that hit me at 30mph. This is the crash I showed some brief footage of I’m this video. Elomobiles so a wonderful job of protecting their riders, certainly better than any traditional bicycle, and frankly better than a lot of SUVs which have such stiff frame, that they cannot absorb impact because they do not Ave any flex to them.
@@mnveloguy Not 1 centimeter of scrumblezone from the side!!! I broke all my ribs on the right side with a milan mk3, not mentioning the injuries of my neck and head, without a helmet.
@@andreashenzler7124 cars also do not have crumple zones on the side. And that is why it is very important to wear a helmet. I always wear a helmet, even when I rode with the race hood.
Do you have a death wish or what?
I’ve been hit 5 times as the driver of a car. A couple others as passenger. The worst were the 3 times I was hit from behind, all of which happened on high speed roads. The last one totaled my car and left me with severe whiplash. It was a sudden stop of traffic from high speed and the driver behind looked away for a brief second and slammed into me.
A friend of mine was killed while riding in the back seat of a car when an oncoming car crossed the line and smashed into the car she was in. Her brother, the driver, survived but was seriously injured. Despite being in the back seat and wearing her seatbelt properly, she was still killed.
Recently two major accidents with deaths occurred on interstate 94 in wisconsin not that far from the Minnesota state line. Both invoked semi trucks slamming into cars. In the more recent of the two, both the car and semi burst into flames killing the people in the car and the semi driver.
A bigger vehicle does mot guarantee you will be safe. I choose to ride velomobile on quiet side streets while driving defensively because it lowers my risk of being killed, it lowers my carbon footprint, it saves me a ton of money on gas, and it improves my mental and physical health.
Think about it from the other side. Imagine that today, some driver is going to make a critical mistake, and hit you as a cyclist or pedestrian. Which would you rather be hit by - an enormous SUV, or a velomobile? Which is more likely to kill or permanently disfigure you? Now imagine that you're the driver who's just made that mistake, and you could have avoided it just by choosing not to take the car - if you could roll the day back and make a different choice, would you choose a bike or velo instead? I know I would, and do, every day.