Encycleopedia VII

ENCYCLEOPEDIA 2002- 03

ryin

g

3e

ncycleop

ben ts

car

200 2 edia

load

dia 200 ope

eS

bil

accessories

cyclin g the

encycle

mo

o vel

e

n

Rec um

trikes

practical

les tab cleo cy ped

3 200

s in ve

quads

por

in cycling th s e ve cycleopedia

e to alterna d i ti gu

002 ia 2 en

£12.00 $23.95 319,00

2002 -03

to alter n ide a ti gu Richard Ballantine

ALAN DAVIDSON -

“ In addition to bringing news of interesting products and things, the Encycleopedia talks about the people who make and sell them, and tells where they can be found. It’s your guide to the places that have what interests you.

Seems a simple thing, but this is unique – and is what makes the Encycleopedia so essential a tool for advanced enjoyment of cycling.”

t ad

por

cleo ncy pe

ENCYCLEOPEDIA 2002-03 ©2002 Alan Davidson First published in the UK in July 2002 by: Encycleopedia Ltd, PO Box 317, Stockport SK2 7YH. Tel/Fax: +44 (0)161 484 0579 e-mail: alan@encycleopedia.com Web: www.encycleopedia.com Encycleopedia 2002-03 is the seventh edition of Encycleopedia – previous editions of Encycleopedia were published by Open Road Ltd – and is distributed worldwide by Encycleopedia Ltd and its agents.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners. Encycleopedia Ltd has made a reasonable effort to ensure that all products featured in Encycleopedia 2002-03 are of high quality, from respectable sources, and are accurately described. Not every product has been tested extensively. It is the responsibility of the purchaser of a product to ensure that the product is safe and appropriate for the purpose intended.

We cannot accept responsibility for the consequences of transactions between readers and producers and/or distributors of the products described in Encycleopedia 2002-03.

Encycleopedia Ltd has made every effort to ensure that the shops listed in Encycleopedia 2002-03 are reputable, efficient and sympathetic to the aims of Encycleopedia. However, we cannot bear responsibility for the actions of shops, nor the consequences of transactions between readers and shops.

g

ads trikes practical

ryin

car

200 a i 2 ed

leS obi

load

accessories

3e

ncycleop

Special thanks to Nigel Davidson

dia 200 ope

encycle

Encycleopedia Ltd Edition ISBN: 0-9542052-0-0 AlpenBooks Press Edition ISBN: 0-9669795-6-7

Encycleopedia 2002-03 The Guide to Alternatives in Cycling

£12.00 $23.95 319,00

cycling t h e

om vel

id gu

cycleo

les

tab

por

First published in the USA in 2002 by: AlpenBooks Press, 3616 South Road C-1, Mukilteo, WA 98275 USA. Tel: +1 425 290 8587 Fax: +1 425 290 9461

Publisher and Editor: Alan Davidson Assistant Editor: Amy Davidson Design: Christopher Thomas Artwork and Production: Kathryn Fox Printed by: Stephens & George Magazines Ltd, Goat Mill Road, Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil, Mid Glamorgan CF48 3TD England.

RICHARD BALLANTINE

s in ve

to altern at i

I’m pleased to welcome this new edition of the Encycleopedia. It is an important resource for learning about and finding things in the cycling world, especially those that are a bit unusual or hard to find...

FOREWORD Cycling is a funny game. If you just want to

colour you want, so long as it is black’. The

seeing the hardware, you can talk to

roll along down the road, a standard

investment cost for new products is large,

informed staff: people who actually do the

bicycle is all you need. If you want to do

so the focus is on realising high-volume,

things and live the life – whether it‘s riding

other things – ride rough trails, whiz along

mainstream sales, and decisions about

in races, carting kids, or moving furniture.

through winter snow and ice, carry children

elements such as design and construction

The information and advice these people

or groceries, light up a dark night, power a

become conservative. A good part of

can provide is vital.

popcorn machine, or whatever – then you

what‘s sold is simply price. Options become

need specialized cycles, accessories, and

more limited.

equipment. And as more and more people

In addition to bringing news of interesting products and things, the Encycleopedia

turn to cycling not just as a sport or means

Smaller firms can more easily concentrate on

talks about the people who make and sell

of reaching work, but as a part of almost

meeting customer‘s needs, than marketing

them, and tells where they can be found.

every aspect of life, from grocery shopping

at price points. The parallel development to

It‘s your guide to the places that have what

to bird-watching, there‘s been a world-

the increasing globalization of cycle

interests you. Seems a simple thing, but this

wide explosion of new bike designs of all

manfacturing and sales, has been an

is unique – and is what makes the

kinds, and of innovative, well-made

increase in small firms producing specialist

Encycleopedia so essential a tool for

accessories and gear. You want a high-

products for niche markets. Fine, but where

advanced enjoyment of cycling.

performance bicycle, that you can

do you find this stuff?

dismantle and pack into a suitcase small

A word to the wise: the prices on some

enough to check as air baggage, without

Your local bike shop may be a nice place, it

items may take your breath away. Well,

penalty? A child trailer that doubles as a

may even be exceptional, but it is most

that‘s progress for you. When it comes to

stroller? Can do – but you have to know

unlikely to cover everything available. There‘s

specialist products, the pertinent question to

where to look.

simply too much for any one shop to stock it

ask about price is not how cheap something

all. So IBDs – independent bicycle dealers –

can be, but how much value for money it

Specialized gear is not likely to be found in

have learned to survive, and even flourish,

represents. The beauty of the Encycleopedia

the large chain store outlets which account

by making a virtue of necessity, and

is that it is about products and things that

for an ever-increasing proportion of cycle

specializing. Some are known particularly for

can make a real difference in enjoyment of

sales. Mass production and marketing has

downhill mountain biking, others for road

cycling, and even in lifestyle.

given us bikes that are better and yet

racing, yet others for recumbents, or for

cheaper, than ever before. You can buy a

trailers, or for work bikes.

So enjoy!

pay if you purchased the parts separately.

When you go to one of these places to

Richard Ballantine

Great, but the tendency is toward ‘Any

check out what‘s going, in addition to

London, 2002.

complete bike for far less than you would

RICHARD’S BICYCLE BOOKS The original Richard’s Bicycle Book by cycling guru Richard Ballantine was the “cyclists’ bible” for bike boom of the 1970s and became an enduring, million-copy classic. The latest edition, Richard’s 21st Century Bicycle Book, is a complete revision of the original volume, as reflects and befits the enormous ongoing advances and developments which continue to make cycling ‘better than ever’.

Richard is co-author with Richard Grant of the lavish Richard’s Ultimate Bicycle Book and the compact Bicycle Repair Manual. He founded Bicycle Magazine, The Bicycle Buyers’ Bible, and other cycling periodicals in Britain, was cycling columnist for the Guardian, and has written hundreds of columns and articles for magazines in the United States and Britain. He has appeared in numerous cycling film documentaries, including the widely seen BBC series Bicycle.

A mountain bike pioneer, Richard seeded the movement in Britain with the first commercial importation of mountain bikes into the U.K. Active in human-powered vehicles since 1980, his Avatar 2000 recumbent bicycle was the basis for the Bluebell HPV which held the world record bicycle speed for 1982-83. He is chair of the British Human Power Club and board member of the International Human-Powered Vehicle Association.

Son of the mass market book publishing pioneers Ian & Betty Ballantine, Richard carries on the family firm, Rufus Publications, and has written, edited, produced, and published books on a wide range of topics, from aviation and space travel to sports, the environment, and wildlife. His most recent volume is The Sawtooth Wolves, the story of living with a wolf pack in Idaho.

Tel: +44 (0)20 7813 2045 Fax: +44 (0)20 7483 1719 e-mail: bikebook@ballantine.u-net.com

CONTENTS Héric And The 24 Heures De Tandem

By Bob Tennant

13

The Aerorider Project

By Bart de Wert

28

Velo Nova Bike designer and artist Bauke Muntz brings proposed Dutch HPV theme park to life

30

The Car Is Only A Guest In The City Otto Beaujon reports on the car-free city of Houten in the Netherlands

32

Cycle City Martin Whitfield and the story behind his CycleCity Guides by Lynne Curry

34

Towards An Urban Paradise

By Karta Healy of A>>B

38

Look Ma, No Balance!

Dylan MacDonald on a Greenspeed trike in San Francisco

40

Road Warrior Conrad King on psychology and cycling in traffic

42

Workshop For Human Powered Vehicles A profile of Radnabel designer and builder Dieter Baumann

46

Why A Recumbent Cycle?

Observations by Bob Tennant

47

Cycling With Georgie The highs and lows of mobility cycling

by Andy Blanshard

50

PRODUCT FEATURES

Poor No More HPVs Come Of Age

by Richard Ballantine

56

Taking The Kids With You

By Lynne Curry

66

In Winter Professional Ultra-Cyclist Mike Curiak braves the elements

76

Getting The Bikes To The People The Company of Cyclists’ Bike Try-Out Roadshow by Jim McGurn

84

The Encycleopedia Dealer Try-Out Tour

85

Encycleopedia Affiliated Dealers

86

Cycling In Germany A report by writer/translator Sebastian Trapp, plus his translation of the ‘Cycle City’ article

88

Index Of Products And Manufacturers

90

We have split the bikes into two main sections: non-recumbent machines first, then the recumbents. Within each section we group the bikes in the following order: folders; multi-wheeled; multi-person; performance; and comfort bikes. Trailers, components and accessories are grouped towards the back of the book.

Please refer to page 90 for a full index of all the product features, both by product name and by manufacturer’s name.

Please note price information in the product features is merely a guide.

The same product could cost half as much again in another country.

Check directly with manufacturers for up-to-date information.

smug machines – not smog machines

One of the things we’ve noticed over the years at Encycleopedia is that the more bikes you have, the more you want to have.

The only limiting factor is how deep is your pocket, and where on earth are you going to find room for another bike? But if you don’t already own one, then you really should make sure you get yourself a decent, quality folding bike.

6

Some people think the whole concept of a high performance folding bike is inherently a contradiction in terms. There was a time when that was generally true – basically the Bickerton or nothing – but nowadays there are many fantastic folding bikes to choose from. We have assembled a few here for you to have a look at, some new, some well-established ones.

All of them however will give you great service and really open your eyes. There‘s nothing to beat the thrill of cycling to the station /coach terminal/airport/etc on a responsive lightweight bike and then, after a nifty bit of folding, jumping onboard under the quizzical gaze of your fellow passengers. Well, except perhaps the total smugness that‘s almost impossible to resist on arrival, as you whiz straight out the exit on your dream machine while your fellow travellers are still trying to find their car.

BIRDY

Prices and Spec Each model has its own colour and there are now five different variations to choose from: Red Entry-level, 8-speed Shimano Deore derailleur.

31149. £740 Green Low-maintenance, Shimano Nexus 7speed coaster hub.

31249. £800 Blue Touring-oriented, wide-ratio SRAM 3x7 hybrid gear with Shimano Deore derailleur.

31349. £870 Black Lightweight (only 9.8kg), 9-speed Shimano Deore XT. 31699. £1100 Grey: The new Rohloff 14 speed hub gear deluxe model.

3 2499. £1600

BIRDY First impressions are important, but not always. Take wide-screen televisions for example, the enhanced viewing they offer soon makes you wonder how you ever managed to watch the old square ones, but it certainly was not love at first sight. You even begin to appreciate their clean lines.

The Birdy is another exception to the rule.

The first thing you notice is the robust front suspension, which gives it an ungainly look, but brings out the best in the high performance 18” wheels. The one-piece, elastomer-dampened rear swing-arm evens out the bumps beautifully, while the ovalised, over-sized single main frame tube combines with the triangulated bottom bracket to give a lightweight, responsive ride. Fast bikes need fast wheels, and the high-pressure 1.5” Road Reflex tyres with the latest skinwall technology, reflective sidewalls and a Kevlar anti-puncture band really deliver performance.

RIESE UND MÜLLER riese und müller are dedicated to producing fullsuspension bikes which give real pleasure through their comfort, and the swift, easy and independent mobility they provide. Other bikes by riese und müller include the Culture an innovative frame design with strong integrated carrier racks; the Avenue – a low

step-over frame design which scored top marks in the Modul+ test run by the German national motoring organisation ADAC; the Delite – a sporty street machine; and the Equinox – a new concept in cycling distinguished by its relaxed riding position.

Contact Information riese und müller, Haasstr. 6, D-64293 Darmstadt.

Tel: +49/6151/36686-0 Fax: +49/6151/36686-20 e-mail: team@r-m.de Web: www.r-m.de

An extra-long seatpost allows one frame size to fit all, although there is a choice of two handlebar stems – the ‘comfort’ stem is an option for those who want a more upright riding position.

Folding is a bit quirky, but it only takes about 15-20 seconds once you get the hang of it a demo video is supplied with the bike. The Birdy still looks a little ungainly when folded.

But slip over the lightweight, waterproof shroud, and it transforms into a handy suitcase-sized package. And weighing-in at less than 11kg means that even walks down long railway platforms are easily manageable.

The optional lightweight aluminium propstand is a real must, especially if you fit a rack, as otherwise it can be quite frustrating keeping the bike balanced while you load up. The propstand cleverly attaches to the rear dropout and flips away without interfering in the folding process.

7

BROMPTON Inventor Andrew Ritchie produced his first Brompton prototypes nearly 25 years ago and today the Brompton is a design classic. The elegant and finely engineered, full-size frame is made of steel for strength and stiffness, and the elastomer rear suspension takes the sting out of the relatively small 16” wheels. It’s light, weighing from as little as 10kg, but for sheer foldability it is in a class of its own.

Once folded, and with practice this takes less than 20 seconds, a Brompton stays locked

together automatically, making an extremely compact package. And because the chain and gears stay on the inside there’s no worry about getting grease on your clothes. The folded bike is very manageable: the rollers underneath allow you to wheel the folded bike around with the frame or saddle acting as a handle and also make it easier to stow the bike in those awkward little corners.

There are seven models in the range: the relatively inexpensive, red, C-type, and the more sophisticated L and T-types, available with either three gears (L3 or T3) or six gears (L6 or T6). The engineering of the frame itself is broadly the same for all models but

the L and T-types are fitted with Brompton‘s own high-pressure tyres and powerful braking system, and they also have the Brompton folding pedal as standard – pretty essential for regular use. For a small charge, these models can be specially built to order, using any of the Brompton colours and options.

Since the demise of Sturmey Archer, Andrew has switched to the tried and tested SRAM 3speed shifter. With typical resourcefulness he has added a second sprocket to the SRAM hub to produce six evenly spaced gears with a range of 213%. This unique 6-speed derailleur, both designed and made by Brompton, is compact and doesn’t affect folding. With its very low transmission losses, this multi-gear system is the right choice for touring and for riding in hilly areas.

In the UK, prices range from £367 to £626, and will vary worldwide.

BROMPTON Andrew Ritchie is still working flat out on further streamlining of the production process as the demand for his Bromptons shows no sign of slowing down. Yet he is still finding the time to come up with clever new ideas like the 6-speed SRAM hub adaptation. And although he won’t say what it is yet, he confirms that new design developments are in the pipeline, but as Andrew is quick to point out, “We have rather long pipelines here at Brompton.”

So watch this space.

BROMPTON 8

Contact Information Brompton Bicycle Ltd, Kew Bridge Distribution Centre, Lionel Road, Brentford, Middlesex, TW8 9QR, UK. Tel: +44 20 8232 8484 Fax: +44 20 8232 8181 Web: www.bromptonbicycle.co.uk

CHAMELEON You can tell a lot about a bike from the riding position. As soon as you jump on the Chameleon you want to nestle down on the drops, stick your bum in the air and go for it. This is an ultralight performance bike. The strong, oversized, ovalised mono-tube frame is crafted from 7005 aluminium tubing, a high quality aircraft-grade alloy used on high-end bikes. Rust free. The relatively large (compared to compact folders) 24” wheels combine with the

cleverly balanced frame geometry to give a tight, responsive and comfortable ride.

And it folds. Not the sleight-of-hand metamorphosis from bike to small package type of fold, but the Chameleon folds quickly and easily into a small enough size to fit two of them into the boot of a car. With a bit more effort, by removing both wheels you can fit the entire bike into a case measuring 58cm x 58cm x 29cm (24” x 24” x 11.5”), and with further application the Chameleon can be folded so compactly that it will fit into an aircraft hand-luggage case 56cm x 36cm x 20cm (22” x 14” x 8”)!

It also makes a great touring bike. Cycle to the airport, pack the frame into the handluggage case, trust the wheels and accessories to the baggage handlers, and you’re off. On landing, grab the wheels etc off the carousel, and minutes later you‘re back on the road – certainly beats looking for a taxi or a hire car.

It’s worth changing to a wider tyre to get that extra comfort on long rides. And for heavier loads, it‘s worth opting for the aluminium front fork instead of the carbon fibre version, so you can also fit a front rack to go with the specially designed rear rack. The Chameleon is available as standard in various handlebar and component configurations, but Airnimal will customize bikes to suit.

AIRNIMAL Airnimal Designs was co-founded by Richard Loke, Yap Fook Fah and Ong Jyh Jian at the end of 1999. They wanted to take their bicycles everywhere with them, but were often deterred by the difficulty of transportation. They wanted a bike that could handle the most demanding of requirements, but that could pack easily and quickly into a small car, coach, train or plane. Material advances provided the opportunity to break away from traditional designs and allowed them to create a frame that folds quickly into a remarkably compact size, but remains light and stiff.

CHAMELEON 9

HALFWAY When Giant first commissioned Mike Burrows to design a new folding bike he was less than enthusiastic. After all, according to Mike, the smallest folding bike and the lightest folding bike had already been done, so what more was there to do? ‘Not interested.’ he said.

But the famous Burrows brain was already going into overdrive, and just one week later he was whipping up enthusiasm for his new baby, the Halfway. Mike had decided that if he couldn‘t design the smallest or lightest folding bike, then he was going to design the best-riding, folding bike. The result is a bike which is not the smallest, nor is it the lightest, but it is lightweight, compact, easy to fold, and most of all rides as close as possible to a full-size bike.

The Halfway is made from 6061 box section aluminium, making it both lightweight and strong, and it has the trademark Burrows mono-blade front fork. Not only is this fork design every bit as strong as a traditional fork, but it makes changing tyres very simple, not to mention helping the bike fold into an even more compact shape. The high pressure tyres – not the most narrow but certainly slick enough – give a comfortable performance ride on the 20” wheels. The basic single-speed version weighs 11.9kg/26.2lbs and costs around 3650, while the 7-speed version (11.2kg/24.7lbs) costs around 3750.

HALFWAY

GIANT

10

Giant is the world’s largest bike manufacturer and will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this September with the announcement of its new concept: ‘New Way of Cycling.‘ In the early-years Giant did not produce bikes under its own name – the big names like Schwinn used Giant to produce their road bikes in the Seventies – by the Eighties they dominated the BMX market, and throughout the Nineties led the way with ATBs. Their new focus is on Comfort bikes: getting more people on bikes through the use of technology, very much in the same spirit as the Shimano Di2 initiative. Giant may be the world’s biggest specialist bike manufacturer, but by using such unique, and radical designers like Mike Burrows, they have been able to appeal across the market.

Contact Information

Giant Europe BV, Pascallan 66, 8218 NJ, Lelystad, Netherlands.

Tel: +31320296296 Fax: +31320296200 Web: www.giant-bicycles.com

MR4

MR4 While the Halfway is the product of a British designer striking a happy balance between lightness, foldability, compactness, and performance, the MR4 is a direct product of the Japanese market.

By far the biggest market sector in Japan is comfortable city bikes, especially those that fold, as the typical Japanese house has an economy of space. The fact that you can fold the MR4 is more to do with the need to store bikes efficiently rather than the necessity for this bike to be a folder.

The typical MR4 rider likes the fact that he can easily store the bike in his flat during the week before popping it into his car boot and heading out for a good spin in the countryside at the weekend. Whether it takes one minute or five minutes to fold a bike is not that great a concern. The most important consideration for the MR4 customer is performance.

Based on an original design by Aria San, the so-called Mike Burrows of Japan, it is available with or without suspension. The rigid version weighs 12.5 kgs and is for the time being only available in Japan. The rear suspension model weighs 14.5kgs and costs 31199. Like all Giant bikes, the frames are made from 6061 aluminium.

11

BICHETTE A foldable road bike has to be fast, rigid, light, and comfortable for long trips, and the 7000 double butted aluminum framed Bichette certainly fits the bill weighing in at less than 10kg (22lb). The 20” wheels ensure a compact package but, because the wheelbase and riding position are basically

identical to a full-size bike, you get real performance on the road. And, come to think of it, smaller wheels should actually make starting up a little easier.

A responsive bike needs a tight frame, and the unified rear triangle design gives rigidity and keeps chain tension constant. The Bichette folds by turning the rear triangle around the suspension pivot, which means there are no frame hinges that might

otherwise cause the frame to lose some of its stiffness.

Vibrations from bumpy roads are hard work on small wheels but the Bichette suspension easily takes the strain with one inch of travel in the front and two inches in the rear. And the zero momentum pivot position takes care of any annoying ‘pogo-effect’ which you can get sometimes with suspension bikes when pushing hard on the pedals.

BICHETTE

The Bichette retails for about ¥99,000 ($825).

PACIFIC The Pica Also new from Pacific is this dinky little coaster-brake trike with 10” wheels. Ideal for kids from 3 to 6 years old it incorporates the design concepts of full size bicycles, is sturdy and safe, and will last many years as a hand-medown. The Pica costs ¥36,000 in Japan (about $300).

George Lin demonstrates the Bichette fold.

12

Pacific Cycles Inc. has been pursuing ‘Living Bike Technologies’ with a passion since its establishment in 1980. By staying involved with the needs of serious cyclists, Pacific is continually creating innovative designs and functions that raise the level of cycling performance. George Lin, Chairman of Pacific said, ‘Pacific does not only make bikes, but we spend considerable time concentrating on R&D. We create several completely new models with patent pending every year, and it makes a difference.’ Lin, a veteran in bicycle business for over 30 years and named ‘Dr. Lin’ in Taiwan bicycle industry, is well known for his wide knowledge in design dynamics and technology.

Contact Information Pacific Cycles Inc. Street No. 236 Hsia Chuan Tze, Yung An, Hsin Wu Province / State Taiwan, R.O.C 327.

