Velomobiles in the area?

On the Northshore Century yesterday afternoon we saw a Velomobile coming the other way up the trail as we rode South on the Robert McClory path around Lake Bluff.   No sooner did we pass it but about 15-20 minutes later ANOTHER one zipped by going the same direction as the first so I know it wasn't the same one.

I've never seen one in the wild out on the trails or roads in the Chicago area.  I thought that seeing such a rare beast was a one in a million thing and was really surprised at seeing two in the same hour.  Maybe they were riding together at one point and one had fallen behind the other by a fair amount on the way back from somewhere.

Is there a local velomobile group that had a meetup yesterday in the West burbs?  

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on September 25, 2012 at 1:35am

My vision isn't that good, so at a distance it just looked like a recumbent to me coming at us.   We had stopped for just a couple of minutes to visit the facilities at a Metra station between the sightings but there was probably no way that guy could have passed us even if he had turned around and made a Southerly loop, passed us while we were in the station, only to turn again and go North to pass us going North again later.   There was some discussion about whether it was even possible  -a real long shot, longer than seeing two of them in the same area.    They must have been together at some point.  Once you see one, a second one probably points to the possibility of a group of them. 

Yeah, they are expensive and rare machines.   But not everyone is poor...

Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on September 25, 2012 at 4:11am

Yeah, I thought they were pretty awesome. Actually, I had never heard of or seen a velomobile until I watched a documentary on PBP the other night. Some dude actually did PBP in one of those. Hardcore!

Permalink Reply by Ride it like you stole it on September 25, 2012 at 4:40am

One came into my shop like a month ago or so. It was pretty cool to see up close. The owner tours with it, and puts on about 10,000 a year supposedly. Full working instruments like headlights, horn, and turn signals. Those things are heavy as shit though, heavy!

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on September 25, 2012 at 4:55am

When you are moving weight doesn't really make much of a difference to rolling resistance -apart from hill-climbing.  Then it must SUCK.   Can  you say electric assist??? ;)  Coming down the other side of a hill must be fun though.   A speedometer would be necessary just to keep from getting a ticket.

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on September 25, 2012 at 9:35am

I've never seen a velomobile anywhere, how cool is it to spot two the same day?  I'd love to try one out, and I'm sure I can't afford to buy one.  I just viewed a bunch of Youtube videos about them and found this Dutch velomobile rally which is fun to watch.  They even have corkers at the intersections.  How nice it would be to ride in a pack like this past windmills....dreaming.

Permalink Reply by Ride it like you stole it on September 25, 2012 at 9:58am

The one I saw had no electric assist, but had a battery to run the lights, horn, signals, etc. It had a speedometer inside it from what I remember, but it may have just been a cyclometer. And was fully enclosed with a removable top. It was a damn nice machine, and roomy.

James BlackHeron said:

When you are moving weight doesn't really make much of a difference to rolling resistance -apart from hill-climbing.  Then it must SUCK.   Can  you say electric assist??? ;)  Coming down the other side of a hill must be fun though.   A speedometer would be necessary just to keep from getting a ticket.

Permalink Reply by Holly on September 25, 2012 at 10:20am

I saw one on Sunday on one of the streets I took to get to Lincoln Square from the North Branch trail. It's like seeing a spaceship, really.  Our reaction was to stare and utter, "What the...?"

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on September 25, 2012 at 10:24am

I'm not sure, but I could have sworn it made that Jetson's sound when it went by:    b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b....

Holly said:

I saw one on Sunday on one of the streets I took to get to Lincoln Square from the North Branch trail. It's like seeing a spaceship, really.  Our reaction was to stare and utter, "What the...?"

Permalink Reply by Ash L. on September 26, 2012 at 3:01pm

There are at least two on the north side of the city. A white one that looked like a lone sperm sped past me on Sacramento and Wellington in July and another with "green" something or other wrap advertisement attends various functions around town. I saw the rider of the latter high five a dude in the bike lane on Division earlier this month. Now, that's multitasking. 

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