Tel: +886-3-4861231 or +886-3-4861232 Fax: +886-3-4861220 e-mail: team@pacific-cycles.com Web: www.bikexpo.com/vip/pacific

héric and the

24 heures de tandem

On the second weekend of June every year an event takes place that is the tandem riders’ answer to Le Mans.

Bob Tennant of Mic Wic recumbents tells us whats it’s like to take part…

Héric, a small village near Nantes in the Loire valley of France, hosts a 24-hour tandem event.

In 2003 the 15th annual Héric 24-hour tandem event will, if past years are any indication, stop the normal routine of Héric on the 2nd weekend of June.

The village closes off a section of its roads and creates a circuit of 2.6 Km (1.6 Miles) starting at the village sports hall and traveling into the countryside then turning back to the sports hall.

You might have noticed that I refer to the weekend as an event, this is because it isn’t really a race, although

every year a few very serious teams do race and there are officials clocking the event for the entire 24 hours. Most of the entrants are there for the party atmosphere.

There are normally between 70 and 80 tandem teams that take part in the event. Of these, approximately 10 teams are serious about doing some big distance in the 24 hours, around 3 are very serious indeed – clocking over 500 miles, and the remaining teams are there to show off their tandems as pieces of art – some incredible looking machines take part. It’s a trial for both the team members and their cycle.

13

“I’ve narrowly missed an eight foot tall watering can as the wind took it sideways across the road and hit a rolling wine bar...”

The rules are very simple. You must have a tandem that two people must be on. The cycle must not exceed 1.5m (59”) in width and 3.5m (138”) in length and must have lights for the hours of darkness. The teams are made up of six members. Beyond that anything goes, and I do mean anything, switching bikes with other teams, lights, horns, music systems, jets of flame, anything as long as it is only human power pushing the bike along. I’ve narrowly missed an eight foot tall watering can as the wind took it sideways across the road and hit a rolling wine bar (yes it actually could serve up wine whist pedaling around the circuit) as it was weaving down the road.

The entire village of Héric goes all out to make the 24 heures enjoyable.

To kick things off there is a parade through the village showing the entrants with their bikes at 3pm.

14

The race starts at 5pm Saturday and for the next 24 hours you either work your buns off or party like you mean it. Starting at 9pm there is a dance at the sports hall and at midnight there is a large firework display near the circuit. At 7am Sunday morning the entrants can have a warm breakfast served up in the sports hall and there are numerous stalls for food and drink open for most of the 24 hours (the drink stands outnumber the food stands by about 3 to 1). At 5pm Sunday, the official pace car enters the circuit and does a closing lap with the cyclists. Then for the next two hours the award ceremony takes place. There are awards for best looking tandem costume design, longest distance covered, best costume for the riders, etc, etc, etc...

The ceremony includes virtually every team that takes part; even those who can‘t make it up the steps to receive their awards (for various reasons).

My friend Robin Mather and I designed the MIC WIC Delta, my back to back recumbent tandem to take part in this event 3 years ago, thinking, hey we‘re going to have a good time and enjoy ourselves, and if we do well, then, that‘s just a plus.

We really got a surprise, coming in 2nd place and clocking up 425 miles.

Not bad for a bunch of overweight guys who didn‘t train. I was still in bandages and stitches from an accident two weeks earlier when I

had wrecked the prototype. We rebuilt the frame and took the parts to Héric where we finished putting it back together two hours before the race began.

The Delta proved it‘s worth again the next time we took part with it two years ago. We did train this time, but we were plagued with medical problems – two cases of severe cramping and I suffered from hypothermia (it gets very cold, 3-4ºC even in June). That put me out of the race after 12 hours, still, with only 5 team members left the guys pulled together and came in first with 436 miles.

Last year our design team did something a little differently, we produced a rolling two seat couch complete with stereo system and lamps. We didn‘t beat our previous distance but be did have an outstanding time, although some of us have difficulty remembering some of the 24 hours.

If you are interested in attending or taking part in the 24 heures de tandem, send me an e-mail: Bob Tennant at micwic@btinternet.com and I can steer you in the right direction.

CONFERENCEBIKE You shouldn’t mix business and pleasure, or so the saying goes. But the ConferenceBike, a four-wheel vehicle pedalled by seven riders sitting in a circle, is definitely an exception to the rule. It’s being used as a tool for corporate team building in Amsterdam.

One person steers while the other six pedal. You don’t all have to pedal at the same time, but the bike seems to move effortlessly along all the same.

ConferenceBikes are currently in use as tour bikes in London, New York and Berlin. They are being added to theme parks worldwide for friendly ‘soft transportation’. They are a new form of recreation for the blind and the elderly. The potential uses for this amazing machine are unlimited: seminars, weddings,

festivals, church and therapy groups are all amazed at the powerful sharing effect of these bikes.

Everyone who rides a ConferenceBike lights up smiling! It has a magical effect on people: it lowers inhibitions and after just a few minutes even total strangers are talking to one another. You really have to experience it to believe its social power. Children come running, adults are transformed into children. The ConferenceBike can also be a powerful marketing tool for drawing attention to organisations.

With more than four years of user feedback and continuous engineering development behind it, the new ConferenceBike is a safe

and durable machine. Carefully handcrafted by specialist builders Velo Saliko in Hannover, Germany, the new frame design makes it easier for riders get on and off. Two independent hydraulic brake systems give real stopping power, while the PorscheTM steering gives improved stability at higher speeds. The footbrake also doubles as a parking brake.

The ConferenceBike is designed to withstand the punishing use of amusement parks and daily bike rentals. Exacting specifications and top-class components ensure its reliability, while maintenance is made very easy with a comprehensive manual. The price of 39,500 (Ex-factory Hannover) includes two years of written warranty on the frame.

STALLER STUDIO “You share a moment in the outdoors, enjoying the company of 6 other riders. You go somewhere for an afternoon or a day; you take a picnic lunch; you move along on your own energy: renewable energy. In fact, you can also get a really good workout on a ConferenceBike if you want. It’s a tool for teambuilding and networking. People even fall in love on a ConferenceBike!”

Eric Staller, Artist/Inventor Contact Information Staller Studio Nederland, Herengracht 100, 1015 BS Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Tel/Fax: +31 (0)20 624 9198 e-mail: info@conferencebike.com Web: www.conferencebike.com

CONFERENCEBIKE 15

ZEM ZERO EMISSION MACHINES When the four-seater ZEM first came on the scene, about three years ago, everybody was bowled over by the bold, futuristic lines of this extraordinary machine. It was the brainchild of Swiss ecologist Ruedi Frey. He was fed up of always feeling in danger of being run

off the road by cars whenever he took his family cycling. He reasoned, ‘Why shouldn’t a bike take up the same amount of space on the road as a car?

Shouldn‘t bikes have the same rights as cars’? The result was an original hi-tech design that at first glance could be mistaken for some kind of futuristic car.

Having set out to deliver the ultimate family bike, the irony is that at 37,260 (excl tax) the four-seater is a little too expensive to tempt the average family in to taking the plunge, and instead ZEMs tend to be used more commercially: by theme parks, or for

promotional purposes. Sure he could have made them cheaper but then they wouldn’t have been so nice to ride.

Now Ruedi has launched a two-seater version for 34,800 (SRP: $6,200 in USA) and he has high hopes that this will be more affordable for the private customer. The new two-seater ZEM is lighter, has a shorter wheelbase, smaller wheels, and has disc brakes all round. It also weighs a lot less: 44kgs (97lbs) compared to 89kgs (196lbs) for the four-seater.

ZEM Nobody is going to lay their money down without first putting the ZEM through its paces, so Ruedi has an open invitation to prospective buyers: ‘Come to Zürich. It is a beautiful city (www.stadt-zuerich.ch) and well worth a visit.

We offer ZEM for rental on an hourly or daily rate. Come and discover ZEM. If you just want to see ZEM, we have one on display at the TWIKE-Centre’. You can order the ZEM online at www.zem.ch, or by e-mail: buy@zem.ch.

16

ZEM

Contact Information Zero Emission Machines, Postfach, CH-8034 Zürich.

Tel: +41 1 210 4774 Fax: +41 1 210 4770 e-mail: info@zem.ch Web: www.zem.ch

COMPAGNON

COMPAGNON Week-day morning, trying to get the kids out the door. Usual chaos. “You’ll be late for school! Where‘s your homework? We’ve got to go, now!”

“I want to go in the front!” “No! It’s my turn!” Arhh, the school run. That slow-moving, bumper-to-bumper crawl…

But these kids aren’t arguing about who gets to sit in the front of the car, they are about to jump on their Compagnon family tandem with Add+Bike trailer bike.

Threading their way through traffic jams, they can time their journey to perfection, arriving on time, wide awake and ready to go.

ROBERT HOENING Robert Hoening is perhaps best known for the classic Rollfiets wheelchair tandem, or Duet as it is known in English speaking countries. Other bikes in the Hoening range include the T-Bike, a versatile and stable upright trike with two small wheels at the front; the CoPilot 3, a tandem version of the T-Bike which is ideal for handicapped riders and beginners alike; the Pendel, a battery-powered three wheeled docking-module for wheelchairs to

take to the open road; the CoPilot, a more specialised version of the Compagnon allowing disabled or partly-active children to take advantage of back support, seat belt and many other appropriate accessories.

Contact Information Robert Hoening, Spezialfahrzeuge GmbH, Ulmer Str. 16/2, D-71229 Leonberg, Germany.

Tel: +49 7152 97949 0 Fax: +49 7152 97949 9 e-mail: r.hoening@t-online.de

The Compagnon is a superb family cycling solution from Robert Hoening of Germany.

Suitable for kids from 4-10 years, the child sits in the front getting hands-on experience of steering and road-sense, while you stay firmly in control in case of over-exuberance.

The Add+Bike connects via a sturdy Q/R hitch on the specially produced tubular steel rack, and is available with a three-speed hub gear option – makes up for not getting to sit in the front! You can also fit a standard child seat on the rack, so baby can come too.

The Compagnon costs 31,350 (UK price: £995).

The Add+Bike costs 3348 (UK price: £260) for the three-speed version and 3259 (UK price: £225) for the single speed (price includes the mounting rack). The load-carrying version, the Add+Pack, costs 3235 (UK price: £199).

Hoening machines are distributed through agencies in many countries.

17

Over the last two or three decades Shimano has come to dominate the quality component market, creating and perfecting new technological developments such as Dura-Ace, Deore XT, SIS indexed shifting, dual control levers, SPD pedal system, XTR. Sometimes criticized by tech-heads for not making component groups more DIY serviceable or inter-operable, Shimano want everybody to get interested in cycling, but you can’t please everybody all the time. Shimano is just as concerned with getting more people on bikes as it is with getting more bikes fitted with Shimano components.

Good bicycles cost good money. Cheap bikes just put potential cyclists off, perhaps for ever. The mountain bike boom did more than anything to raise the consumer profile of cycling, but there are still a lot of people out there who like the sound of performance cycling but feel intimidated by the fear of knowing how to use all those gears, or which frame geometry to choose for the most comfortable ride.

The 8-speed cassette and double chainring of the C910 give a relatively modest total of 16 speeds, which is unusual for a bike of this class, but Shimano are confident that their automatic system delivers a range of gears more than adequate for the comfort bike's intended usage.

Shimano’s latest technological innovation is Di2, digital integrated intelligence. This is aimed at attracting thousands of new, discerning customers into cycling: people who can afford and expect the best quality in technology, who neither know nor care how it works, people who need to have confidence in the brand. Di2 offers the promise of comfortable, reliable, fully automatic multi-speed cycling, and the Nexave C910 is the most recent example.

18

The C910 has a computer controlled system which can automatically figure out and select the most appropriate gear and adjust the suspension according to the gearing in order to get the best combination of ride comfort and power transfer efficiency.

You can over-ride the automatic selection by choosing either an easier or a harder selection of gears, or by opting for manual over-ride. To reduce the gear difference felt at the pedals, the rear derailleur shifts automatically when the front derailleur is shifted manually.

The idea is to offer as smooth and as comfortable a pedalling experience as possible. The freehub has a roller clutch freewheel which engages quickly and silently and helps reduce pedal shock.

The new LinkGlide cassette sprockets are cleverly designed to ensure maximum chain contact with the cogs while moving up or down the rear

Help Shimano design their next generation components and

WIN this Epple Fu:Hur Di2 equipped bike The Nexave C910 is just the beginning. By analysing customer feedback Shimano hopes to entice more people into taking up cycling by making it more technologically attractive. This is your chance to contribute to that feedback. Log on to www.encycleopedia.com, click on the competition link, complete the questionnaire, tell us your vision of the future for cycling, hit the submit button, and you could win this Epple Fu:Hur Di2 equipped bicycle. We will feature the winning entry in the next Encycleopedia. All entries must be in English.

Competition ends October 31st 2002. Let’s make a difference.

To enter the competition you need to be at least 18 years of age and have access to the internet.

The winner will be notified by email during the month of November 2002. We regret that we are unable to enter into correspondence with competition entrants. The judges’ decision is final.

The whole system is controlled via the Di2 ‘Flight Deck’ – a handlebarmounted computer which in addition to all the usual time, distance, odometer, average and maximum speed functions, also displays and controls the shifting and suspension settings.

cassette. The motor-driven rear derailleur is completely sealed to shut out the elements and delivers effortless, highly accurate, maintenance-free shifting. The auto suspension – air dampener at the rear and front hydraulic forks – firms-up when you ride uphill yet becomes softer at cruising speeds, making it easier to pedal harder when you need it most.

Individual manufacturers’ prices will vary but in Europe you can expect to pay upwards of 32,500 (£1600) for a bike equipped with the C910. The first bikes with this revolutionary system are now in the shops, but be warned, only 2,000 of these bikes will be produced worldwide.

So if you’re

interested in this technology you’d better get your skates on and log on to the special Shimano website, www.premiumcomfort.com, where you will find the latest information about model availability and dealer location.

19

LAGUNA When the mountain bike boom first hit Germany in 1986, it took over from ‘Reiserads (easy riding bikes)’ as the popular choice. Epple, a well established company with over 50 years experience in the market, was one of the main Reiserad producers and therefore ideally positioned to influence the revolution.

Epple decided to merge the two concepts to produce a new type of hybrid cycle that they initially labelled the ‘cross city’, but which soon evolved into their Trekking and City bike ranges.

The most important consideration for City bikes is comfort and practicality. The top of the range Laguna has 28” wheels, full suspension and a multi-positional handlebar to deliver the comfort, while practicality comes in the form of an integral loadcarrying rack, with built-in bike pump, full lighting, mudguards and kick stand. Elegant and comfortable, the aluminium frame is available in both male and female styles.

The Laguna costs around 3800 or 3930 for the SRAM Dual Dive version.

The term Trekking covers a multitude of activities, from occasional leisure outing, to daily use, to long distance rides.

The ultimate Trekking bike is the fully suspended Fu:hur, especially if it is one of the limited edition Shimano Di2 equipped models. In Germany you can expect to pay around 33,000 for the Di2 Fu:Hur, or from 31,200 - 31,700 for the more conventionally equipped models.

EPPLE Epple believes that helping customers to choose a bike that most suits their needs is vitally important, because this will ensure their bikes are enjoyed and well ridden, not left to gather dust in the garage. To make it easier for the customer, Epple has developed their own matrix model to illustrate which bikes are best suited for a particular kind of cycling. It is also useful in helping customers decide which components to specify at the time of purchase.

Contact Information

LAGUNA 20

EPPLE Zweirad GmbH, Postfach 1343, 87683 Memmingen, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)8331 751 0 e-mail: info@epple.org.

Web: www.epple.org.

MESSAGE

MESSAGE Epple’s new variation on the Trekking theme is the ‘Fitness-Bike’. A kind of fast Trekking bike, the Fitness-Bikes are an important development for riders who are used to riding full-blown performance bikes, but now need something a little more forgiving, but at the same time more demanding than a simple everyday bike. Road racers might opt for a ‘Race Fitness-Bike’, MTB racers a ‘Cross Fitness-Bike’, while an ATB rider – someone who is used to something more comfortable than an MTB racing bike but more sportive than a trekking bike - would go for an ‘Allround Fitness-Bike’ such as the fullysuspended Message which has 28” wheels, disc brakes and costs from 31,030 to 31,530 depending on spec.

The Epple determination to get more people on bikes is brilliantly illustrated by their award-winning Gesundheit-Millenium bike.

Designed by Hermann Popp, this is a bike for people who are unable to step over a conventional frame but who can still raise their foot high enough to pedal. Because there is no cross-tube to negotiate, the rider walks into the frame, sits down on the lowered saddle, before raising it to the optimum position and pedalling gently away. The Gesundheit is Epple‘s only mobility bike, and even though it represents only a tiny fraction of their overall output, Epple deserve huge credit for such an original solution to an age-old problem.

21

WHOPPER CHOPPER

fun to ride, especially the Whopper Chopper with its extremely long front forks.

“And remember, no more than 2mph so everyone can see you,” is not the sort of thing you hear from your average cyclist, but these are not average bikes.

Phats are loosely based on the sweeping curves of Schwinn Cruisers of the 50’s. The patented, cantilever-style X-tube configuration does away with the traditional diamond frame single top tube in favour of curved and extended seat stays, which tie together the head and down tubes to produce a solid, strong, and unified structure.

CHOPPER

Phat cycles are quite simply the biggest posing bikes on the planet. If you like to be anonymous, do not get a Phat. If on the other hand you like people to notice you, then get one. Everybody wants to ask you what it is and where you got it. They’re even

22

Phat produces a wide range of styles: cruisers, choppers, tandems, recumbents, urban assaults, kaddy kruisers, and low

riders. The choppers have more laid back frame angles than the cruisers and a longer wheelbase. The Whopper Chopper is so laid back it could be classified as a recumbent.

Talking of recumbents, you can order a Fuller Recumbent Chopper – hand built to order by Bryan Fuller, each bike takes about 45 days to build from the raw metal up.

In America prices range from a couple of hundred bucks for a basic Cruiser through to more than a couple of thousand if you want one of the custom Fuller Recumbent Choppers. The Whopper Chopper featured here costs around $1,050.

PHAT CYCLES Gary Silva’s family has been in the bike industry since the 50’s. First in Bayonne, New Jersey and then in Florida. Over the years, through running several retail shops, one thing stood out – when it comes to buying a new bike, above all people want comfort.

He decided to pool all of his experience and make a bike line with his own frame and own concepts – the Phat Recreational Cruisers and the Phat Chopper designs.

If you are going to make bikes like this then you might as well enjoy them too, so he moved to Huntington Beach, California, the cruiser capital of the world.

Contact Information Phat Cycles, 535 West 27th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA. Tel: +1 213-746-6534 Fax: +1-213-742-0211 e-mail: Sales@PhatCycles.com Web: www.phatcycles.com

PEDERSEN

PEDERSEN Will a Pedersen sway you? At first glance the Pedersen looks pretty obscure. There are many tubes forming various triangles and in the middle of the frame there seems to be something like a hammock.

Mikael Pedersen (1855-1929)

PEDERSEN OF DENMARK Kalle and Gabby Kalkhoff of KGB in Oldenburg are the worldwide agents and they offer five frame sizes in 195 colours. You can choose from a wide range of components, and they also sell frames only. Prices for a complete Pedersen start from around 3 1,900. The powder-coated frame alone, including saddle and various fixtures, costs around 3 1,000.

Contact Information Pedersen of Denmark, c/o KGB, Donnerschweerstr.45, Oldenburg 26123, Germany.

Tel: +49 441 885 0389 Fax: +49 441 885 0388 e-mail: kgb.kalle@nwn.de Web: www.pedersen-fahrrad.de

First patented in 1893, by Danish inventor Mikael Pedersen, the original Pedersen bicycles were called “Dursleys” or “DursleyPedersens” because they were produced in Dursley, England. Mikael found leather saddles of his day simply uncomfortable, so he created a hammock-saddle.

It may not look like a normal bicycle but it rides like one, albeit with a more comfortable seat. The hammock saddle takes a few hours to get used to, and the only way to fully experience and appreciate the difference is to ride one. There is a slight sensation of swaying to and fro, but once you get used to it you may never want to sit on a normal bicycle saddle again.

The unusual frame construction which was specifically designed to accommodate the unusual saddle is also extremely strong – we know of one rider weighing 225kg (495lbs) who is overjoyed finally to have found a bike strong enough to take his weight.

Alas, like many inventors and visionaries, Mikael Pedersen was a brilliant technician, but a poor businessman. In the end he was forced to sell his bicycle company and died in poverty in Copenhagen.

Then in 1979 another Dane, Jesper Sølling, decided to produce these bicycles again. So far Jesper has produced 6000 frames, which have been sold all over the world. Most of these sales are in Germany, where there is a large Pedersen enthusiasts club, with annual meetings in various towns.

23

TRICICLO

The Triciclo is a laid-back, semi-recumbent tricycle with a low step-over height. The canted-in rear wheels give added stability, and the large seat has an excellent lumbar support for maximum comfort. It is a very

nimble design – literally turning on a sixpence. The split rear axle eliminates wheel scrub in the corners and also allows the brake to operate on the axle itself.

Weighing in at 27kgs (60lbs) the 5-speed Triciclo is not the lightest three-wheeler on the market, but at only $849 in the US, it is very competitively priced.

TRICICLO

Quèbecois cycle designer Denis Brown has always sought to maximize both comfort and security in his designs, and in particular to reduce stress on the neck, wrists, and back. Best known for their LWB recumbents, which we

feature on page 65, the Quetzal brand now also includes the Triciclo and a new family of easy riding recumbents.

QUETZAL CYCLE The Quetzal is a beuatiful bird found in the forests of Central America that was sacred to the Mayans. For Denis and his colleagues the name symbolises the feeling of liberty, and in keeping with this tradition they have named their new family of entry level recumbents the Azteca, the Inca, and the Zoulou. Well thought out, comfortable and easy to ride, Quetzal has priced these bikes at a level which it hopes will attract newcomers to the joys of laid-back cycling. The Aztec (for adults) costs $399, the Inca (for 7-12 year olds) $299, and the Zoulou (3-5 year olds) $209.

Contact Information Quetzal Cycle (Procycle Group Inc. Division), 9091, Hochelaga, Montrèal, (Quèbec), H1L 2P2, Canada.

Tel: +1 514 351 3303 Fax: +1 514 355 3198 e-mail: denis.brown@quetzal.ca Web: www.quetzal.ca

24

3-RAD

3-RAD The most striking feature of the Kynast 3-RAD is its extremely low step-over footplate access. This is particularly attractive to older people or people with a disability, but it is also a practical way for anybody to sit on a trike, taking full advantage of the stability of three wheels.

KYNAST MOBILITY The word ‘mobility’, in terms of cycling, has been hijacked in the English speaking world to signify specialist cycles for people with a disability. German for mobility, Mobilität, on the other hand is a great word to describe all aspects of getting from A to B, which is why the Kynast Bicycle Department is now known as Kynast Mobility. As Product Manager Bob Giddens puts it, “Mobility is an urban commuter solution, it’s a safe kid’s bike, it’s new electropedalecs, it’s a new bike cargo system, it’s the journey to work, to school, shopping, it’s everything you can

do with the wonderful product bicycle. Mobility should be for everyone, whatever age, income, handicap, level of fitness.” The Kynast policy of ‘looking, listening and understanding’ will continue to produce new solutions such as the 3-RAD, and the Scooterbike – featured separately in this book on page 63.

Contact Information KYNAST GmbH, Artlandstrasse 55, 49610 Quakenbrück, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0) 5431 12 402 Fax: +49 (0) 5431 12 380 e-mail: info@kynast.de Web: www.kynast.de

The 3-RADs design is the result of extensive research and development by Pfautec, a small innovative company in Germany which specialises in making products for the rehabilitation sector. They joined forces with Kynast to reach a much wider market and benefit from their flexible production facilities.

In Germany you can get a prescription for a cycle if a doctor’s diagnosis recommends cycling as beneficial for mobility and rehabilitation. The Association of Health Insurers keeps a register of approved products and the Kynast trikes are included. The Robusto is the standard model and has 3speed hub gearing. The Deluxe version has front fork suspension, a suspended seatpost, a large lockable luggage box and 7-speed hub gears. The power assist version of the Robusto Deluxe is called the Grazia. There is also smaller version for children, the Picco. A nice feature about all these trikes, apart from the Grazia, is that they separate into two parts without tools for easy transporting.

The 3-RADs that are distributed through bike dealers have a trendier paint job, a different name and no Health Insurers register number, but they are still basically the same machines – for Robusto read Classic and for the Robusto Deluxe read Advanced. All the 3-RADs are only 710 mm (28”) wide, which allows easy access through most doorways.

25

POSTERTRIKE Carrying local advertising on a delivery cycle is nothing new, it helps pay for the upkeep. Neils Holme Larsen of Nihola has taken this idea and come up with a novel approach.

POSTERTRIKE

If you going to carry advertising, do it properly. The Nihola Postertrike is a superb mobile hoarding. Beautifully finished in stainless steel, the cylinder is designed to take high-quality, full-scale artwork. Forget

advertising the local butcher, this is aimed at cinemas, music concerts, etc. Not only is the Postertrike a fantastic way of promoting advertisers, it is also a capacious load carrier.

The front of the cylinder is in fact in a hinged door allowing easy access to a twotier container capable of carrying a wide variety of objects.

front wheels to turn around it. And because the level of the loading bottom is below the centre of the front wheels, it has a low centre of gravity, which aids stability.

Prime ad sites are always in demand so having one that actually moves around must be even better. In Denmark the Postertrike costs around Dkr20,000.

Like all Nihola trikes, the Postertrike is built around the transport box, which is an integral part of the frame. The round shape makes it inherently strong and allows the

NIHOLA APS The philosophy behind the Nihola is simple: lightweight materials and a rigid design.

Other Nihola trikes are the Basic, which has a barrel-shaped front container that converts easily between child carrier and load carrier, and the Cigar, a more elongated version. They all have one thing in common: stability, and stability means security.

Contact Information Nihola APS, Vesterbrogade 137, DK-1620 Kobenhavn V, Denmark.

Tel: +45 3322 7905 Fax: +45 3322 7907 e-mail: nihola@nihola.dk Web: www.nihola.com

26

FLYER

FLYER It is usually assumed that people who want electric bikes are not really interested in cycling. Why would they want all that extra weight? But the Swiss Flyer F2 is a revelation. Sure it‘s heavy but, in a funny kind of way, that actually helps. The bike is beautifully set up to handle the weight – it is very sure-footed. The large Nokia City Runner tyres and Vuelta Airline rims soak up everything the road has to offer and the full suspension makes it fun to throw the extra weight around.

The Flyer is in fact a ‘Pedelec’, which means that the electric assist only operates when you pedal. It takes a little bit of getting used to – the temptation is always to slip it into a bigger gear, but that just eats up the battery. The idea though is to preserve the battery power till you need it thereby extending its range, which means keeping up a high cadence – this is really a fitness bike! The SRAM DualDrive gears are an excellent choice because with such a heavy bike you need swift and accurate changing to maintain a high cadence. The diodes on top of the removable battery unit tell you the level of available charge – both during the charging cycle or when stationary on the bike – but they also indicate the level of power consumption when pedalling. This is really important. When more than one light comes on you know that you are in the wrong gear or you have let your cadence slip, or you are into some serious climbing.

Ride the Flyer like this and you can extend its range significantly, plus get a comfortable and fun ‘spin’ at the same time. On the other hand, if you are only going a short distance, you can really thrash it in a high gear and fairly fly along.

BIKETEC AG The Swiss Flyer F2 is one of range of Flyers produced by the Swiss firm Biketec AG. The Flyer F2 is restricted to a maximum of 24k/h (15mph) and is therefore accepted as a bicycle in most countries worldwide. The other three versions are the F4, F6 and F8, which have no speed restrictions. The speed limitation is electronically programmed – the motor and battery are the same for all models.

Contact Information Biketec AG, Industrie Neu Hof 9, P.O. Box 503, Kirchberg, CH-3422, Switzerland.

Tel: +41 (0)34 4486060 Fax: +41 (0)34 4486061 e-mail: info@biketec.ch Web: www.swiss-flyer.com

The bike is very snazzy looking, and it is possible to have many different colour co-ordinations. The battery pack release mechanism is activated by the ‘ignition’ key which when removed secures the battery in place and also locks the integral security cable into the frame.

If there is a criticism it is that bike is so heavy and that the battery pack could last longer but, as previously mentioned, in a way these work to your advantage so long as you are prepared to put in the effort. The Swiss Flyer F2 is available in three frame sizes and costs around 32,800. A good investment is the optional NiMH battery pack (36V/8H) that costs an additional 3400 and extends the range by more than 50%.

27

The

Aerorider project

Project manager Bart de Wert describes the development of an exciting new velomobile project in the Netherlands.

28

The Aerorider is a project to produce a real alternative to the car for commuters. We believe that many people want to improve their fitness and would like to cycle, if it were not for the unreliable weather, or perhaps having the wrong image.

The project started when Gjalt Wijma, a student at the Department of aeronautics at University Of Delph, approached Optima Cycles with an idea to design a highly efficient allround fairing for one of their tricycles for everyday use in traffic.

The aerodynamic bodywork of a velomobile is not only more efficient, it also protects the rider from wind and rain and, on the Aerorider, it looks good too. The single seated Aerorider is narrow and light, so it is easy to handle in heavy traffic and there are no parking fees. The electric motor makes it relatively easy to do 45 kph (28 mph) without pouring sweat everywhere when you get to work.

Optima, one of Holland’s longest established recumbent manufacturers with a reputation for build quality and innovation, were immediately interested. Gjalt produced five different designs and built scale models each of them, which were tested in the wind

“The electric motor makes it relatively easy to do 45kph (28 mph) without pouring sweat everywhere when you get to work.”

tunnel at the University. They eventually settled on the model which was the most stable under side-wind conditions; had over 120 litres of luggage space; was high enough so that it would easily be seen by motorists; and was very attractive to look at.

Optima then set about making the first prototype – with a little bit of help from enthusiastic customers as well – and soon discovered that their tricycle was not an ideal chassis for a vehicle capable of reaching such high speeds. The lack of front suspension and the short wheelbase made for quite a rough ride – it was just not stable enough.

So Optima set about redesigning the chassis. The fairing was fine, in fact if anything it worked even better on the prototype than it had done in the computer designs and scale model.

This was getting serious. Producing a fully developed production velomobile is a time consuming and costly project, and it was soon apparent that they

would need to form a separate company to handle the project. By that time Gjalt had left the company, so Edoardo Mugge and Michael van der Meijden of Optima and myself founded this new company: Aerorider VOF. We exhibited the new design at the FietsRAI public show last year and got very good reaction from the public. We are now following through with preproduction testing and some finetuning and, if everything goes to plan, we expect to have the bikes on the market by the end of this 2002 summer.

We really hope that the Aerorider will convince more and more motorists that this type of vehicle can be a good alternative to the car, especially for everyday commuting.

Specifications of the latest prototype: Glass reinforced composite bodywork Carbon-glass composite monocoque Anti-fog windshield with hard coat, partly removable NACA air inlets with electric ventilator Aluminum rear fork Full suspension 500W Electric motor in rear hub supports up to 45km/h, Programmable motor control with torque sensor 7 Speed gear Disc brakes on front wheels Weight including electric motor is 45kg, NiMH batteries 12kg Range with 50% assistance: 60km Wheel base 125cm LxWxH = 278cm x 75cm x 115cm Contact Information Aerorider, Industriestraat 3B, 1076 CS Ijmuiden, Netherlands.

Tel: +31 (0) 255 524636 Fax: +31 (0) 255 524757 e-mail: info@aerorider.com Web: www.aerorider.com

29

velo nova

Johan Vrielink, founder of Flevobike and long-time guru of the Dutch HPV scene, has for years harboured dreams of a human-powered theme park on the same scale as major attractions like Disneyland. Now the dream is beginning to become reality, and it has a name, Velo Nova. The proposed site is next to Lelystad and it will have a direct rail connection to Amsterdam airport.

30

Major industries have indicated their enthusiasm for the project including: a big hotel chain, an international energy company, a technical university, a development centre, not to mention Shimano. Leading bicycle figures like Jan Derksen, Giant Europe President, and Hans van Vliet of Shimano are involved in ongoing discussions with Johan.

Seeing is believing, and Johan has worked closely from the beginning with his long-time colleague, bicycle designer and conceptual artist Bauke Muntz. Apart from Johan’s original solar-powered-racetrack-with-livingquarters idea, all the other ideas and designs illustrated on these pages are Bauke’s. Here Bauke talks us through his visions for the future:

BASE 8251 In case you’re wondering about the significance of the ‘8251’, it's my postal code. The idea is the serious possibility to use bikes on the moon, or Mars for that matter.

Ideal, a motor-less machine. To make it more convincing we want to build a complete set within a dome in the park. The moonlit night will be projected on to the ceiling. Visitors will be sent on an assignment.

ECOLOGIC This is Johan’s concept. A versatile racetrack combined with bungalows in the slopes at the curves. The whole complex is powered by green energy, along the same lines as the ‘energiedak’ (energyroof) – a gigantic exhibition hall covered with solar-panels now in use at the Dutch “Floriade” flower-exhibition. The power corporation has promised full cooperation.

TEST & RENT You can rent a more conventional bike for a day and take a tour round the Flevoland region or test a preproduction model thoroughly on a test track in the park. This bike, a Flevobike design, could well be a rental model soon but first it has to be tested in the park. The Sherpalike recumbent below left is also for rental.

AIRCYCLE This gives an overall view of the entire site, driven by human power of course. It is now in a prototypestage at Flevobike.

TRANSPORTING GAMES This one is based on the wellknown order-pickers you find in storehouses. With a steering wheel, a handle and pedals you can move the contraption upwards, sideways and operate the claw. Normally no one would take this seriously but as a game it might give visitors (entrepreneurs?) a whole new view on human power.

To make it more exciting, aliens will appear out of nowhere. Frantic women and children (I’m sure) will bash their bikes in their hurry to get away. The men may protect their families as if they were Clint Eastwood. A lot of laughter and a perfect test for the material. For this picture I remodelled the Flevotrike to an all-terrain version.

31

WINDHUNTERS Obviously the racetrack below is the same as on the Ecologic site. A perfect way for testing covered recumbents.

On the right you can also see a few skaters in action. There would also be a transparent wind-tunnel in the pavilion.

CHILDS PLAY The bumper pedalcars are equipped with sound generators in the front. As soon as the kids bump in to each other, they will hear loud sounds of flatulence, barking, a doorbell, klaxon, belching etc. Needless to say you won’t have to deal with bored children. .

BAUKE MUNTZ

The original prototype Sherpa The latest design

THE SHERPA Ironically, the original Sherpa was merely a concept which Bauke and Harry van der Liende built to act as a yardstick for contestants in the ‘Bike 2000 Construction Contest’ organised by the Dutch HPV association. To their surprise, the Sherpa was generally considered to be the hit of the show.

Obviously on to a good thing, they decided to redevelop the Sherpa to a pre-production stage, and they called in the help of their friend, Pieter de Jong, to help develop an enclosed transmission.

32

Peter brought in some new hi-tech materials which makes the bike a lot easier to produce and they are now making good progress. The result is a new modular technique which makes it possible to build various bike concepts.

The next step is to test the new components on a special version of the Flevobike by the end of this year and, all being well, the trio hope to present the brand-new Sherpa at next year’s Cycle Vision. .

Bauke Muntz is a 45 year old, former window dresser and poster artist whose technical interest led him to a career as an industrial designer. After working for a year at Flevobike he decided to start his own firm, BMíConcepting. He changed his core business to producing technical art and concepts for both property development and industry.

Bauke’s crystal-clear pictures are invaluable to anyone who has had a bright idea for a new product or concept, but is unable to communicate it without the use of expensive design, mock-ups or prototypes. Because he himself is a product developer he is particularly well placed to give advice and technical support as well.

These combined skills give the customer the benefit of both a clear technical visual, and an artistic impression of a real life situation.

Bauke Muntz BMíConcepting De Oeverloper 147 8251 HJ Dronten Tel/Fax: 31 321 325276 e-mail: dronten@bmconcepting.nl website: www.bmconcepting.nl

the car is only a guest

in the city planning, but urban development consultant Rob Derks had the vision to invert the model.

Rob developed the Houten traffic layout idea, back in 1968 when Houten was a small village with a population of only 3,000. The city council, at that time mainly commonsense civilians and farmers, had got an order from central government to develop plans to transform Houten into a city of up to 100,000 people. Amazingly, without much discussion, the council agreed that it made sense to develop a city in which intra-city car use would be slowed down, and traffic safety for pedestrians and cyclists would be a main issue.

Otto Beaujon, managing editor of leading trade magazine Bike Europe, describes how visions of the future like Velo Nova can become realities.

The Netherlands have had separate bike lanes beside the roads since 1935, but in spite of all the exemplary bicycle infrastructure, the priority, both in politics as in everyday traffic, is still with the car. But there is an exception: Houten, a city with a population of 50,000 near Utrecht.

Historically, most European cities have developed out of meeting places for trade at crossroads, river crossings, natural harbors etc. Crossroads then have always been at the heart of city

In Houten, all living (shopping, gardening, sports, schools, fishing, playgrounds etc.) takes place on the inside and the car traffic is kept on the outside. A ring road (for cars only) surrounds the entire city and cars can enter each residential area, but no further. Every house in the city can be reached by car, but there are no interconnections for cars between the various residential areas other than via the outer ring road. Between the residential areas and the city center there is an extensive bicycle and footpath network.

into smaller secondary roads, tarmac is replaced by brick, and speed bumps slow the traffic further. The streaming process continues with the roads becoming ever smaller, till eventually they lead to individual car-parks at each home. There is only one access road from the ring to the city centre, and one out. There is a car-park in the city centre, but otherwise the shopping areas and the town hall square are car-free.

Residents often use bike trailers to carry shopping home and many of them who work outside the city commute by bike and train, rather than by car. Schools are built alongside the bicycle tracks which means that as soon as children can cycle themselves, they can go to school unaccompanied, because the cycle tracks from home to school and vice versa do not cross any car roads. Sports facilities are also on the bicycle path network. There are tunnels for bicycles were a bicycle path has to cross one of the main car roads, or the railway. And when a bicycle path crosses a secondary car road, the bike has priority in all cases.

And does it work? There have been no traffic casualties in Houten during the 30-odd years of its existence.

Cars entering residential areas from the ring road are immediately streamed All photography By Otto Beaujon e-mail: o.beaujon@ebi.nl

33

cyclecity Cyclists in virtually every major British city, including the whole of Greater London, can now find their way around on the safest and quietest streets with the aid of specialist maps. All of them have been produced practically single-handedly by a former national newspaper labour correspondent who happened to bike to work.

Martin Whitfield’s small company, CycleCity Guides, based in a converted water mill in Somerset, has become the foremost producer of urban cycling maps in the United Kingdom. Lynne Curry tells the story.

34

It was in the lobby of one of the tallest buildings in the UK that Martin Whitfield, a journalist on the national British newspaper The Independent, had one of the defining moments of his career. Strictly speaking, it was one of the defining moments that made him decide to leave his career.

At any rate, he was wheeling his folding bicycle across the capacious lobby, on the way to the lift and the dehumanised, hot-desking, out-oftown office on the 18th floor of Canary Wharf, when a uniformed security guard approached him in manner that suggested that he (the security guard) did not believe that Whitfield (pushing a bike) was of sufficient status not to be chastised.

“You can’t wheel that across here,” said the official, indicating the floor, across which all manner of feet, trolleys and assorted wheeled miscellanea were propelled every day. It wasn’t the wheels at all, thought Whitfield. It was

the image. Bikes were scowled at by the uniforms at Canary Wharf, because they had been imbued in a culture which accorded respect in proportion to the size of the chauffeur-driven Mercedes parked on double yellow lines outside.

“It was bad enough for a newspaper to move out to an office miles away from where everything happens in London, and which was almost impossible to get to,” Whitfield says. “Then we’d had to listen to some management baloney about it being a fantastic opportunity, when it was obviously a financiallybased move that no national newspaper editor would have chosen to make. It was a horrible, pretentious, corporate Britain place beset with silly rules and regulations and hierarchies, where you could buy avocado and pistachio on rye but not a bacon sandwich, and a £500 suit but not a toothbrush. And then, after a 10-mile bike ride to get to the back of beyond, I find myself being barked at by a uniformed rottweiler,

“And then, after a 10-mile bike ride to get to the back of beyond, I find myself being barked at by a uniformed rottweiler” and I know that this is not the sort of place I want to work.”

Within a few months, Whitfield was no longer arguing the toss about his bike, but poring over a map of Bristol at his home on the Bristol Channel. After 20 years on newspapers, he was now a freelance writer and, less obviously, a learner publisher. The urban cycle guide of Bristol, which he published himself after a campaign of persuasion – not least of Ordnance Survey, the national mapping agency, whose base he used and manipulated – became the first in a series which now includes Bristol & Bath (second edition), Birmingham, Oxford, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Leicester, Leeds, Bradford, Rotherham, Blyth and Basildon.

CycleCity Guides, the company Whitfield set up six years ago, is currently under contract to London Cycling Campaign, which is working with Transport for London to cover all London inside the ring of the M25.

The learning curve from salaried staff journalist who rode a bike to self-employed urban cycle guide publisher and producer was a steep one. Where do you start to collect and collate the information? How can you get hold of a map to work with? What about copyright? What size would be best, and what sort of paper? Where do you get map paper?

How do you persuade people to stock a virgin product, how much do you charge, and how much do they get? The ramifications involved in any product soon become obvious to those aiming to produce and sell it.

The parallel ramifications to losing a healthy monthly salary are more alarming.

After six years, the production process now runs smoothly, and most of the pre-printing work is done on Apple Macs by Whitfield and his associates, who include a second route finder, a production journalist, an artist and a designer, all of them running their own small businesses. But the change in lifestyle has, if anything, become more dramatic. Via a seaside town on the Bristol Channel, Whitfield has moved from inner-city Hackney to the depths of Somerset; from a metropolitan lifestyle with quickthinking colleagues to a gentler, less competitive lifestyle in the country.

Sometimes he misses the buzz of newspapers, the camaraderie of his peers and the feeling of being in the middle of everything. But he doesn’t miss being confined to a desk with a view of a computer screen, or the increasingly celebrityobsessed agenda invading even serious broadsheets.

It would be symmetrical to report that Whitfield now has his own skypiercing office, where he freely wheels his bike across the lobby on the way to the bosses’ suite. Not quite. The CycleCity Guides office is part of a renovated water mill in the lovely old industrial town of Frome. There is river all around, a small-scale electricity generating plant in the basement, about a dozen bikes in the industrial shed next door, two dogs on the sofa and two cats wandering around.

Whitfield and his wife live “above the shop” on the floor above and there are plans to turn a second mill on the site into a B&B for cyclists and walkers. Canary Wharf it ain’t. Corporate Britain neither.

There are no security guards, although there are trenchant and aggressive elements in colourful livery. They’re mallard ducks.

“I knew I wouldn’t stay much longer in newspapers, but I don’t think I could have quite pictured myself here,” Whitfield says. “I think I probably work as hard now as I did then, but it’s different. I don’t have a regular salary but I do have a fantastic quality of life and although I work all the time in cooperation with other people, I don’t take orders and I don’t find myself thinking anything I do is a waste of time.”

35

maps go hand in hand

encouraging people to cycle with

take from where they lived, if they did but know about them. So that map has suggested walking routes as well as cycling routes on it.

Obviously, you can’t have information about where to walk and cycle unless you have the routes. Most cities and towns have fragmented networks, official and otherwise, already being ridden by local cyclists. In some cases (such as central London) the best routes are already well known but in other towns and cities, and even other parts of London, our surveying exercise is a voyage of discovery.

There is no point in having the most fantastic cycle network on the ground unless people know it’s there.

Information is critical. We talk about the global economy and world-scale phenomena but actually, most people’s lives are very local indeed.

They may live in one place and work in another, but they’ll usually know only the immediate surrounds of both.

One of our maps – Blyth and Wansbeck, in Northumberland – sprang from people going to see their doctor and being prescribed exercise, which led to an initiative to bus them out into the countryside. Then it occurred to the local health action group that there were perfectly good, interesting and pleasant walks people could

36

done the work. I don’t think there’s been a case where, hand on heart, local cyclists could have said they knew all the routes that we identified.

When it comes to what you mark on the map and what you leave out, there is usually a conflict between – to simplify it – two types of cyclist: those happy and confident enough to go in a direct line, and the campaigning cyclists, who see the volume of traffic as the biggest disincentive and want conditions improved. Cycling groups usually have both sorts, and you need to steer between them when you suggest where people should ride, preferably keeping both happy.

Before we start to put together a coherent network, we check absolutely everything on the ground, no matter who has suggested or supplied a route. We have made a conscious decision not to include most trunk roads, on the basis that those happy to pedal down them are already doing so – and you can hardly miss them. The maps are more aimed at trying to find less challenging routes to encourage near-novice cyclists, and one trip down the A4 will ensure they never go near a bike again.

Our criteria are based on hills, directness and the smallest possible element of threat. Interestingly, half my mail order customers are women, which is a higher proportion than the actual number of cyclists. I think this suggests we’ve got our target market roughly right, in that these are less likely to be white-liners who don’t need any help.

We definitely begin the process as supplicant, asking for help in the face of superior local knowledge.

Once we’ve done the survey, we hope to prove to them that our research is good, and that we’ve

When we first started, we tried something radical. On one side of our map was a conventional map of a city centre, and on the other a digitally manipulated rural area around, with the small and quiet

“A hundred per cent of respondents said they found the map useful”

roads enlarged and emphasised. I still think that was a good idea, but there’s no shortage of countryside rides. The people buying the maps, we found, were transport cyclists more often than they were leisure cyclists and wanted guidance on city routes.

budgets. They talk about investing millions on sophisticated transport schemes but for a fraction of that cost, could get people riding safely. Cycling infrastructure is fantastic value for money.

The surveying exercise can form an important part of a virtuous circle Local authorities have been known to adopt the quiet routes we have identified as part of their official cycle network, improving them further by traffic calming or stops. There may be a delicate balance between showing routes which cyclists actually take – such as through parks and hospital grounds, for example – and those which they can legally and officially take. Rights of way is always a sensitive issue, and there can be conflicts between ramblers and mountainbikers. The status of some paths – old railway lines are typical – is often not even resolved.

We’ve done many maps now, and feedback about their effectiveness has been largely anecdotal. So it was interesting to see the first official assessment, commissioned by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council after giving away 3,500 copies.

A hundred per cent of respondents said they found the map useful (noone said they did not, and no-one had no opinion) and 90 per cent said it had helped them to find new cycling routes. Sixty per cent thought it encouraged people to cycle more and sixty per cent thought more people would cycle if facilities were better. A hundred per cent thought it was a positive thing for the council to do; 95 per cent were still using it.

You can’t avoid the conclusion that when it comes to getting people out of cars and on to bikes, British cities still have to bite the bullet. The common temptation is to take space from pedestrians and give it to bikes. You need to take it from cars. Most cities also pay lip service to cycling, with tiny

The council concluded that it had been good value for money and a positive block on which to start to build better facilities for cyclists. Our maps can’t work miracles, but we believe they’re certainly a significant step in the right direction.

Martin Whitfield

CycleCity Guides Wallbridge Mill The Retreat Frome Somerset BA11 5JU Tel: 01373 453533 Fax: 0870 055 8569 e-mail: info@cyclecityguides.co.uk Web: www.cyclecityguides.co.uk

37

towards an

Urban Paradise Having traveled the world in search of solutions to the urban challenge, I have witnessed too much congestion and pollution, repeated by every city, big and small, developed and developing. I have been given hope and given up hope.

Karta Singh Healy of A>>B has spent the last 4 years researching and filming urban transport solutions around the world, the documentary series of six cities will be aired globally.

I decided to reassess my faith in humanity and better designs, by undertaking a study of six cities that inspired hope, and set a good example for other metropolis’. I call my project A>>B (A go to B), to describe the universal need we all share. It is a collective of individuals that contribute their talent and time to better understand this debate, and ultimately promote the most sustainable solutions.

Every day in every city, everywhere, people get up and get stuck. In this age of hypermobility, everyone wants to BE THERE NOW. The real costs of car culture cannot be counted, within the city limits. The human environment suffers far more than the ecosystem we aim to protect.

The time, money and stress wasted globally, on a daily basis, should be the catalyst for change...

The dreaded commute is the worst way to start the day. The car is not the culprit. The ‘convenience’ of the car is an alluring myth that traps new drivers every year. The options are overlooked and seen as ‘alternatives’.

Why has the mighty bicycle been taken for granted? Between the two extremes of cyclists and petrol heads, the debate fails.

The six cities I chose: San Francisco The only American city with a vibrant set of solutions big and small, integrated within their communities.

Sydney Still riding the Olympic planning rails.

Innovative city with ideal potentials.

Shanghai The biggest boom-town of the 21st century, with transport challenges of another human scale.

Tokyo Technologically advanced Megalopolis that shows how most cities could end up.

38

Berlin Strong Green influence in integrated Planning>>Policy>>Products.

London Potentially the ultimate model city, with a transport debate raging on the streets.

What they all have in common is: The resourcefulness of the citizens, innovation within industry and motivation from the government to foster solutions to pollution.

We have researched, filmed, and interviewed in all of these cities.

We witnessed many fine people setting good examples within their communty.

People that use and promote sustainable transport in every way.

We worked with companies to understand the benefits of their products and wondered how the state’s policies would help or hinder their success.

The human element drives this debate forward, every individual could be more aware of their actions, and entertain some lifestyle changes that

“We all want seamless journeys in the everydayathon of life in the city.

The basic needs of every intra-urban commuter can be met with a small variety of real options.” there for everyone. We all live in a period of great technological innovation. Designers have fixed their attention on the specialised sector of personal transport.

Options for your commute will exponentially become available in the near future.

contribute to their well-being. We value the input of every individual concerned with the future of our cities.

We found that the conscience comes second to consumerism.

People are motivated by their self interest. If they see direct benefits to their lifestyle, they will ‘vote’ with their credit card and adopt a simpler form of transport.

The marketplace is ready for sustainability, and the general public are desperate for solutions This is the ultimate common ground between all commuters; the allure of the new. There is more accessible applied technology than ever before. We just need easier access to it.

the common car. If options are available it will abate the debate and ease the flow on the streets…

We hope to have the TV series edited and ready to air this Autumn. This urban renaissance will be televised. You can check in with our website for updates and a sneak preview: www.agotob.com If there is anything innovative in your city worth noting, let us know through an e-mail to: info@agotob.com

We all want seamless journeys in the everydayathon of life in the city. The basic needs of every intraurban commuter can be met with a small variety of real options.

A>>B is trying to build bridges of information and inspiration between the consumer>>the designers>>the government. It is in everyone’s best interest to promote a variety of solutions to the daily grind.

Contact Information A>>B Centre 023 Westbourne Studios 242 Acklam Road London W10 5JJ Tel/Fax: +44 (0)20 7575 3050

We need a full spectrum of vehicles to exist between the bicycle and

I won’t list the specific vehicles, because there is something out

39

Look Ma,

No Balance!

Encycleopedia Webmaster Dylan MacDonald was about three years old when his parents bought him his first bike…

A tricycle, actually. Cherry red painted steel and with solid rubber wheels, this thing was built with little kids in mind.

It was indestructible.

At the time, I loved that tricycle almost as much as my blanket or chocolate ice cream.I rode it everywhere – down the street, around the playground, through my father’s legs in the kitchen. Like the transition from crawling to walking, my move to three wheels gave my little ego a much-needed boost. I was more independent than ever.

Of course, I soon grew tired of my tricycle and yearned to ride something slicker, faster, more gown-up.

Something more like my older brother would ride. I wanted the banana seat, the streamers on the handlebars, the loud bell, and of course with two wheels rather than three. As soon as I could (perhaps too soon and I have the scars to prove it) I graduated to a bike with training wheels, leaving my tricycle to gather dust in our basement.

Tricycles were for kids, I now knew. My younger sister, who inherited the tricycle I loved so well, would learn that soon enough.

So now I’m 36 and I'm tired of the three bikes I have stacked up in my garage. But where do I go from here?

Lose another wheel and ride a unicycle? That’s for clowns, which I am not, despite what my wife may think.

And what happens after one wheel?

No wheels? That’s too metaphysical and I’m simply not that deep.

40

No, I knew that if I was going to embark on a premature mid-life crisis, I’d better start acting the stereotype of a man who contemplates his own vanishing youth; it was time to start acting like a child. So I got another tricycle.

A grown man riding a tricycle? How sad. Did I lose my sense of balance somewhere along the way, or just my capacity for embarrassment? Well, fear not dear reader. It’s not as bad as all that.

About three months ago I took delivery of a brand new recumbent trike, made

by Greenspeed of Australia and shipped to San Francisco by way of the UK. Now this is no ordinary trike, or bike or even recumbent. The Greenspeed’s engineering, design and finish make it one of the most sophisticated and beautiful bicycles in the world. The trike was my payment for designing and developing the Encycleopedia.com website. Before the trike got to me, however, Alan Davidson, Encycleopedia’s publisher, needed it first to exhibit during last summer’s Try-Out shows in the UK. Perhaps some of you even rode my trike before I did.

It was certainly worth the wait. The Greenspeed is a truly remarkable machine, an engineering achievement, a marvel of form following function.

Standing still, the Greenspeed looks like it’s moving at 100mph. Never mind that to actually reach 100mph the Greenspeed would probably have to be dropped from a very high distance. Still it is remarkably speedy. More on this later.

The model I received is the GTO. A cross between Greenspeed’s touring and suitcase trikes, the GTO is solidly built for loaded touring, with three 20x2 inch wheels, a relatively upright seating position and a sturdy rack on the back. The trike’s touring pedigree is crucial to tough urban riding, as the streets of San Francisco could compete with the worst in the Western world.

I’ve already busted a spoke after only a few hundred miles of riding which I chalk up to bad roads and a lot of stress on the wheels during turns. The trike also comes equipped with an S&S coupling so that it can be separated in two and packed into suitcases for travel.

Despite its not inconsiderable weight, bulletproof design and extra wheel, the trike’s speed compares favorably with my two-wheelers, especially on the flats. Riding low to the ground certainly augments the feeling of speed, but

“The best part about the Greenspeed is that it makes riding fun again.” passing most other cyclists on the road is no illusion. Uphill is another matter, however. It’s just a grind.

Fortunately I spec’d the trike with the Sachs 3x7 gear system and the Mountain Drive two-speed internal gear, giving me 42 gears to choose from. If you remember absolutely nothing from this article except one thing, let it be this: get the Mountain Drive. Not only is it an elegant piece of technology that neatly does away with the need for a front derailleur, but it is absolutely vital to getting up some of San Francisco’s notoriously steep streets. The Mountain Drive has two positions: direct drive (1:1) and low-gear (2.5:1). In practical terms this means that, when in low gear, your cranks will turn 2.5 times for every single rotation of your chainrings.

As you can imagine this gives the rider tremendous torque, something all recumbents need up steep hills.

Traveling downhill at high speed poses its own set of unique challenges. The steering is very sensitive, requiring a steady hand and a lot of nerve. On my route to work there is a long downhill through the Presidio, a decommissioned Army base on the northern edge of San Francisco which is now a National Park. The road is steep and serpentine and there is a bit of traffic coming up the other way, all of which makes for a white knuckle ride to the bottom. With time I’ve improved my handling skills enough so that the descent is now really fun rather than only terrifying. Still, controlling the trike at speed is far nervier than on a two wheeled bike.

Where the trike really shines, however, is on the flats. It is fast, comfortable, fun and, with the excellent rack and roomy Carradice panniers (which don’t seem to slow the trike down at all, incidentally), incredibly convenient. No more

bags to lug around on your aching shoulders. And with three wheels there’s no need to distribute the weight evenly on your bike. Just pop the bag on the back and you’re off.

Of course, the trike does have one tremendous caveat which cannot be overlooked: it attracts a lot of attention. I said earlier that I didn’t want to feel like a circus clown in my old age, but when riding the Greenspeed I might as well be.

Fortunately, I live in San Francisco where the freak qualifications are probably higher than anywhere else in the world. I haven’t yet had to deal with a lot of questions or requests to ride my bike. But people are people and they do like to stare, even if it’s only because they think I must be disabled.

The best part about the Greenspeed is that it makes riding fun again. I always look forward to going for a ride. Rather than nervously scanning the road in front of me for debris

and potholes while hunched over an upright bike, I sit back in my trike, caring little if I hit a rock or ride over a rain-slicked manhole cover or even fly off a curb at full speed (which I did quite by accident). With three wheels, any idiot can be assured they’ll reach their destination safely, despite their efforts to the contrary. Yes, even me.

Nevertheless, there are some places in the city I wouldn’t feel comfortable or safe riding the trike.

Because of its relatively wide footprint, it can be a little hairraising riding on a busy street with careless or impatient drivers. There’s no quicker buzz kill than the sound of an engine revving behind you as the driver looks for his chance to pass, perhaps too closely.

One of the things I love about San Francisco, however, is that it is such a livable city with tremendous biking facilities and natural resources. Almost my entire seven mile ride to work is either through a park or along a bike lane. Except for the final quarter-mile stretch along Market Street in the heart of downtown San Francisco, my direct car encounters are minimal. I hope to keep it that way.

So will the Greenspeed satisfy my juvenile impulses or will I need to go the next step and buy a pacifier and a blankie? As long as I stay out of diapers, I think my wife can put up with me and the trike. Joining the circus is another story.

41

“We shape the technology, but it has the effect of changing something about us. A flint knife gives us artificial teeth to compete with stronger, but essentially dumber, predators.”

What it doesn’t give is the increased protection that comes from driving a car. Behind the steering wheel is effortless power and control along with a protected armoured environment. The driver has a cocoon of armour that strips away buffeting winds and, with seat belts, air-bags and ABS brakes, can give a feeling of invulnerability.

Almost every road journey demonstrates this with displays of tailgating, speeding or reckless stupidity. A car driver will not blink when a two tonne object hurtles past them a few inches away.

They don’t have to blink, nor do they have to engage the selfpreservation flood of adrenaline that might save their lives. They may know that driving is a dangerous business, but tend to switch off from that fact for a lot of the time that they are on the road.

“A car driver will not blink when a two tonne object hurtles past them a few inches away.”

Once someone is a practised driver, it’s very easy to switch off. You don’t have to think about road positioning, clutch control, or even how far to turn the steering wheel, you just do it. The conscious or logical part of the brain is then free to take a little holiday. It can plot revenge over a work colleague, can lie on the beach of a future or past vacation or can be getting very intimate with the driver of the red BMW that they drove by a couple of minutes earlier. They can be doing all of these things while sat at 85mph on a motorway or starting and stopping in traffic.

Cyclists, on the other hand, learn very quickly that switching off the conscious part of the brain is not a very good idea. There are all these motorists out there who think you are invisible and a stone or hole in the road the size of a cigarette packet can cause you to have a very bad day. Instead, cyclists are paranoid. They expect the worst to happen and have to have a heightened sense of awareness and fast reaction times to prevent it.

They don’t have the luxury of lots of steel to make them feel safe on the roads. In normal traffic conditions, a driver will be in a low physiological state of excitation. Their heart rate and blood pressure will be steady.

A cyclist, on the other hand, will be physiologically primed not just from

the fear and getting hurt, but alsofrom the physical effort required when you don’t have an engine to move you around.

It is only when things go wrong for a car driver that they react in a physiological way. This might be a physical threat from someone cutting them up or a perceived social threat if “their” bit of road is challenged. With the conscious part of the brain having fun with Mr or Ms Red BMW, the reaction is far more primal. While “Flight” or “Fight” are the two hard-wired responses to threat, motorists rarely try to run away. It might be because there is no physical outlet when you are stuck behind the wheel or it might just be as simple as the car being a big armoured powerful lethal weapon. If someone threatens you when you've got a lethal weapon under your control, you just can’t back down! When things go wrong, drivers have a tantrum.

43

“Pumped up with adrenaline, a rider can be more bold, aggressive and carefree than in other areas of their life.”

When things go wrong for cyclists, however, they are already physically primed. Throw a bit of moral indignation in there about how drivers never seem to see cyclists and it starts becoming apparent why the two groups don’t really seem to get on. Physically, physiologically and psychologically drivers and cyclists are in very different places.

The mind-altering nature of both forms of transport also make it very difficult to empathise or view the world through the other groups eyes. A car driver may see a cyclist running a red light or using the pavement and they will resent them for breaking the rules. They won’t understand that aggressive road positioning is the result of too many near misses when other drivers didn’t even see the cyclist. They won’t understand that having a car whisk past you at speed only a few inches away is a terrifying feeling. It isn’t necessarily that they don’t care. Just that when they are driving, their ability to view the world from any perspective but their own is lessened.

“This mood altering aspect of cycling is very similar to the effect of taking certain drugs.”

44

Cyclists are just as lacking in empathy despite the moral high ground that a mountain bike can get you to. They don’t realise the frustration that they illicit by riding in pairs, they feel wronged so are bold about flaunting the rules of the road, including the archaic system of hand signals, yet still want to be afforded the same space and respect that is given to a car. No wonder that a lot of drivers don’t like them very much. If a car driver was to take to the pavement when there was a lot of traffic, to shoot through red lights when there was nothing coming or to defiantly sit in the middle of the road at 20mph in a 60mph limit, most drivers would hate them too.

“...should addiction occur, not many cyclists resort to prostitution or theft just to score a new pair of tyres.”

While interactions with other road users may be problematic, there are obviously a lot of unique things about cycling that make it far more than just a means of transport. At the heart of cycling is a sense of autonomy, potency and self-reliance. There is no beast of burden to be fed, tarmac is not obligatory and euphoria can be such a regular occurrence that it is a barely considered noteworthy.

similar to the effect of taking certain drugs. The difference, however, is that the high is earned physically through effort and, should addiction occur, not many cyclists resort to prostitution or theft just to score a new pair of tyres.

Withdrawal symptoms are also an experience that all but the most casual of cyclists has to face. It doesn’t matter if the regular fix is a high adrenaline, life threatening burst through central London traffic or a quiet country lane in summer, take away the bike and most people will miss it.

This state is not totally natural. It occurs because of the interaction between the rider and a simple, but very effective piece of technology. Pumped up with adrenaline, a rider can be more bold, aggressive and carefree than in other areas of their life. This mood altering aspect of cycling is very

It is also an intensely personal experience for a lot of cyclists who can appreciate moments of peace, clarity and joy that are indescribable to pedestrians or motorists. They may not be easily described to other cyclists, but because of a commonality of shared experience, they are understood.

The simple piece of technology, that lets mere mortals travel a couple of hundred miles in a day is also part cult, part drug and part liberator.

These factors can give some kind of indication as to why cyclists are so passionate about what they do. The majority of the population will have ridden a bike and may well have felt, but not vocalised their enjoyment in doing so. They are casual, not hardened drug users who, for whatever reason, are not willing to graft to get their next fix. A regular cyclist can look at these people as they walk or drive down the street and can feel sorry for them, feel superior or both. On the other hand, they might

While a car might easily be described as a weapon of destruction, a bike is not and the corresponding emotional and psychological changes that it brings will be less convoluted. Having said that, if someone shoots at you with a gun and you have a bow and arrow to hand, what are you going to do?

A few bits of metal, some rubber and a bit of physical effort can liberate bi-pods. They can swoop and soar, become more than human, can chase the wind and feel intense freedom.

As they look back at pedestrians, one thought is going to be inevitable at some point or another. “Legs...how quaint!�

just be enjoying being on a bike and not even consider what other people may or may not be missing.

No matter how complex the effects of cycling, the bike is still a simple tool compared to a car. It may be more physically demanding but the more complex the machinery, the more complex the effects it has on its operator. To kill with a flint knife requires physical strength and the ability to cope with blood. A bow creates distance while still requiring some strength, while a gun needs a visual target. More modern weapons are operated with a keyboard and no personal involvement. Each of these tools will have a profound affect on the person that is holding them. They will alter behaviour and possibly even personality because of the power that they allow the user.

CONRAD KING Conrad King is a motoring psychologist who has conducted research into Road rage, Drug-Driving and the effects of music on motorists. He works as a consultant for the RAC Foundation as well as writing numerous newspaper and magazine articles on driver behaviour and contributing to various television shows.

He is a lapsed cyclist who previously battled with central London traffic, the hills of the Cotswolds and off-road riding. He now considers himself far too sensible to do that anymore, preferring to throw himself down white-water rivers with a thin layer of Kevlar as protection.

45

Human Powered Vehicles

Workshop for

taught myself to play the guitar on one of my own self-made instruments, but on the more serious classical side I was specialising on the bassoon. But I still found time to gradually put together the Radnabel workshop – the navel of the bicycling world!

Specialist builders working in small workshops produce many of the bikes that you see in Encycleopedia. These creative people have usually had to struggle against incredible odds just to survive. Designer and builder Dieter Baumann describes how he came to produce his classic Radnabel ATL. I had always dreamed of being a pop star. But I wanted to know how to make my own electric guitar so I studied for an Engineering Diploma, while playing music for a living. I had just developed a stereo pickup for 12-string guitars, when the oil crisis hit, which made me stop and think about the consequences of excessive energy wastage. We needed to find ways of conserving energy, so I decided to turn my engineering skills to the development of human powered vehicles – ‘Zero-Energy-Mobility’.

My main concern was to make a bicycle that was as efficient as possible, to offer a real alternative to cars. I developed a sophisticated transmission system for bottom brackets and that prompted me to buy my first machinery and rent a workshop to test out the theory. The prototype felt good but it had taken me three months to produce and I realized that perhaps I’d bitten off more than I could chew.

After I had finished my engineering studies I took up music full-time – I had

46

I started a business administration course and in my first lesson I learned that the aim of a company is to gain the highest possible profit. This was also my last lesson. I decided a much better ambition would be to take over whatever is left of the automotive giants once mineral oil finally runs out in about 2033.

I got into building recumbents by accident, literally. I had been riding a copy of the ‘safety-bike’ Avatar, which has handlebars beneath the seat, and crashed breaking one of my ribs. I decided then it made more sense to have the handlebars above the seat and the result was the first ATL (every day recumbent) prototype – 20” wheels and full suspension, it felt right from day one.

It’s now more than 12 years since that first prototype and I haven’t seen any necessity to develop any other bike.

The ATL is surprisingly fast and stable, and even in town you can really cut through the traffic, easily carrying loads of up to 70 kgs. I developed an aerodynamic faring called ‘The Shark’, which has a gigantic storage capacity and helps keep you dry at the same time. By fitting a hub gear the chain can be completely sealed from the elements.

The Schmidt Nabendynamo is ideal for 20” wheels and delivers real power with minimal resistance, and totally silently.

I am continuing to refine the Radnabel, and it’s getting better all the time. I now have a foldable version that keeps the original geometry, but with direct steering.

This is still in the pre-production stages but I hope to market it very soon.

My bikes are not cheap. An enormous amount of workmanship goes into even the smallest detail, but I am proud to say that the Radnabel has developed a cult following amongst the anti-car lobby.

I believe the ATL concept is ahead of its time, and that one day, when mass production will make them cheaper, all ordinary bikes might look like this. Of course that might put me out of business, but in the meantime being my own boss I can still find time to play music. I now play live music for theatres which brings together my two different styles of playing, allowing me to utilise my classical training with more experimental elements.

Contact Information Dieter E. Baumann, Dipl. Ing. Fahrradwerkstatt Radnabel Jakobsgasse 19 72070 Tubingen Germany Tel: +49 7071 23896 The Rohloff Speedhub and Magura Louise disc brakes are a great combination.

Why a

Recumbent cycle?

Observations by MIC WIC recumbent designer and builder Bob Tennant.

Where to start? Well the most compelling reason for riding a recumbent is comfort.

If a chair is uncomfortable you change it. The same is true with anything you wear or use, if it hurts, you get rid of it.

The body is in a much more natural position.

Paul Stobbs tries out Amy’s Anthrotec at a Bike Cuture Week in France.

To find out why diamond frames are popular, we have to go back to the late 1800s. The diamond frame cycle was developed for one reason, to be lightweight. The first safety cycles copied the hobby horse cycle and they were using heavy steel tubing. The advent of efficient chains meant that gearing could replace the need to have huge wheels with direct drive and we could have smaller wheels both on the front and back. This opened up all types of possibilities for frame designs and the first recumbents were designed.

The trouble was that tubing technology was just beginning, steel tubing was thick, heavy and flexible, and all of these proved to be detrimental to recumbent design. Recumbents have a longer wheelbase; therefore they need to have larger, longer frames. Back then, to make a big stiff frame you had to use a lot of tubing – take a look at early tandem designs for example.

That doesn‘t mean that recumbents weren’t around. There is a story of a race in France in the early 1900‘s where a recumbent rider entered against a good number of safety cycles and won by a large margin, only to be disqualified for being too fast and eliminating the competition. Ultimately the UCI banned them for being too fast.

SHERRY BALLANTINE

Diamond frame bike technology with all of its add-ons (suspension units, big padded sprung saddles, padded handlebars, padded gloves, padded shorts, padded, padded, padded...) helps create a least uncomfortable cycle, not the most comfortable. The concept of body position on a diamond frame bike is where the basic fault lies. The human body was not designed to have its weight supported by a narrow wedge in the crotch and the palms of the hands on a bar. In fact during puritan times, there was a punishment that bears a lot of resemblance to the standard diamond frame cycle, where the poor soul was set on the ridge of a structure like a gate with legs on either side, and the torture was to just sit there. People now do this for sport and recreation?

With modern day materials a recumbent can have many advantages over a diamond frame cycle: Aerodynamics – up to 50% more efficient (on average 85% of effort on a cycle is used battling against the wind).

Speed – with less drag speed increases.

Less effort – again the aerodynamic body position means more efficient movement through the air.

Natural body position – take a look at chair design and try to find one that looks like a ‘normal’ bicycle seat.

Medical necessity – neck, shoulders, arms, wrists, hands, crotch, etc. Take the weight off of these and put in on where it was meant to be.

Kathy Ballantine tries out a Trice at the World Championships.

A lot of people are put off because they think it will be too difficult to learn a new riding position. But most of my customers are cycling away after some brief pointers and a few metres of assisted cycling. And about a mile down the road they wonder why they ever thought it was going to be difficult. The body is in a much more natural position, so the body responds in a natural way to the movement and balance of a recumbent.

47

TARTARUGA

TARTARUGA

In ancient myths and legends the turtle, tartaruga in Italian, symbolizes strength, stability, benevolence, and wisdom. Turtles were thought to have mystical powers, and this exciting new folding recumbent by Japanese designer Naotaka Yoshimatsu is certainly an impressive package.

Naotaka works for Namco designing consuls for amusement arcade video games – his Ridge Racer design is world famous. He got into designing bikes because he wanted a more immediate link to the customer, and also to contribute to the environmental lobby.

His experience in bringing flair and dynamism to games machines is easily detectable in the impressively sleek design of the Tartaruga –

the rear swing arm is forged from a block of aluminium. It is a three stage fold: first remove the back rest and seat post unit, fold it at the centre block and then fold the handlebars. There are two versions – DX and SD – both come with rear suspension. The DX has air-suspension, SRAM DualDrive transmission, and disk brakes.

The recommended retail price in Japan is ¥115,000.

PACIFIC George Lin of Pacific Cycles first saw the prototype Tartaruga at the Japan Bike Show in October 2000. His experienced eye quickly saw its potential and he agreed to produce the bike in his Pacific factory. Not just content with producing his own designs and bikes for other designers, George has also found the time to found his own internet-based information website called Bikexpo. ‘It is designed to be a virtual trade show for bikes, and it is our intention to offer the most comprehensive and up-to-date database to serve the global bicycle industry,’ Lin said.

With over 17,000 bicycle products from more than 700 companies, Bikexpo is expected to be the biggest bicycle portal worldwide. ‘We hope all bicycle manufacturers can join Bikexpo to promote themselves.’

Contact Information Pacific Cycles Inc. Street No. 236 Hsia Chuan Tze, Yung An, Hsin Wu Province/State Taiwan, R.O.C 327.

Tel: +886-3-4861231 or +886-3-4861232 Fax: +886-3-4861220 e-mail: team@pacific-cycles.com Web: www.bikexpo.com/vip/pacific

48

DOUBLEDAY BIKE FRIDAY The Green Gear Cycling motto is to design and build more useful, convenient bicycles to empower each and every cyclist. Their aim is to provide bikes that best fit their customers‘ needs. They see themselves as service providers. Bike Friday customers are invited to feel part of a community and can take advantage of a special part of the

DOUBLEDAY Bike Fridays are performance bikes with 20” wheels that fold and can fit in specially designed suitcases which transform into trailers to haul your luggage. There are literally dozens of different designs to choose from, whether you want a simple commuting bike, a fast road bike, a fully suspended hybrid, a triplet that can be turned into a tandem, a solo that can be turned into a tandem, a recumbent... They have something for everybody.

But if they know anything about anything, Co-Founders Alan and Hanz Scholz know about tandems. Before founding Green Gear Cycling they used to design and build tandems for Burley. Their Bike Friday Two’sDay is hugely popular with tandem riders who no longer have to worry about transporting large unwieldy frames. Recumbent tandems are even longer so it was only a matter of time before Green Gear produced a folding version, and DoubleDay is their solution.

website called the Bike Friday Web Club, and they have their own magazine, The Foldable Flyer.

Contact Information Bike Friday, Green Gear Cycling Inc, 3364 W 11th Ave, Eugene, OR 97402, USA. Tel: +1 541 687 0487 Fax: +1 541 687 0403 e-mail: info@bikefriday.com Web: www.bikefriday.com

The folding process is essentially a hybrid of the Sat R Day Recumbent and Two’sDay folds.

The folded package is surprisingly small, and with the seats removed it takes up much the same space as a Two’sDay, so it fits most car boots. The basic frame has various options such as front suspension, extra padded seats and independent coasting.

In the US prices for the DoubleDay range from $3,495 through to $5,495 depending on the spec, and it weighs around 52lbs (24kgs).

49

cycling with georgie Getting on your bike and going for a quick spin is a never-ending source of fun and relaxation. But if you have a disability it’s easier said than done. The chances are you will need to find a specialist bike from a specialist builder. This can be a demanding exercise, not to mention an expensive one. Andy Blanshard has been through the mill. Here is his story...

My daughter Georgie is just 12. Her favourite subject at school is PE. Her sister plays for netball and tennis teams, is a qualified lifeguard and climbs like Spiderwoman. Her Mum does aerobics twice a week and two long cross country runs. Having shredded my knees through years of soccer, squash and fell running, I am now an extremely keen competitive cyclist. So, we’re an active family. We always take our bikes on holiday and love to go out together for a ride.

There’s just one problem though, Georgie has Cerebral Palsy.

Cerebral Palsy affects its sufferers in different ways, and with different degrees of severity. Georgie is ‘lucky’ compared with some. She will almost

50

certainly never be able to walk unaided – her ankles and her knees collapse inwards – although she can walk short distances if supported by an adult, or if using her walker, a sort of Zimmer frame on wheels. The lack of walking and running means that she has little strength for pedalling up hills.

Her hands are stiff and don’t work too brilliantly. She can grasp with her left hand but has difficulty in manipulating things. Her right hand is a little better, but is still restricted. This rules out the use of normal brake levers, and small, sensitive or hard-to-turn gear shifters.

Mind you, she still manages to send text messages on her mobile quicker than her Mum or Dad!

“So we took the plunge and made the decision to go for a custom-built trike made with a light frame and wheels.”

Happily, her head control is fine, but she has problems speaking with sufficient clarity and volume. This is especially noticeable when she is under pressure to make herself understood to strangers who aren’t familiar with her speech. Finally, like many children with CP, she has an uncontrollable and exaggerated startle response. A sudden sound, or if she feels she might be in danger of falling over, can cause her to shoot her hands in the air with a sharp exclamation.

So how did we go about getting Georgie mobile?

A friend put us on to Quest.

They make bikes for children with disabilities, and from their catalogue we chose a bright green and yellow little trike called ‘Kitten.’

It was fitted with foot plates and AFOs – rigid, upright supports that keep the feet at right-angles to the legs preventing Georgie’s knees from collapsing inwards and bumping together, or banging against the frame as she pedals. It also had a big comfy seat with wrap-around back support and lap belt. She was quite stable and, most importantly, felt stable.

It was a great success and provided Georgie with her first taste of freedom and self-propulsion. But Georgie continued to grow whereas, sadly, the bike did not. She needed something else.

George Longstaff is a master builder with a worldwide reputation for producing beautiful, hand-crafted touring and racing tricycles and tandems.

George also builds customised bikes for people with disabilities.

By chopping the back end off standard flashy mountain bikes, he makes special tricycles for active kids with balance problems, cleverly keeping the kids’ original gears, colours, logos etc – crucial for street-cred.

For Georgie though, given her lack of muscle power (and the fact that we live in the foothills of the Pennines!), the weight of these mtb-based bikes was going to be a problem. So we took the plunge and made the decision to go for a custom-built trike made with a light frame and wheels.

George produced a beautiful, shining purple, made-to-measure tricycle. He got the special pedals, AFOs and seat from Quest. It provided Georgie with years of fun and independence – especially on holiday campsites or quiet French lanes. She was so proud when she cycled seven miles on one trip.

Although an overall success, Georgie was never able to change gear and, crucially, breaking was, and still is, her biggest problem.

Coaster brakes, which work by the rider pedalling backwards, seemed to be a good solution on the face of it, except for one thing. Often, when pedalling fast, for some reason and uncontrollably, Georgie’s legs could suddenly start pedalling backwards furiously – like a rubber band unwinding.

George Longstaff came up with a brilliant and practical solution by turning a twistgrip gear lever into a twist brake. This was a great and lasting success, but another growth spurt and Georgie had become dangerously top-heavy on the trike.

51

adopting a recumbent posture I thought about getting George to build us a bigger trike, but I would be still worried about stability, and there would be the problems of transporting such a large machine. Around about that time I went to a demonstration day of special cycles for the disabled which was being held in Huddersfield.

There were all sorts of machines, handcranked bikes, wheelchair adaptations, tricycles and something that particularly caught my eye.

It was the Kettwiesel, a recumbent trike made in Germany by Hase Spezialrader, It was great fun and, most importantly, it was remarkably stable. I knew that Georgie would be safe on one. I found more details about it on the internet and discovered that they made a number of accessories for disabled riders. And what’s more, it can ‘grow’ to accommodate riders as tall as 6’3”. It looked very promising indeed.

I took Georgie to see Mike West of Specialbikes in York, and her relief when she sat in a seat rather than being perched on one was enormous.

We fitted her old pedals and AFOs and they worked fine, but there were still problems.

Steering with standard bars wasn’t possible for Georgie. She needed longer, higher ones but these would catch on her legs when she turned sharply. Also, braking was again impossible with the standard caliper brakes and she could not work the

52

gearshift lever. Mike came up with the idea of fitting a big brake lever to the side of the seat for Georgie to lean on, and to put the gear lever next to it.

Finally, Mike got some bars made which would not catch her legs. It all worked, but not perfectly. Georgie couldn’t work the gear lever without catching the brake lever and, because now just one brake lever worked both rear discs, the bike tended to slew to one side – it was almost impossible to adjust them to operate in unison. In spite of these drawbacks, the Kettwiesel was successful enough to see her through a CenterParcs holiday when she was on the bike three or four times a day.

She can now change gear for the first time in her life, but the slewing problem remains. However recently we have noticed that Georgie no longer ’unwinds’ her legs involuntarily, and George L is working on fitting a pedal operated brake. Fingers crossed, when he has done that, Georgie will, at long last have a bike that works ‘properly’.

I realised early on that, however successful we were in solving her bike problems, Georgie would never be able to go far under her own steam and that, for safety reasons, she’d be restricted in her choice of route. This meant that, as a family, we would all be similarly restricted for family rides unless we could find a solution.

Eventually I ordered the special extension bars that Hase make and I went back to George Longstaff to see if he could improve on the brake arrangement. As usual he relished the challenge. Georgie’s current set-up involves a narrower brake lever attached to the side of the seat and an enlarged gear lever.

I’d read about George Longstaff’s ’kiddy back’ tandems – normal tandems but with a smaller back end to suit young children’s short legs – so we commissioned George to make one up for me and Georgie which would accommodate the special pedals, AFOs and a Quest seat.

We’ve learned other little but important things – like making sure there will be a seat available for her to sit on; that I have a pocket full sweets; that we have a precise appointment time; that you don’t leave eating until after the appointment.

This time Georgie chose blue and pink.

I chose straight bars to give me maximum control. As it turned out the Quest special seat was impossible to incorporate so George had to produce a modification.

It’s been a great buy, and over the last few years we’ve had lots of lovely rides on it, mostly involving races with whoever is riding with us – very competitive is Georgie. Because we started with specially shortened cranks, we have the option of fitting longer ones instead which could easily give us two or three more years before Georgie finally gets too big for it.

However, the poor little person sitting directly behind the bigger rider is not able to see much, and in particular can’t see the bumps coming. So, once more we are on the trail of a cycling solution, this time in tandem form.

Current thinking is to go for something like the Pino, a compact tandem and another of Marec Hase’s products. This swaps the position of the riders – the ’captain’ sits behind the ’stoker’ (or

passenger) – and the front rider has a recumbent set-up. We tried one recently and she loved it. I felt a bit wobbly but reckon I’d soon get used to it. The big problem seems to be that her special pedals catch on the front wheel when we turn. And that’s where we’re up to. Oh for a pound for every hour we’ve spent sorting out cycling with Georgie!

We’ve learned lots.

We’ve learned that very few people make special bikes or convert normal bikes. Add that to the fact that almost everyone’s disability is unique and is makes for expensive machines – from the fairly expensive to the hugely expensive.

We’ve learned that getting sorted is a frustrating, time-consuming business.

Especially for Georgie who has had to put up with a lot of being fiddled around with and then having to sit and wait as things go on around her.

And we learned that the nature of the person we’re dealing with is really important – George Longstaff exudes calmness and patience, not everyone else does. And he loves to get things right – not for him the ’suits you’ phrase of a person more interested in making a quick sale. Sadly, not everyone’s like him.

Most of all though, we’ve learned that, despite the frustrations, it’s definitely worth it in the end.

Contact information Quest: Aston Street, Shifnal, Shropshire, TF11 8DW England.

Tel: +44 (0)1952 463050 Web: www.quest88.co.uk/contact.htm George Longstaff: Albert Street, Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, ST5 7JF England.

Tel: +44 (0)1782 561966 Web: www.longstaffcycles.co.uk Special Bikes: 16 The Bull Centre, Stockton-on-the-Forest, York YO32 9LE. Tel: +44 (0)1904 400721 Disability Now: 6 Market Road, London, N7 9PW England.

Tel: +44 (0)20 7619 7323 Web: www.disabilitynow.org.uk Hase Spezialraeder: See following page

53

TRIUMF Bill Haluzak had been thinking about building three wheeled recumbents for some time. The catalyst was his mother having a stroke about four years ago and only being able to use her exercise bike, which she found really boring.

Most of the trikes he saw around really didn’t excite him. They were too dumpy, poorly built, and generally weren’t a very attractive option for people. He knew he could do better.

His main mission with the trike was to make it attractive, and to make it reliable and practical. For instance, he felt it was important to be able to dissemble the trike without

tools for ease of transport. As soon as he started the project he was immediately asked by more and more people to supply them with the same thing. For many people with some form of disability the trike is their main means of transport, so it should look good and stand up to the wear and tear of daily use.

bike of this size. The forks are cromoly and the standard configuration is a Shimano triple chain set on the front, 22/32/42, with an 11-32, 8-speed block. For people who have a problem with operating the brake levers Bill fits a Shimano Nexus 7-speed with a coaster brake.

The retail price of the Triumf is $1,395 for the standard version or $1,415 for the slightly heavier and longer frame – suitable for people taller than 5’ 8” (1.73M). The Triumf has 20” rear wheels and a 16” front wheel, and the frame is made from squaresectioned steel tubing. The whole bike weighs 46lbs (21kgs) which is not bad for a

You can have any colour you want as long as it is blue. Seriously, Bill used to offer a choice of colours but found out that 8 out of 10 customers wanted blue, so he figured that if he made all his bikes blue than most people would have their bikes a lot quicker. Having said that, you can still specify any colour you like for about a hundred dollars extra.

TRIUMF

HALUZAK

54

Bicycles by Haluzack is a well established and respected brand producing quality recumbents since 1992. Best known for producing high quality two-wheeled recumbents, owner Bill Haluzak was inspired to produce the Triumf to help people with disabilities become more mobile. He likes to use the trike himself when he needs to go and fetch heavy loads. It’s easier to balance and can really take the weight.

Contact Information

Bicycles By Haluzak, 2166 Burbank Avenue, Santa Rosa, California 95407, USA. Tel: +1 (707) 544 6243 Fax: +1 (707) 544 6243 e-mail: haluzak@sonic.net Web: www.haluzak.com

PINO

PINO

The Pino compact tandem is beautifully balanced and a joy to ride. You get all the benefits of a tandem without any of the drawbacks.

HASE SPEZIALRÄDER Marec Hase has been designing and building his inspirational bikes for nearly ten years now, and he’s still only 31. He, Kirsten, their little boy Jesper and the rest of the crew recently moved the workshop from Bochum to Waltrop. Customers are welcome to come and try the bikes out on Saturdays. Marec also produces the Kettwiesel, a sprightly, fun to ride recumbent trike which can be stored on its end and weighs only 17kgs (37lbs). The other Hase product is the Lepus trike, which is a higher, more solid tricycle that folds in

the middle for easy storage and transportation.

All the bikes are hand-made and have powder coated steel frames. Individual customisation can be specified at the time of order. They work closely with the organisations for people with disabilities and all their bikes can be specially adapted for rehabilitation purposes.

Contact Information Hase Spezialräder, Marec Hase, Hiberniastraße 2, D-45731 Waltrop, Germany.

Tel: +49 (23 09) 782 582 Fax: +49 (23 09) 782 586 e-mail: info@hase-spezialraeder.de Web: www.hase-spezialraeder.de

The stoker has a reclinable recumbent seat on the front, their own freewheel and, instead of handlebars, handles on the side of their seat. The captain’s handlebars sweep out and up from the frame giving great leverage and control, but also allowing much closer contact between the two riders.

The 20” front / 26” rear wheel set up, and relatively high bottom bracket give the captain a very high riding position – you are at a similar eye level to van drivers – allowing you a clear field of vision over your stoker’s head and also giving great all-round visibility. The extendable front boom can vary the length of the bike from 195-220cms (6’5”- 7’3”) and accommodate riders from 1.3m-2m (4’3”- 6’7”) with no problem. The wheelbase is incredibly small for a tandem making the Pino every bit as nimble as a solo bike. It is also relatively light for a steel tandem: 24kgs (53lbs).

The captain has a comfortable well-sprung saddle and the webbing structure of the front recumbent seat gives good suspension for the stoker. With Magura hydraulic brakes, mudguards, and ample luggage carrying potential on the rear rack, plus the option of fitting low riders under the front seat for even heavier bags, the Pino makes a great touring tandem. But it is also a brilliant way of taking the kids with you.

The stoker can be as young as three or four years old with the simple addition of bolt-on Kiddy cranks which can be moved down the frame as the child grows.

The choice of colours is bright red or ultramarine blue. In Germany the Pino retails for 32,749.

55

Poor No More: HPVs Come of Age The Aspro Clear Speed Challenge for humanpowered vehicles (HPVs) held in 1980 in Brighton, England, was the first contest of its kind in Europe, because it emphasised technical innovation rather than athletic prowess. Bikes used in orthodox, sanctioned races must adhere to rigid parameters for design and construction. The Aspro Challenge had just one rule: machines must be humanpowered, without any form of energy storage or outside assistance – otherwise, anything goes. The precise intention was to foster the design and evolution of vehicles that would be faster, more efficient, and safer, than the standard upright bicycle.

Twenty-one years on, the Human Powered Vehicle World Championships 2001 held in Brighton show that ambitions of the original Aspro event have been met – and then some. HPVs now hold all the speed and distance records. More significantly, recumbent cycles and fully faired HPVs are in commercial production and available in shops, throughout a good part of the world.

56

If you’d been a witness to the first Aspro in 1980, you might not have known that history was in the making.

A few of the entries were sleek and polished, but most were produced by back-yard builders or student teams, and construction was often rough and ready. Some were built with the techniques (and fragility) of model aircraft, and some of the designs were, well, wishful. The event generally had more the look of a circus, or a cartoon come to life, than a competition for advanced design and engineering.

But the potential was there. The vision, the idea that it was possible to do better, in fact perhaps a whole lot better, had caught - and then was inspired. The US had held open design speed trials for HPVs since 1975, and in 1980, the Vector, a fully faired, state-of-the-art HPV from California, set a new world speed

record of 58+ mph. Most wonderfully, the Vector team shared the quest for speed by coming over to Britain for the 1981 Aspro. Europeans got to see what could be done, and the race was on.

The learning curve was swift, in just a year it was turnabout, with Britain’s Bluebell going to the United States to win the 1982 IHPVA Championships, beating the Vector in the process.

A little later, Bluebell set a new hour record. Other HPV teams were quick to respond, and speed and distance records fell in rapid succession, capped

by Fast Freddy Markham’s historic ride in the Easy Racer Gold Rush to scoop

The champion path.

Sean Costin (US), organizer of the World Human Powered Speed Challenge, at Battle Mountain, Nevada, USA. Sean is big, looks strong – and is. Riding Alchemy, his own-design unfaired low rider bike, Sean set the fastest time of the day at Preston Park Track, beating even the fully faired machines. RB

Fleeting glory.

HPV-Heaven by Geoff Bird (GB) on Preston Park Track. The smooth-looking machine took over 500 hours to build.

Unfortunately, in the criterium race the next day, it crashed and smashed to bits. Oh well, the next one will be even better. RB

The world’s fastest man.

Sam Whittingham (CDN) pedalling hard. The track was wet from rain, and on another bend, Sam’s Optima Baron lost traction at the back. In slow motion, the rear end swung out and Sam went down on the track – and then to everyone’s horror, was hit by a following machine. Fortunately, the collision did little harm, but Sam have a bad case of road rash. RB

57

Razz-Fazz machines from Germany.

The latest models weigh 16 pounds – with suspension.

Foreground: Martin Schröferl. LA

Katherine Sidwell (GB) riding the Snow Leopard took 1st Overall in the Junior Division. RB

Quest HPVs. A half-dozen or so of these sleek production HPVs cycled over from Holland. The machines are big but stable, and on open roads, very fast. SER

How many does it take to…

Renowned cycle designer Mike Burrows (left) and cycle guru Richard Ballantine join forces to tie a piece of string.

LA

1st Overall, Ladies – Rosmarie Bühler (CH), Birk Comet. LA

Old and new: Shawn Ballantine checks out the spiffy, full-spec Windcheetah ‘Speedy’. Dad Richard still has his 20-yearold Speedy, but the new models have benefited from many refinements and improvements. SER

Photographers: LA – Lennin Arvelo RB – Richard Ballantine SER – Sherry Ballantine

58

“I haven’t had so much fun in ages, riding and comparing machines one right after the other. It taught me again that HPV designs are very much about personal tastes and preferences.” the $18,000 DuPont Prize for the first HPV to hit 65 mph. There was jubilation at this accomplishment, which, however, was performed not at a championship event, but at a site high in the US mountains, where reduced air density allows faster speeds – roughly, 1 mph for every 1000 feet of altitude. This clever trick was entirely within the DuPont Prize rules, but has left an unfortunate legacy: to be competitive, speed record attempts must now be mounted at high altitude. As a result, building and racing serious recordattempt streamliners has thinned down to a few teams with access to high altitude sites (none in Europe), or that have very wealthy sponsors.

In keeping with this trend, there were no record-attempt streamliners at the HPV Championships 2001 in Brighton, and relatively few fully faired machines. As one might expect, purpose-built club racers – slim, efficient HPVs expressly designed for racing – won most events. If the course was open and fast, such as the Goodwood GP, one of the fully faired touring HPVs might do well.

Much in evidence was a pack of Quest trikes from Holland, lovely production machines designed for open road touring and commuting.

Everyone who tried these models

liked them, and they had a good turn of speed, but other things being equal, a faired bike will be faster than a faired trike.

The faired HPVs proved their capabilities yet again, but the main numbers, action, and racing was with the unfaired recumbents, and while home-built and one-off designs made a reasonable showing, most of the machines were commercially produced. They came from all over the world, and you’d better believe, many are truly advanced. The latest low rider RazzFazz from Germany, for example, weighs in at an incredible 16 pounds – with suspension! These machines did extremely well, and in the criterium road race, RazzFazz riders finished hard on the tail of the winning fully faired HPV, with a difference in average speed of less than 1 mph. Many other unfaired recumbents, from the US, Holland, Britain, Germany, and even Australia, were also competitive. Remember, unlike the specialised club racers, these are machines you can ride on the street. Also – important – you can get them inside a house!

A special feature of the Championships was a Try-out Area on the Saturday, on Hove Prom. UK bike shops and manufacturers from all over the

Tails – Tail fairings, or boots, are now universal for fast unfaired HPVs. In aerodynamics, exit shape is more important than entry shape, so a smooth tail fairing significantly increases speed.

It also provides a large, easily-accessed cargo space, which is really useful when touring or commuting. FYI, a fairing is 'unfaired' when the rider is visible from the front, top, and sides. LA

world provided a wide assortment of recumbents for test rides. I haven’t had so much fun in ages, riding and comparing machines one right after the other. It taught me again that HPV designs are very much about personal tastes and preferences.

Machines broadly similar in design can nevertheless have quite different natures, such as quick and light versus steady and sure, and thus suit different kinds of riders. Also, what you like will depend on where you live. In Holland, where cycling and cycle paths are a national feature, low racers are viable for everyday use. In Germany and Britain, the ‘sports‘ models with a higher riding position and greater visibility are more comfortable in traffic.

In the early days, people often had to build their own machines. Seeing HPVs and manufacturers from different countries lined up along Hove Prom was a buzz. So, too, was experiencing the undiminished intimate and friendly spirit of HPV events. At the end of the day‘s racing, the hard-working organizers asked for volunteers to help dismantle the long lines of heavy metal barricades that stretched along the Prom. In a flash, competitors and spectators turned to, swarming like locusts as they dismantled and stacked the barriers. There were matrons, kids, and I swear, even little old ladies, lending a hand.

The HPV has indeed come of age, the promise of the child is fulfilled.

We have machines that are faster, more comfortable, and safer – and more human.

Richard Ballantine www.bhpc.org.uk

59

DELTA A comfortable stoker is a happy stoker.

On the back-to-back MIC WIC Delta the stoker can relax and enjoy the scenery without having to peer around a big sweaty body. Because your heads are closer than on a traditional tandem it’s easier to talk to your partner. You can also make easy eye contact with drivers approaching from behind. All of this adds up to a stronger sense of security and safety on the Delta.

The Delta frame and forks are made of 4130 Cro-Moly, with ‘hammock style’ seats and 20” wheels. Originally designed for racing, MIC WIC designer and builder Bob Tennant decided it was just too nice to limit it to the track and has added a lot of refinements.

The Delta can be used for racing, touring – MIC WIC has designed panniers to fit between the riders for storage – or just enjoyable day rides. It is a superb all-round tandem.

The captain has full control using Hope hydraulic disk brakes (which can be personalised), top of the line gearing and direct steering. The Delta is easy to control at low speed as well as flying around corners at amusement-park-ride speeds. It hugs the road due to its low center of gravity right in the middle of the wheels.

DELTA

MIC WIC

60

Bob Tennant, the founder of MIC WIC, designed the Commuter 7 for his daily trips to and from work as well as enjoyable weekend rides. His main goals for the Commuter 7 were to build an easy to operate and maintain cycle that was comfortable, reliable and reasonable in price. Fit mudguards, lights, computer etc, and make it your main machine.

The Commuter 7 weighs in at 15kgs (33lbs) and retails for only £795.

Contact Information Mic Wic Limited, Unit 12, Oaklands industrial Estate, Braydon, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN5 0AN, England.

Tel/fax: +44 1793 852484 e-mail: micwic@btinternet.com

FLYKE

FLYKE With a bit of careful packing it’s usually straight forward to take your bike on the plane these days, but what about taking the plane on your bike? The Flyke is a brand new recumbent trike that can be used either as a trike for powered paragliders, or as a high performance street machine capable of stowing the complete flying rig till you find a suitable take-off point. On private property the motor can be used instead of pedalling.

The one-piece, powder-coated aluminium space frame has a stainless steel rear axle and fork, can carry up to 100kg (220lbs) payload plus rider, and swings into curves more like a conventional bike than a three wheeler. Composite elastomer shocks give 10cm (4”) of travel per wheel – pretty handy when it comes to landing in bumpy fields.

FRESH BREEZE Founded in 1989 by Markus Mueller and Michael Werner, Fresh Breeze originally concentrated on fun sports equipment. Before long, when what had been a bit of a hobby suddenly ‘took off’, they turned the business over to building backpack motor systems for powered paragliders. When these flying machines became legal in Germany the Fresh Breeze engines were among the first to be certified, and by 2000 they had also started to sell paragliding trikes and had moved into a newly built facility to increase their capacity.

Automotive Engineer Dr. Stefan Wode joined the company in 2001 bringing with him over thirteen year’s experience of building motor units and trikes.

Nowadays Fresh Breeze has a permanent staff of 10 and is market leader in the field of powered paragliders with a 90% share of the European market.

The Flyke is their latest product.

Contact Information Fresh Breeze, Langer Acker 11, 30900 Wedemark-Bissendorf, Germany.

Tel: +49 51303769922 Fax: +49 51303769944 e-mail: fresh.breeze@t-online.de Web: www.fresh-breeze.de

The Flyke converts from trike to flying machine in just two minutes: hang the motor on its carrier, slide a pair of swiveling push rods into the back of the seat, attach the paraglider to the push rods, and you’re off. Elastomer elements in the hinges reduce noise and wear and help to insulate most of the motor’s vibrations. Take off and landing distance is between 3-20 m (10-66ft).

The very quiet 28 bhp, 2-stroke 330cc engine provides an air speed of between 25-50 km/h (15-31 mph) and has a climb rate of 2-3 m/sec (6-10ft/sec) depending on the load – maximum pilot weight is 100kg (220lbs).

In Germany the simple road-going Flyke costs around 32,245, or 32,450 including the necessary adaptations to accommodate the flying kit. A suitable paraglider costs around 32,300, the recovery system about 3400, and the motor between 34,000 and 34,500 depending on specification.

61

GREENSPEED GLR

GREENSPEED GLR

The Human Powered Vehicle race scene is a vibrant and competitive world, with a lot of camaraderie. It is very different from a Road Race event. Not just because there are all manner of different shapes and designs as opposed to the homogenous world of diamond framed bikes, but because at an HPV event fellow riders are usually just as interested in each others bikes as they are in winning the race. For the uninitiated these events can give the impression of a bunch of eccentrics trying out their home-made inventions. But in fact most of the bikes on display will be standard issue, commercially produced machines.

62

The Greenspeed GLR 16/19 is a perfect example. The extremely laid back seat, low seat height, low cranks, narrow track, and the 16” front wheels, combine to make the GLR one of the fastest unfaired recumbents available. The smaller wheels are stronger and lighter than the 20” wheels on standard Greenspeeds, and generate less forces on the frame when cornering, therefore allowing a lighter frame construction. The smaller wheels have a smaller turning circle giving better clearance both to the handlebars, and the rider’s legs, and they produce less wind drag, and improve braking performance. The higher speeds generated by the small frontal area and general set-up necessitate the use of large chain rings, and the 67/52t crank set

is standard equipment. In addition to the 16” front wheels, the GLR uses special hollow kingpins, the hollow Shimano Ultegra or Dura Ace cranks and bottom bracket, and an aluminium alloy crank extension. Total weight is about 14kg, (31lbs).

You might not be able to walk into your nearest dealer and walk out with one, but they are available, and usually with quite a fast delivery speed. For a fully-fledged, out and out racing machine, they’re not even that expensive. In Australia the GLR costs $6,750.

GREENSPEED Greenspeed recumbent trikes are world renowned for their centre point steering and excellent handling qualities. Over 75% are now exported to Europe and the Americas. There is a wide range of designs to choose from, including tandems, trikes for special needs, and even trikes that fit in suitcases. The most popular models are their Touring trikes.

Ian Humphries on the first GLR Race Trike at the World HPV Championships in Interlaken, Switzerland, 1999.

Contact Information Greenspeed, 69, Mountain Gate Drive, Ferntree Gully, VIC 3156, Australia.

Tel: +61 3 9758 5541 Fax: +61 3 9752 4115 e-mail: info@greenspeed.com.au Web: www.greenspeed.com.au

SCOOTERBIKE

SCOOTERBIKE Comfortable. Stable. Practical. Stylish.

If you had to specify what was most important in designing a bicycle to get more people out of cars and onto bikes, presumably your shortlist would look much like this. The ScooterBike certainly fits these criteria.

For comfort, the ScooterBike has rear hydraulic suspension fitted as standard, as well as a broad seat with good lumbar support. Thanks to a more upright riding position, in comparison to fully recumbent bikes the learning phase is very short. The pedalling position feels so natural, it has an almost ‘Easy Rider’ feel so that you can sit comfortably on the bike with both feet on the ground. With clear visibility of the road ahead and all the controls easy to hand, the rider feels secure and stable. But most important of all, the ScooterBike looks good.

KYNAST MOBILITY Based on an original design by Norbert Nattefort, the ScooterBike was ahead of its time when first introduced in 1999 by Klaus Schröder and Ortwin Kürten of Velvet Systems, who were one of the first companies to produce commercial recumbents in Germany. In what is surely yet another example of the growing popularity of these comfort recumbents, production, sales and marketing have recently been taken over by Kynast, one of the larger German bike

manufacturers with a reputation for innovation and quality (we feature their Rehab 3-Rad trike on page 25).

Contact Information KYNAST GmbH, Artlandstrasse 55, 49610 Quakenbrück, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0) 5431 12 402 Fax: +49 (0) 5431 12 380 e-mail: info@scooterbike.com Web: www.scooterbike.com

Depending on your preferred component package there are three different models to chose from: City (with 7-Speed Hub Gear), Touring (with 27-Speed Dual Drive) and Sport (with Rohloff 14-Speed Hub Gear).

Two frame sizes are available and are easily adjustable to fit riders of all sizes. The complete bike weighs around 20kg (44lbs) and has a 16” front wheel and 20” rear wheel. In Germany you can expect to pay from around 31,500 for the City version to 32,500 for the top of the range Sport.

The next step in the ScooterBike line is the ScooterTrike which will be available soon. ScooterBike custom versions are also available directly from Velvet Systems.

63

SPIRIT Recumbents will never be mainstream cycling. That has been the industry reaction to laid-back cycling over the years. But while there may only ever be a few intrepid souls willing to zoom along with their pedals level with their eyes a mere couple of feet off the ground, it is surely only a matter of time before all the mainstream manufacturers are offering ‘Easy Rider’ type, reclining bikes.

Small specialist recumbent builders have been producing these user-friendly recumbents for several years now and the latest entry is the Spirit from HP Velotechnik.

The Spirit is designed to appeal to first-time riders, but has enough know-how to make an ideal everyday bike for the experienced rider. The low step-over height is very handy and the well-balanced geometry of the compact frame design gives good control, which is essential in traffic. Measuring only 117cms (67’’) in length, it is in fact no longer than an average upright touring bike, making it relatively simple for storing or transporting in the car etc.

As you’d expect from a producer of highclass recumbent touring bikes, the Spirit is also a good touring bike with full luggage facilities. For everyday riding there is a waterproof bag that quickly clips on behind the seat, and for longer trips you can attach

two extra conventional bike panniers on the luggage carrier under the seat. This keeps the load at a central point and lowers the centre of gravity thereby increasing stability and further stabilising the steering. Quickrelease levers and aluminium rails give quick and easy seat position adjustment – the unisize frame is suitable for people from 150 - 200 cms (5’ - 6’7’’) tall – and you can also vary the angle of the seat. Front suspension is via a steel spring, and the back has a hydraulically dampened spring giving comfortable smooth rides even on dirt roads.

The complete bike weighs approximately 16.9kgs (39lbs), and is available with a full range of accessory options such as Magura Clara hydraulic disc brakes, Rohloff Speedhub, Son hub dynamo etc. Tektro disc brakes are fitted as standard and prices start from 31,695.

HP VELOTECHNIK HP Velotechnik was founded in Kriftel, Germany in 1993 by Paul Hollants and Daniel Pulvermullër while they were still students and they have gone on to establish themselves as the leading recumbent supplier in Germany. Still only 27 and 30 years old respectively, there bikes are exported across the globe and in particular to the UK, Australia, Japan and the USA. They are very careful only to supply their bikes through qualified bike shops, and always encourage these dealers to offer test rides. Other recumbents in their range include the zippy Speedmachine and the classic Streetmachine tourer.

SPIRIT 64

Contact Information HP Velotechnik, Paul J.W. Hollants und Dipl.-Ing. Daniel Pulvermüller GbR Bleichstrasse 5, D-65830 Kriftel, Germany.

Tel: +49 61 92 97 99 20 Fax: +49 61 92 91 02 18 e-mail: mail@hpvelotechnik.com Web: www.hpvelotechnik.com

PARAISO

PARAISO The original Quetzal was the brainchild of inventor Gèrard Labranche. He wanted to design a safer and more comfortable bicycle, which naturally led him to a recumbent design, but he couldn’t understand why more people didn’t want to ride recumbents – sales of all recumbents were tiny back then in 1995. In his opinion it was mainly because there were three major problems with the existing models: too expensive, too difficult to balance, and too wide a turning circle.

He took his designs to Denis Brown who set up a small company to produce the bike in 1996 in close co-operation with Procycle, mainstream bike group. Quetzal has recently become wholly owned by Procycle with Denis continuing to supervise design. The new investment has resulted in a proliferation of Quetzals including a brand new range of Quetzal reclining comfort bikes (which are featured separately on page 24) and two new budget versions of the Paraiso, the cromoly C-105, and the Misterio.

QUETZAL CYCLE More than 1,000 Quetzals have been sold across Canada since 1996. The recent acquisition of Quetzal by the Procycle Group, who are the largest bike manufacturers in Canada, reflects the continued growth in the recumbent sector. With Procycle’s muscle, and Denis’ know-how, we can expect to see yet more innovation in the future.

Contact Information Quetzal Cycle (Procycle Group Inc. Division), 9091, Hochelaga, Montrèal, (Quèbec), H1L 2P2, Canada.

Tel: +1 (514) 351-3303 Fax: +1 (514) 355-3198 e-mail: denis.brown@quetzal.ca Web: www.quetzal.ca

Built from 6061 aluminum tubing, the top of the range Paraiso Exotico weighs only 32lbs (14.5kgs) and, for a bike of this class, it is very competitively priced at only US$1,599.

The extendible front boom means one size fits all and thanks to the double gearing system it boasts a massive 120 gears. Comfort is a major concern for all the Quetzal bikes and the generous air-cushioned seat gives good lumbar support.

The Misterio has square steel tubing, and suspension on the rear and front forks.

Instead of an extending front boom, the seat (equally generous in the comfort department) can be adjusted up or down by about six inches. Weighing 45lbs (20.5kgs) the Misterio may be a lot heavier than the Paraiso, but it is also a lot cheaper. The price tag is an incredible US$849.

65

the kids with you

taking

BURLEY D’LITE

Most parents like the idea of taking their kids out on the bike, at least in principle, but cycling on the open road in Britain usually means mixing it with heavy traffic. And the worry about the risks involved is often enough to put most parents off the idea before they even get started. Lynne Curry got on her bike and checked out how some parents cope with the problem.

Will ever-heavier traffic snuff out cyclists‘ hope that when they have children, they will still be pedalling, and their children with them? Will motorised transport outweigh engineers‘ efforts?

Stuart Morris, of Two Plus Two, trailer specialists in Lewes, Sussex, is optimistic that sooner or later, Britain – which really doesn‘t mean to behave so badly, but finds itself having to – will have to have a culture change.

Stuart Morris of Two Plus Two.

NIHOLA

66

“Everywhere is a mad melee, but I don‘t think drivers are inconsiderate once they realise there‘s a child there,” Morris says.

“Most drivers aren‘t homicidal maniacs.

The fact that these brightly-coloured shells are recognised does make a difference, even if it irritates them that they‘re slightly wider than usual.

“In Germany, the traffic is terrible but more regulated, and cyclists and pedestrians are given priority. There is a price to pay because just as cars don‘t park on the pavements, people go mad if you ride your bike on the pavement.

Here, traffic is virtually free range; cars park completely on the pavement and there‘s nobody to stop them.”Morris adds that although some parents’ reaction to child trailers is “I wouldn't put a child in that”, he never gets adverse reports back from people who use them.

“Everywhere is a mad melee, but I don‘t think drivers are inconsiderate once they realise there‘s a child there” HOENING TWIN PLUS ADD+BIKES

The Pomeroys hope their sons will be cyclists, but tread warily in case they end up putting them off. “We really look forward to going out at the weekend if we can”, Caroline says, “but it’s very much a leisure thing, and there’s no point in making them miserable. If they’re freezing cold, they scream” .

Unlike the original rider of the trailer bike, a boy whose embarrassment prompted his mother to sell it, Lucy has never thought it peculiar to arrive anywhere by bike, although some of her friends travel the few yards to their school by car. “I think her attitude is ‘anything rather than walk’”, Cooper says. “A thirdclass ride is better than a first-class walk, as my friend’s dad used to say, and it's so true! We both get travel sick and if we can cycle, we prefer to cycle. I think I’ll always be a cyclist and I think Lucy enjoys it.

She never moans”.

Caroline decided against trying to transport two children, which has remained a two-person task in the Pomeroy household. The next step will be when Patrick rides his own bike. He can balance, but his mother, once again, says traffic is her fear.

“He’s got a little friend who cycles round the village on his own now, but I don’t think children have any road sense. At the same time, I don’t want to be over-protective”.

KOOL STOP TRAILER

Morris‘s younger children, Jack and Emer, were both taken to school by adapted tandem. Emer had a child seat on the back and Jack had the stoker’s seat, enclosed by a rail built out from the handlebars. If Morris were transporting children now, he says, he would like an Italian Family Bike (www.family-bike.com – but you need to speak Italian to understand the website), whose child seat is incorporated into the front handlebars. (The bike also has an electric motor drive to help with the surprising weight of a small child.)

That feeling is familiar to Angela

LEGGERO TRAILERS

Cooper, a non-driving single mother whose six-year-old daughter, Lucy, has never known any other everyday transport than a bike. She was put in a child seat when she could sit up, then on the crossbar, and now rides a trailer bike. Her mother, who works part time in a Sainsburys coffee bar, has applied ingenuity en route - doing a temporary swap for a bike with the cross-bar and acquiring the cross-bar seat secondhand from a local daffodil fair.

Contact Information Stuart Morris: +44 (0)1273 480479 Family-bike website (Italian only): www.family-bike.com OTTO BEAUJON

Caroline Pomeroy, a chartered surveyor who used to commute by cycle in London, now lives in Nunney, a hilly village in Somerset. She and her husband, Henry – who still cycles to work three miles away – have two sons. Patrick, six, and Hugh, four, graduated from child seats on the back of their mother‘s bike to journeys to nursery on a seat on their father‘s crossbar seat. Patrick now pedals a trailer bike (which did not go on the road until it had a tall, bright flag even in rural areas, traffic remains the biggest disincentive).

But defensive riding is Cooper’s mode of behaviour, whether with or without her daughter. She makes one regular journey with a hairy right turn, which she never attempts with her daughter without pulling up on the left then crossing like a pedestrian. “The attitude of drivers is, I’d say, ignorant,” she says. “Even when they can see you have a child on the bike, and when you pull up at lights, getting in front of you seems to be such a big issue.”

67

BURLEY D’LITE A lot of parents worry that their kids might get bored in a child trailer, or feel isolated. Forget it. Kids love playing in trailers. Especially quality trailers from Burley. The Burley d’Lite is America’s top-selling bicycle trailer, and the flagship of the Burley trailer line.

BURLEY D’LITE

The d’Lite’s contoured sidebars provide a rugged protective cage as well as increasing interior room it comfortably seats two children side-by-side. The 5-point safety harnesses have Soft Edge™ nylon shoulder straps for extra comfort, and the tinted windows add a dash of sophistication. All the Burley trailers are made with the same US made high quality fabrics and materials, and the d’Lite boasts several additional creature comforts: the Child Seat Recliner™, Recessed Helmet Pocket™, Anti-Dive™ Seat Pad, not to mention an additional two

68

inches of hip room in the 2002 model trailers. CPSC-approved reflectors, Scotchlite™ reflective material, bright colours and a safety flag help give the d’Lite good road presence.

The d’Lite fold is a classic: simply bring down the top and sides, remove the quick-release wheels and fold back the hinged tongue to make a lightweight and compact package measuring 34” x 32” x 10”. The standard Burley hitch attaches easily and snugly to your bicycle’s seatstay and chainstay. A backup safety strap offers an extra measure of security, and the flex connector allows the trailer to remain upright if your bike goes

down. Burley also offers a choice of three alternative hitches for bikes with nonstandard rear triangles. The Walk ‘n Roller accessory package easily converts any Burley child-carrying trailer into a stable, sturdy stroller with the simple turn of a knob.

In Europe the d’Lite retails for 3609.00. Other trailers in the range include the Cub, a tough and versatile hard bottom trailer with an elastomer suspension system; the new Encore, based on the d’Lite but pitched at a lower price; the Solo, their lightweight singleseater; and the Nomad, a high performance cargo trailer with over 8,000 cu.in. of adjustable storage space and a generous 100lb. weight capacity.

BURLEY Unusually for a global brand, Burley is a fully co-operative company. Based in Eugene, Oregon, the company is made up of 89 worker/ owners who engineer, manufacture and market high quality cycling products in a uniquely democratic work environment. Every worker at Burley is paid an equal wage and shares equally in the annual profits.The net result of this is that every Burley product is a product of the collective insights and experiences of the whole company. Innovation and improvement are part of everyone’s job description. From the first Burley trailer 25 years ago, to their present top-brand status, they have harnessed the creativity of the entire organization – an impressive demonstration of true teamwork.

Contact Information

Burley Design Cooperative, 4020 Stewart Road, Eugene, Oregon 97402, USA. Tel: +1 541 687 1644 (US and Canada only: 800 311 5294) Fax: +1 541 687 0436 e-mail: burley@burley.com Web: www.burley.com

HEPCAT

HEPCAT The Burley Hepcat is a supremely elegant, lightweight, short wheelbase recumbent. Like that of its stablemate the Django, the Hepcat name harks back to the days of swing and jazz music.

The Hepcat may be a jazzy, but it is far more cat-like than hep-like. The extremely graceful frame embodies feline grace, like a cheetah in full flight.

Taiko

Burley were one of the first mainstream manufacturers to produce production recumbents, and with the Hepcat, and the new Taiko, they are really hitting their stride. The eye-catching large diameter, thinwalled 4130 cromoly frame and butted rear stays produce a swift, comfortable machine, well-suited to fast-paced fitness rides and extended road tours. Interestingly, the new Taiko combines the lightweight, crisp handling and passive suspension comfort of the HepCat with the versatile convertible wheelbase pioneered by the Burley Limbo.

With 26” rear wheel and a 20” front, the Hepcat has an easily adjustable, custom Corbin seat that sits just 23” above the ground, presenting a clean aerodynamic profile of rider and bike. The steering column adjusts up and down as required, and also hinges forward for ease of entry. However this is more cruise control than real steering, as so beautifully balanced is the bike that it only takes the slightest of adjustments to keep yourself on the right track. In Europe the Hepcat retails for 32,200.

69

CUATRO There are field tests, and then there are Brüggli field tests. When Brüggli decided to launch their new range of Leggero Cuatro trailers, rather than just test them in the laboratory, they thought it would be much more realistic to conduct a genuine field study. So they brought together ten families from across Switzerland whose only mode of transport is the bicycle.

Starting in March 2002 each family were given a brand new Cuatrol and asked to keep notes on their experiences with the trailers.

Some of them have already been on trips as far away as Morocco, Turkey and even Brazil.

In the autumn all the participants will gather together again and their experiences will be carefully analysed. The idea is to build a better picture of the real needs and

practicalities of cycling and thereby help make it a more feasible and attractive option as an everyday mode of transport.

The Cuatro builds on the successes of previous models, the Twist and the Classico. These new multi-functional trailers are designed to offer a reliable and adaptable solution for all the family’s cycling needs, and meet all the stringent TUV safety requirements.

There are two different models: a single-seater and a two-seater. Suitable for children up to six years of age, the seats have adjustable three-point harnesses for a snug fit. The chassis is made from high-grade ABS plastic with tubular aluminium Dibond supports.

The single seat trailer weighs 14.5kgs (32lbs) without seat or 15.4kgs (34lbs) with the seat, and the two-seater weighs 16.4kgs (36lbs) without seat and 18.2kgs (40lbs) with the seats. Overall dimensions are 84cms (33”) wide, 95cms (37.5”) long, and 102cms (40”) high, and they can take loads of up to 60kgs (132lbs).

The 20” wheels have disc covers to keep little fingers safely out of harms way. The hitch system is the Becco®, a tried and trusted, quick-locking mechanism with safety strap.

With the Transporter accessory pack, the Cuatro quickly and easily transforms into a sleek and sturdy load carrier. Other optional extras include a jogger-set, pram-set, overrun brake, and parking brake. The top cover is UV and water resisitant, and has a zippered side entrance. With reflectors on all sides, a long safety flag, and choice of either bright vibrant blue, yellow, or red, the trailers are easily visisble on the road. In Switzerland, depending on the model, the new Cuatro costs between 1,039 SwFr and 1,149 SwFr.

CUATRO

LEGGERO

70

Brüggli are based at Romanshorn, in the beautiful Lake Constance area. They have been making trailers under the name of Leggero since 1988 since which time they have sold over 100,000 trailers worldwide.

They employ over 300 people and have an employment policy of actively recruiting and supporting workers with handicaps. The Brüggli credo is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Another example of Brüggli’s hands-on approach to product testing was their sponsorship of the March 2002 attempt to traverse the frozen, 636kms long Lake Baikal from south to north by mountain bike.

Although the unseasonably warm weather thwarted the attempt, the Leggero Cuatro trailers came through with flying colours.

Contact Information

Brüggli Produktion & Dienstleistung, Hofstrasse 5, 8590 Romanshorn, Switzerland.

Tel: + 41 (0) 71 466 94 94 Fax: + 41 (0) 71 466 94 95 e-mail: info@leggero.com Web: www.leggero.com

SUNLINER

SUNLINER COMFORT The Leggero Sunliner is an ingenious invention. On the one hand, a perfectly adequate trailer for short term trips, which becomes a useful hand trolley off the bike. And then, with a few adjustments, you have home-fromhome comfort – an ergonomically designed, full length sun-lounger. For real luxury, the Sunliner Comfort model has an adjustable, integral parasol.

Perhaps not an absolute necessity for your next trans-continental trip, but how many times have you ever had to grapple with all the paraphernalia of a family day out on the beach? You know, that awkward trip from the hotel, or the car, manfully clutching onto everything but the kitchen sink. Or how many times have you stopped for a rest or a picnic and wished for somewhere a bit more comfortable to stretch your aching bones?

In Switzerland you can expect to pay around 500.00 SwFr for the Sunliner Comfort.

71

KOOL-STOP TRAILERS The best ideas are also often the simplest. Like the Kool-Stop Centre Pull Towing System. Towing a child trailer directly behind the bike – as opposed to side-hitched trailers – would seem to be a case in point. Why pull from the side when you can pull in a direct line?

KOOL-STOP

It may be a simple concept, but that belies the enormous amount of R&D that has gone into developing the hitches. The trailer has

72

two towing arms that go either side of the back wheel, and slot into hitches clamped onto the chainstays. These are made from glass-reinforced nylon, which means they will not scratch the paintwork, and they are also readily adaptable to fit nearly all makes of bike. Kool-Stop claims the hitches fit 95% of bikes as standard, and they offer three adapter kits with instructions about how to modify the hitches to fit virtually all permutations.

The top of the range is the Kool-Stop Koolite trailer. It easily folds down to a compact 31x28x10” package, and thanks to its alloy construction it weighs only 23.5lbs (10.7kgs). The low centre of gravity gives really good tracking, and the quick-release, dishless, alloy wheels are canted-in for stability. There is good storage space at the rear, and the large windows give the kids a

good all round view, and allow you to keep an eye on them.

A feature unique to Kool-Stop trailers is that you can have any seating arrangement imaginable: side-by-side, opposite, upright or reclined. The easily adaptable seating is comfortable, and each child has a 5-point, fully adjustable safety harness. For children younger than eighteen months, the manufacturers recommend that you consult your paediatrician, and of course all passengers should wear an approved cycling helmet. Reflective material 360º around, a 7’ safety flag and bright colours, ensure the Koolite has high visibility on the road.

In the US you can expect to pay around $450 for the Koolite. Other trailers from Kool-Stop include The Original, Papoose Caboose, Lil’ Trooper, Kargo Van, Kool Mule, and Wilderbeast.

KOOL-STOP Kool-Stop has been the chief innovator and producer of high-quality brake pads for nearly 30 years. During this time they have gone on to produce a wide range of family cycling products including the Kool-Stop Original trailers, baby joggers and backpacks, and now the retro velocipedes. The Kool-Stop approach of high quality design, innovation and craftsmanship, continues to give them a high profile across the cycling world.

Contact Information

Kool-Stop International Inc, P.O. Box 3480, La Habra, CA 90631, USA. Tel: +1 714 738 4973 Fax: +1 714 992 6191 Web: www.koolstop.com

VELOCIPEDE

SUPER DELUXE VELOCIPEDE

Little ‘O’ tries out the pedaldrive

Kool-Stop has been importing classic bicycles into the USA for some time, like the Copenhagen Pedersens (featured on page 23) and the Mesicek high wheeler from the Czech Republic.

They also spend a lot of time dealing with the family market, promoting their child trailers and baby joggers. So it's only natural then that they should decide to produce their own range of classic reproduction children’s trikes, the Kool-Stop Super Deluxe Velocipedes.

The elegant lines are immediately evocative of Thirties designs, being closely based on the Colson trikes of that period. However, with properly spoked wheels, steel ball bearings and 2” steel tubing, these new Kool-Stop trikes are bit more robust than the originals.

1941 Colson Clipper

Colsons, based in Elyria, Ohio, produced a whole range of innovative and sleek bicycle designs throughout the Thirties and Forties, which are highly sought-after nowadays as collectors’ items. For example the Clipper, which had a large chain guard and a horn 'tank' resembling a clipper sailing ship.

There are two different models of Kool-Stop Velocipedes: the Chaindrive and the Pedaldrive, each with a choice of two sizes.

The 20” Chaindrive sells in the US for around $175, while the 16” version goes for $170. The Pedaldrives are either 16” or 12”, and they retail , for around $136 and $130 respectively.

73

CYCLONE TRAILER Hubert van Ham started making rucksacks and bicycle bags for enthusiasts in 1990. He learned quickly, and experience from repair work contracts for outdoor shops was invaluable in showing him the sort of things that went wrong with other designs.

CYCLONE

His reputation for quality and innovation quickly grew, and by 1996 he was able to realise his dream of buying a workshop in the beautiful Dutch province of Drenthe.

There are now eight people in the team,

74

all dedicated to improving their product and service.

Radical have made a point of tailoring their services for the niche recumbent market. The Allfa panniers are specifically designed to fit all commercially produced recumbents. The advantage of choosing Allfa bags to fit your recumbent, as opposed to non-generic panniers, is that they will maximise your storage potential as well as complementing the aerodynamics and general handling of the bike.

For a serious tour the Cyclone trailer is brilliant way of carrying the load. Designed

to be strong yet light, the Cyclone weighs only 5.5kgs (12lbs) and can carry loads of up to 50 kgs (110lbs). And when you need to carry your luggage with you, the wheels and towbar can be removed in seconds, stored inside the bag, leaving you with a rucksack which can easily be taken on a plane or train.

In the Netherlands prices for the Allfa Bags range from 326.00, to 3180.00 and the Cyclone trailers start from 3363.00. Prices will vary worldwide, and for full and up-todate pricing, and availability information, log on to the Radical Design website at www.radicaldesign.nl.

RADICAL DESIGN Radical design is a very environmentally aware company. They are careful only to use materials produced in Europe under strict environmental regulations, and wherever possible they try to reduce their energy intake and limit their waste. All their power is supplied either by solar panels or wind generators.

Contact Information Radical Design, Hoofdstraat 8, NL-9514 Be Gasselternijveen, The Netherlands.

Tel: +31 599 513 482 Fax: +31 599 513 434 e-mail (Netherlands): info@radicaldesign.nl e-mail (abroad): export@radicaldesign.nl Web: www.radicaldesign.nl

LIKE-A-BIKE

LIKE-A-BIKE

The first time on two wheels is a magical moment. One stored in memory for years to come and related with a wistful smile. Yet for so many of us that first turn of the pedal resulted in a grazed knee and tears.

Enter the Kokua Like-a-Bike. A beautifully balanced, simple yet stylishly designed creature, created to bridge the gap between a pavement trike and a fully-fledged two wheeler.

Gone are all the traditional stalling points for learning to balance on two wheels: a heavy steel frame, wheels that turn grudgingly on cheap plastic bearings, stabilisers that teach you to overbalance and twist your back, and pedals that bash and scrape your shins when your feet slip off.

A lightweight – just 3.5kg (7.8lbs), highgrade birch plywood frame, means even the most delicate two year old can use it. Gliding along smoothly on wheels with solid rubber tyres and bronze bearings.

KOKUA Kokua Holzspielzeug is a small, family-run business in Aachen, Germany. Like-a-Bikes are exported all over the world, and everywhere they go they bring smiles to little faces.

Contact Information KOKUA Holzspielzeug GmbH, Wallstr. 15-17, 52064 Aachen, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0) 241 406497 Fax: +49 (0) 241 38442 e-mail: kokua@kokua.de Web: www.kokua.de

At first the child usually shuffles along as though on a hobby horse, one foot always firmly on the ground for reassurance. But within an hour or two, the shuffle becomes a stride. And before you know it, a whoop of joy is heard as they fly down the garden path with both feet in the air... success! And not a scrape. Not only have they learnt to balance, but they did it themselves. A fantastic independent achievement which will boost the child's confidence and self belief, not to mention saving you hours of back breaking saddle-holding.

The solid rubber tyres mean that weather is no obstacle for your new two-wheeled athlete, riding indoors will not mark your floors. For the more adventurous, a new ‘Mountain’ style Like-a-Bike is available with pneumatic tyres and a rear mudguard.

The Like-a-Bike will become the takeeverywhere, favourite toy of your child. Its incredibly strong construction means that it could go on being handed down for years, and it’s so beautiful that’s it’s worth having one anyway even if it’s just to hang it on the wall.

In Germany the ‘Race’ version costs 3148 and the ‘Mountain’ version costs 3163.

75

in

winter

Mike Curiak is a professional Ultra-Cyclist, World Record Holder, author, photographer and guide. He has been racing mountain bikes since 1989 and has spent the last 6 years racing ultra-endurance events: 12 hour, 24 hour, 100, 300, and 1000+ mile races.

He has quietly built a reputation based on hard work, determination, ingenuity, and the ability to persevere.

It’s been months since the summer riding season ended. You segued seamlessly into knickers, then tights, then tights with wind pants, but this is a level or three beyond all of that.

The frosty edges of the window hint at the depth of the frozen world that lies beyond.

Hands grasping the sill, you scrape some frost from the glass and peer out, already imagining the bite of wind on your cheeks, the initial reluctance of your lungs to inhale the sharp air, the discomforting feel of the cold that lies,

76

hopefully, just beyond the few layers of clothing you’ll be wearing when you head out. Behind you the furnace kicks on, filling the room with warmth and reminding you that imagining is never the same as being out in it. A wave of realization hits; the cold beyond that window is tangible, even in here. A shiver runs through you.

“A wave of realization hits; the cold beyond that window is tangible, even in here.

A shiver runs through you.”

But still you want to ride. Maybe the shiver wasn’t just from imagining the cold – maybe it had something to do with nervous anticipation, or possibly its origin was the childish thrill of heading outside when common ‘knowledge says you shouldn’t.

The only certainty is that you ARE heading out. Tugging shoes on over thick socks--the last in the winterdress ritual of layering, velcroing, and lacing--you try to get out the door before soaking yourself in sweat. Once out you immediately note the absolute silence, which, curiously, brings a knowing smile to your face. After a fantastic summer of epic group rides, barbecues, mud fests, trailhead tailgate parties, and fall color tours, you’re about to get back to basics. You smile because you've missed the solitude.

As fantastic as those things are, even better is that winter riding allows a few moments of clarity away from an otherwise chaotic world.

You’re able to sort out many of life’s details, letting go of the trivial ones, thereby gaining fresh perspective before returning home. enough to notice the little things.

Feeling the first bit of ice forming inside your nostrils. Noticing hoarfrost on a tree limb, on your bike frame, on top of the snow itself. The key to noticing these things is the lack of distractions.

Add it all up and what do you get?

The solitude afforded by winter riding allows you to notice – and more importantly appreciate – the life that surrounds you.

Alone and undistracted in the cold, you’re able to experience and observe so many extraordinary things: crystalline, shimmering air; sundogs; northern lights; moon bows; even the simple, satisfying crunch of snow under your tires.

In winter you ride alone far more often. Chances are you won’t see another person, and won’t need to remember how to tactfully say, “On your left”. Because of that, there’s less urgency to the rides. Winter brings out the possibility to slow down and enjoy the ride for what it is: a chance to be outside when the rest of the world, or so it would seem, isn’t. For those who don’t put their bikes away when the cold and snow come, the rewards lie in the subtleties; the cold air sharpens you

77

4 CROSS You cannot over-tighten the spokes in a 4 Cross wheel. In fact you cannot tighten the spokes at all. You cannot even replace the spokes in a 4 Cross wheel.

Four pairs of spokes are enough to give the wheel total rigidity. The 26� rims, available in either anodised black or silver, have an integral reflective ring and are CNC machined in a double cavity construction from special aluminium alloy. The quickrelease hubs are specially adapted to the injection process and are compatible with SRAM or Shimano 8 and 9 speed clusters.

The front wheel weighs only 1.25kgs (2.75lbs) and the back wheel, including hub assembly, weighs an amazing 1.49kgs (3.28lbs). Recommended retail price is around 3280 per set. So, perhaps it’s time to throw away that spoke key?

4 CROSS

But then the chances of needing to do any of the above are extremely unlikely, so much so that the manufacturers, Gubesch GmbH, guarantee the wheels against breakage for at least three years. Off-road or on-road.

The secret lies in their construction. The rim and spokes are joined together seamlessly by way of a special injection process. There are no joins. The spoke connection to the double cavity rim is continuous. The material itself, known as PA66, is a thermoplastic, or more precisely an amalgam of 10% glass-fibre, 20% carbon fibre and 70% plastic material. PA66 is extremely strong, but it also has a certain amount of elasticity that emulates the suspension effect of standard metal spokes.

GUBESCH Gubesch GmbH is principally a product development company, designing prototypes and producing industrial mouldings. Their strength lies in their ability to immediately transform a rough design into a functioning prototype. They can produce prototypes in any material, aluminium, ABS, PA, etc, either through their CAD milling programs, or by hand. They follow this up with precision moulds and using vacuum casting and special resins they end up with an extremely accurate production prototype. Once the prototypes are fully tested the same process is then adapted to produce the final product.

Contact Information Gubesch GmbH, Bergstrasse 34, 91489 Wilhelmsdorf, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)9104 82 8330 Fax: +49 (0)9104 828 3333 e-mail: gubesch@gubesch.de Web: www.gubesch.de

78

XO When SRAM introduced the SmartBar in 2001 they re-wrote the script for bicycle component design. This was not just a new type of handlebar, this was a totally new concept – the ‘dashbar’.

SmartBar is a lightweight, durable bicycle control system that easily integrates with lights, mirrors, and a computer. Advanced ergonomical design means the intuitive controls are safe, comfortable and functional.

Upgradeable, with a full suite of integrated accessories, the SmartBar adjusts for height, reach, and rise.

XO

Not content with conjuring up the SmartBar, SRAM still found time last year to launch the DualDrive shifting system. This lets you quickly thumb your way through three easily identifiable riding modes then, still using the same hand, click the twist shifter up or down to find your comfort level. It is very popular with bike manufacturers – many of the featured bikes in this edition have the DualDrive system – not just for its simplicity, but for its ability to shift effortlessly and quickly even when stationary or under heavy load. It also looks really cool.

As hubgears go the DualDrive takes some beating, but if a derailleur is more your kind of thing, then the new SRAM XO is a beauty.

Available in ‘Long Cage’ (204gms) or ‘Medium Cage’ (200gms) versions, the simple and elegant parallelogram design helps reduce clogging and is fully serviceable. The forged aluminum ‘B-knuckle’ and carbon composite ‘P-knuckle’ assembly has a titanium extension spring and aluminum outer link for superior strength, durability, rigidity, and precise performance.

SRAM SRAM is dedicated to making cycling safe, easy, and fun. Founded in Chicago in 1987, SRAM launched GripShift to international acclaim and immediate consumer acceptance. In 1995 they introduced the ESP derailleur which quickly became an established top-end choice for both onroad and off-road enthusiasts. The acquisition of Sachs Bicycle Components in 1997, and with it over 100 years of unparalleled expertise in hub gearing development and production, brought a

whole new dimension to their consumer profile.

The take-over in March this year of bicycle suspension pioneers Rockshox, further extends the SRAM range of high class components across the whole bike platform.

Contact Information SRAM Europe, Basicweg 12-D, 3821 BR Amersfoort, The Netherlands.

Tel: +31 (0)33 4506060 Fax: +31 (0)33 4570200 e-mail: srameurope@sram.com Web: www.sram.com

Tested for a full season by top MTB pros, the XO was Mike Curiak‘s choice to tackle the grueling Iditarod Trail Invitational in February – a non-profit event, put on by racers for racers, and embodying pure, unadulterated competition. Curiak won the 1,100 mile (1,760kms) race from the Alaskan town of Knik to Nome in 17 days and 2 hours – 26 hours ahead of the second place finisher.

Curiak described the conditions he endured during the race: “We had the usual doses of 50 below zero, 75 mph winds, and feet of snowfall, all of which are expected.” And how did the SRAM XO equipped bike Curiak depended on throughout the 1,100 miles perform in these fierce conditions? “I wished that I was as durable as it was. No matter how strong the wind or how cold the temperature, the XO never complained, but I sure did.” In Europe the XO derailleur costs from around 3239.00 (excluding shifters).

79

KURT KINETIC TRAINER You don’t have to be a dedicated road racer to consider getting a home trainer. Anybody can feel the benefit, particularly if you work from home and therefore can’t rely on a regular commuting ride. With the Kurt Kinetic, winner of the prestigious 2002 Bicycle Magazine Editors Choice Award for the top cycle trainer, you can put

The T-000 Standard Trainer

yourself through a good work out in the comfort of your own home.

cups raising it about 1”- 2” off the ground.

Mounting is quick and easy, and thanks to the patented quick release lever system, there’s no need to modify your bike at all. Recumbent riders will appreciate the optional adapter, which can handle wheels as small as 18”.

In fact a recumbent makes an ideal indoor exercise bike. Sit back, pump the pedals, and watch the telly! Or read a newspaper.

The fluid-filled resistance unit is relatively quiet and really feels like you are riding on the road. There are two models to choose from, the Kinetic Standard (T-000) and the Kinetic Road Machine (T-002). They are identical except for the flywheel: 30% larger and 208% heavier on the Road Machine, and the cost: $300 vs. $340. The bigger flywheel feels slightly slower in acceleration but once you get it rolling, it smoothes out the pedal stroke and maintains the momentum. It is a subtle difference – roadies reckon it compares to riding in a pack – and is likely to appeal more to top category riders, and riders worried about knee problems.

The rear wheel is clamped by skewer and cone

The Kurt Kinetic is a simple, elegant and unobtrusive unit. It's not the cheapest option out there, but it is built to last. Fair weather cyclists now have no excuse to let their bikes gather dust.

The Kurt Kinetic trainer is an authentic training system for competitive cyclists and novices alike.

KURT MANUFACTURING

retails in the US for $300 & The T-002 Heavy Duty Trainer for $340.

You can order over the internet on www.kurtkinetic.com and pay in US$. Customers from outside the US pay extra for any country duties, and shipping charges.

KURT KINETIC 80

Founded in 1946 by Kurt Kuban, father of the current President and CEO Bill Kuban, the company specializes in sub-contract machining services and product manufacture, and is recognized as the world leader in workholding technology. Kurt Manufacturing’s mission is to perform beyond expectations so that customers are continually loyal, employees are rewarded with extended opportunities, and the corporation is strengthened by profitable growth. Their customer base includes major aerospace, automotive, military, and commercial clients.

Contact Information Kurt Manufacturing-Kinetic Trainer Division, 395 Ervin Industrial Drive, Jordan, Minnesota, 55352 USA. Tel: +1 763 502 6195 or +1 800 328 4014 (toll free availability only).

Fax: +1 952 492 3443 or +1 800 458 7864 (toll free availability only) e-mail: jeaniev@kurt.com or beths@kurt.com Web: www.kurtkinetic.com or wwwkurt.com

SLAM-X

SLAM-X MOUNTAIN STEM Trevor Combs’ designs start out as pieces of sculpture. He believes that a product’s performance is optimised by using materials naturally conducive to its structure. All SIC products are intended to be functionally free-flowing, to be as well engineered as they are stylised.

The SIC Slam-X 1.2 is a stem for mountain bikes, but with a difference. Weld-free construction and ‘integrated helix reinforcement’ provide tremendous strength and durability. Designed to be totally flex-free, the Slam-X enhances the precision handling and control you need at speed.

The Slam-X 2.4 is for really extreme riding styles. It has the same weld-free construction and integrated helix reinforcements as in the 1.2, but is even more rugged. Strength and beauty.

access to cutting-edge research and technology in association with experts seconded from the US military.

SIC Trevor Combs is a charismatic designer and long time mountain-bike fan. He got into designing bike stems as part of his master’s thesis at the Pratt Institute design college. Now four years after the initial launch of Super Innovative Concepts, the company is fully operational and shipping parts. The SIC success story is in no small part due to the support shown by the US Technology Transfer Programme. This ‘peace dividend’ allows small and medium-size companies

Contact Information Super Innovative Concepts, Inc. 5111-C Pegasus Ct. Frederick MD 21704, USA. Tel: +1 240 2150141 Fax: +1 240 2150149 e-mail: sales@sicusa.com Web: www.sicusa.coms

They test their prototypes to destruction using powerful, hydraulic presses which exert loads far in excess of any foreseeable riding situation. In America, you can expect to pay around $110 for the aluminium Slam-X 1.2 and $130 for the magnesium. The aluminium Slam-X 2.4 costs $120 and the magnesium version $130.00. They also produce ergonomic bar ends, and a new line of brake levers will soon be in production.

The SIC formula is design integrity, material quality and precision manufacturing. Or as Trevor would say, “Form is function. Function is freedom. Exercise Your Freedom. Freedom to experience.”

81

BREAK IT, FIX IT,

RIDE IT Bicycle repair manuals generally do not make good leisure reading – Richard Ballantine’s Bicycle Book being a notable exception. Mostly you look up the relevant bit when necessity calls, propping the book open at the required page.

Manuals don’t even make for leisurely browsing, but that certainly is not true of the BFR-It CD. Clicking through crystal clear, animated colour images with concise explanatory notes is a revelation. See how to disassemble suspension forks. Investigate the whole drive-train in minute detail, complete with suggested tools and tips.

For most people fixing bikes is a necessary chore, and anything vaguely complicated tends to be a cue for calling in professional help. It’s possible with trial-and-error and the help of a repair manual to do the job yourself, but often you end up shooting in the dark. The Break It, Fix It, Ride It approach is a refreshing change.

It covers all levels of mountain bike repair, using high-quality, high-resolution photographs. Click on the area of interest, and non-relevant images are faded out or disappear altogether to avoid confusion. At $30 a throw it costs a little more than you’d pay for a book on the subject, but how many books offer you the prospect of easily up-dating content via the web? Of course you need the technology, and computers with processor speeds slower than 350MHZ may struggle, and you need at least 128MB of RAM. There is a road bike version in the pipeline, but in the meantime it’s for mountain bikes only.

Break It, Fix It, Ride It is a real eye-opener, but be warned: you might end up taking your bike to bits just for fun!

BREAK IT, FIX IT, RIDE IT Break It, Fix It, Ride It is a developer of computerbased multi-media education, training, certification and marketing solutions for the Bicycle Industry. BFR-It’s staff includes bicycle mechanics, technology professors from the Rochester Institute of Technology and international sales professionals.

Through their One Step-One Image approach to content development, BFR-It’s authoring provides incredibly rich, informative and easy-to-use instructional media. Their software tools, codeveloped with and licensed from Anabasis Software, circumvent the common bottlenecks of multimedia development.

Contact Information Break It, Fix It, Ride It, 36, St Paul St, Rochester, New York 14608, USA. Tel: +1 716 420 91300 e-mail: Info@bfr-it.com Web: www.bfr-it.com

82

SPEEDHUB 500/14

SPEEDHUB 500/14

Kirsten Dunne and Chris Timm, TransAlp 2001.

Foto Hamann.

ROHLOFF The TransAlp Challenge race is a good example of the reliability of the Speedhub. The Rohloffs sent a mechanic on the 2000 event, and again in last year’s event – 600km (375 miles) over eight days including 20,000m (66,000ft) of climbing, but he had nothing to do. None of the riders using Speedhubs had any problems whatsoever. So Bernhard & Barbara Rohloff are planning to take part in this year’s event – if only to share a glass of wine with the Speedhub riders

The Rohloff Speedhub 500/14 continues to win more friends and go from strength to strength. It‘s hard to believe that it is only just over four years since the Speedhub first hit the market, it seems to be everywhere you look.

Costing from around 3800-3950, depending on the model and configuration, the Speedhub can be seen as something of a luxury item. But more and more people, especially high mileage commercial users like couriers, and police riders, are realising that the initial investment is more than repaid by the impressive hard wearing performance and low maintenance. And it is only slightly heavier than top of the range derailleur alternatives.

after each stage, while their fellow competitors beaver away at adjusting and cleaning their transmissions for the following day’s stage!

Contact Information Rohloff GmbH, Möncheberg Str. 30, D-34125 Kassel, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0) 561 875615 Fax: +49 (0) 561 875338 e-mail: service@rohloff.de Web: www.rohloff.de

Of course the real joy of the Speedhub is the sheer practicality of the unit. The twist shifter operates by simply pulling separate cables up or down, and because the indexing is inside the hub, there is no wear on the indexing system nor any need to adjust it.

With a 526% range spread evenly over 14 speeds – the equivalent of a 27-speed derailleur system – it is easy to keep a steady cadence no matter what the terrain.

The huge range particularly lends itself to the smaller wheels of some folders and recumbents.

83

getting the bikes to

the people Jim McGurn discovered that most people don’t discover just how magic cycling can be unless you put them on a saddle and say ‘Pedal!’

We had this idea for a bike try-out roadshow which would tour the UK with 30 or so representative bikes, along with some exotic stuff to attract attention and give some fun.

We called ourselves the Company of Cyclists, since we had 160 cyclistshareholders, and the brand we thought up was ‘Get Cycling!’ That bit was easy. The next 18 months were to be a whirlwind of bikes, buses and business development. After all that we found ourselves the proud owners of two converted buses, two fleets of bikes, two crews, a 16-page beginners’ cycling guide, 17 factsheets, a unique cycling information database and a series of cycling websites. As well as a client base of 40 local authorities, health trusts and businesses who were keen to have all this stuff.

Our most visible activity is the Get Cycling! try-out roadshow. People ride the bikes for free, and get advice and a range of literature; all in a carnival atmosphere – unless it rains.

We’ve ‘done’ city centres, hospital car parks, leisure centres, special schools, shopping centres, colleges, universities, corporate offices, and even the Inland Revenue. We also turned up at a car show! In the process we have seen a very diverse society: from the business people of Guernsey to the disaffected youth of Belfast. And we got them all on bikes!

84

May 2002 saw the publication of ‘Get Cycling!’, possibly the first ever cycling guide for mass circulation distributed to all our Roadshow clients. It is available as a stand-alone resource. Employers and local authorities can also commission customised versions with local cycling maps, commuting advice, and local cycling support information. Clients receive their own local cycling websites – visit www.getcycling.info to see more.

Our online information database, containing millions of words on a huge range of cycling subjects is under continuous development. It’s a long-term project, involving updated editorial material from the cycling magazines and books previously published by Open Road.

Maybe we’ll come to your town one day. In the meantime you can find our tour details, and pictures of us in action, on our website. www.companyofcyclists.com www.getcycling.info

encycleopedia dealer try-out tour Steve setting-up shop.

Encycleopedia, the book, has always tried to illustrate the form and function of each featured bicycle and accessory. Two-dimensional representation does have its limitations though, so we ventured into video and the moving image. A steep learning curve, but seeing the bikes in action really brings them alive. Better still is the ability for readers to pop into their local bike shop and try the bikes out themselves!

Everyone needs a helping hand!

We launched the first Encycleopedia Dealer Try-Out Tour in August 2001 and we repeated it this year. The results were fabulous. For many people it was the first time they had seen most of these bikes ‘in the flesh’, let alone ridden them.

For others it was a chance to compare new designs with old favourites. What was great to see was how positive people were – even passers-by were drawn into the events and were soon having lessons on cornering on short wheelbase recumbents.

Tad and Simon try out the Compagnon.

on the Tour without the support of MIC WIC’s Bob Tennant who helped with bike storage and kindly allowed us to use his truck, and Steve Holard, who drove the truck and showed inifinite patience in making sure everybody got to ride most things most of the time.

The Kettwiesel was always popular.

The dealers even managed to get out of their shops, and many of them and their staff rode recumbents on the road for the first time. People with young families got the chance to try out bikes that would finally enable them to ride together with greater peace of mind.

If you want to join us on location get in touch for a list of future venues. It would not have been possible to put

The Phat won many admirers.

We would also like to thank the following affiliated Encycleopedia dealers and stockists for their support: Avon Valley Cyclery Rear of Bath Spa Railway Station Bath Avon BA1 1SX Tel: 01225 442442

Paul Hewitt Specialist Cycles 25 Turpin Green Lane Leyland Lancs PR25 3HA Tel: 01772 424773

Walton Street Cycles 78 Walton Street Oxford OX2 6EA Tel: 01865 311610

Try Cycling 9a North Rd Kirkburton Huddersfield West Yorkshire HD8 0NX Tel: 01484 607830

Red Kite Cycles 185 Marshall Lake Road Shirley Solihull West Midlands B90 4RB Tel: 0121 745 2618 Threadgolds Cycle Specialists 189 Hollyhedge Road Wythenshawe Manchester M22 8UE Tel: 0161 998 2287

Freewheel (Nottingham) 34-36 Goose Gate Hockley Nottingham Nottinghamshire NG1 1FF Tel: 0115 952 0200

Compton Cycles 23/25 Catford Hill Catford London SE6 4NU Tel: 0208 690 0141

Ben Hayward Cycles 69 Trumpington Street Cambridge CB2 1RJ Tel: 01223 352294

On Your Bike 52/54 Tooley Street London Bridge London SE1 2SZ Tel: 0207 7378 6669

Cycle Heaven 2 Bishopthorpe Road York YO23 1JJ Tel: 01904 651870

Madgetts Cycles Shelfanger Rd Diss Norfolk IP22 4EH Tel: 01379 650419

Bicycle Workshop 27 All Saints Road Westbourne Park London W11 1HE Tel: 0207 229 4850

Church Street Cycles 104 Church Street Gainsborough Lincs DN21 2JU Tel: 01427 617752

Pedal Partners Ltd 91 Church Road Tiptree Essex CO5 0HB Tel: 01621 815690

Future Cycles Lower Square Forest Row East Sussex RH18 5HD Tel: 01342 822847

85

All these affiliated dealers, and those listed on the previous page as part of the UK Dealer Try-Out Tour, will do their best to help you source any of the products that we feature in Encycleopedia.

We are always interested in hearing from dealers who would like to promote themselves and their services through Encycleopedia.

If you know of a dealer who you think would be suitable then please get in touch.

You can always contact us directly and we will do our best to assist you. To contact us by mail please write to Encycleopedia Ltd, PO Box 317, Stockport SK2 7YH, England. e-mail: alan@encycleopedia.com.

Telephone: +44 (0)161 484 0579.

FRANCE BICLOUNE (LE COMPTOIR DU CYCLE) 7, Rue Froment, 75011 Paris, France.

Tel: +33 (0)148 054775 Fax: +33 (0)148 054770 Web: www.bicloune.fr Tue-Sat: 10.00-13.00 & 14.00-19.00 Closed Monday

GERMANY SATTELFEST Kanal Str. 70, D-23552 Lübeck, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)451 704687 or 01805-SATTELFEST Fax: +49 (0)451 7063742 e-mail: info@fahrradladen-sattelfest.de Web: www.fahrradladen-sattelfest.de Mon-Fri: 09.00-18.00 Sat: 09.00-14.00 FAHRRADLADEN RADFINESSE WUPPERTAL Haspeler Str.10 (Schwebebahnstation Landgericht), D-42285 Wuppertal Unterbarmen, Germany.

Tel. +49 (0)202 8 15 12 Fax. +49 (0)202 8 17 18 e-mail: Radfinesse@t-online.de Webwww.Radfinesse.de Tues-Fri: 10.00-13.00 & 15.00-18.30 Sat: 10.00-14.00 Closed Mondays DAS RAD, FAHRRADSPEZIALGESCHÄFT UND WERKSTATT GMBH Brüderweg 14, D-44135 Dortmund, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)231 529324 Fax: +49 (0)231 551320 e-mail: info@das-rad.com Web: www.das-rad.com Mon-Wed: 10.00-18.30 Thu-Fri: 10.00-20.00 Sat: 10.00-16.00

these shops are run by keen cyclists, and will be useful sources of local cycling information.

FEINE RÄDER Friedrich-Wilhelm-Platz 7, D-47051 Duisburg, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)203 24032 Fax: +49 (0)203 288116 e-mail: info@duisburg.feineraeder.de Web: www.feineraeder.de Mon-Fri: 10.00-19.00, Sat: 10.00-16.00

AUSTRIA

123 RAD Sentmaringer Weg 118, D-48151 Münster, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)251 974589 0 Fax: +49 (0)251 974589 1 e-mail: micha123rad@aol.com Web: www.123rad.de Tue-Fri: 10.00-13.00 & 15.00-18.00 Sat: 10.00-14.00

It goes without saying that all of

COOPERATIVE FAHRRAD Gumpendorferstrasse 111, A-1060 Wien, Austria.

Tel: +43 1 5965256 Fax: +43 1 59652574 e-mail: coop@fahrrad.co.at Web: www.fahrrad.co.at March-Sept: Mon-Wed: 10.00-13.00 & 14.00-18.00 Thu-Fri: 10.00-13.00 & 14.00-19.00 Sat: 10.00-17.00 Oct-Feb: Mon-Fri: 10.00-13.00 & 14.00-18.00 Sat: 10.00-14.00

BELGIUM VELODROOM BVBA Rue Van Arteveldestraat 41, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium.

Tel: +32 (0)2 513 81 99 e-mail: info@velodroom.net Web: www.velodroom.net Mon-Sat: 10.00-18.30 Closed Wednesdays and Sundays

CANADA FAIRFIELD BICYCLE SHOP LTD 1275, Oscar Street, Victoria, British Columbia, V8W 2X6, Canada.

Tel: +1 250 381 2453 Fax: +1 250 384 2453 e-mail: fairfieldbicycle@shaw.ca Web: www.fairfieldbicycle.com Mon-Fri: 9.00-17.30 Sat: 9.00-17.00 Sun: 11.00-16.00

DENMARK CHRISTIANIA CYKLER Refshalevej 2, DK-1432 Copenhagen K, Denmark.

Tel: +45 (0)32 954 520 Fax: +45 (0)31 544 593 e-mail: pedersen@christiania.org Web: www.christiania.org Mon-Thu: 10.00-17.30 Fri: 10.00-18.00

EIRE SQUARE WHEEL CYCLEWORKS Temple Lane South, (Off Dame St), Dublin 2, Eire.

Tel: +353 (0)1 6790838 Fax: +353 (0)1 6798693 e-mail: squarewheel_dublin@yahoo.com Mon-Fri: 8.30-18.30 Sat: 10.30-18.30

86

STADTRAD Teutoburger Str. 19, D-50678 Koeln, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)221 328075 Fax: +49 (0)221 9322258 e-mail: info@stadtrad-koeln.de Web: www.stadtrad-koeln.de Mon-Fri: 10.00-18.00 Sat: 10.00-14.00 VELOCITY/STAHLROß GMBH BONN Belderberg 18, D-53111 Bonn, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)228 9813660 Fax: +49 (0)228 9813662 e-mail: info@velo-city.de Web: www.velo-city.de DIE RADGEBER Hintere Bleiche 3, D-55116 Mainz, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)6131 372444 Fax: +49 (0)6131 584682 e-mail: info@die-radgeber.de Web: www.die-radgeber.de Mon-Fri: 10.00-19.00 (Tue: 14.00-19.00) Sat: 10.00-15.00 PRO VELO Winkelstrafle 1, D-58452 Witten, Germany.

Tel: +49 2302 699251 Fax: +49 2302 963369 e-mail: info@pro-velo.de Web: www.pro-velo.de Mon-Fri: 11.00-19.00 Sat: 10.00-15.00 FAHRRAD CLAUS Astheimer Str. 58, D-65468 Trebur, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)6147 7915 Fax: +49 (0)6147 1329 e-mail: fahrradclaus@gmx.de Mon-Fri: 9.00-12.00 & 15.00-18.00 Sat: 9.00-13.00 PEDALKRAFT SPEZIALRÄDER Hirschlander Str. 2, D-71254 Ditzingen, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)7156 8369 Fax: +49 (0)7156 34034 e-mail: info@pedalkraft.de Web: www.pedalkraft.de Tue-Fri: 14.30-18.30 Sat: 9.30-13.00 or by appointment

RADHAUS FAHRRADHANDEL GMBH Münchhof Str. 4, D-79106 Freiburg, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)761 280832 Fax: +49 (0)761 280838 e-mail: radhaus-freiburg@t-online.de Web: www.radhaus-freiburg.de Mon-Fri: 9.00-13.30 & 15.00-18.30 Sat: 9.00-16.00.

VELO RADSPORT GMBH Köhnstrasse 38, D-90478 Nürnberg, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)911 473611 Fax: +49 (0)911 467707 e-mail: info@velo-radsport.com Mon-Fri: 10.00-18.00 Sat: 10.00-13.00 Closed Wednesdays and Sundays FAHR`RAD! Reuter Str. 3, D-91522 Ansbach, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)981 13501 Fax: +49 (0)981 9724745 e-mail: fahr-radikal@t-online.de Web: www.fahr-radikal.de Mon-Wed: 9.00-13.00 & 14.00-18.00 Thu-Fri: 9.00-13.00 & 14.00-19.00 Sat: 9.00-14.00 FAHRRADFRANK Tor Str. 220, D-10115 Berlin, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)30 285 99750 Fax: +49 (0)30 285 9975 e-mail: fahrradfrank@t-online.de Mon-Fri: 10.00-20.00 Sat: 10.00-16.00 VELOPHIL Alt-Moabit 72, D-10555 Berlin, Germany.

Tel: +49 (0)30 399 02 116 Fax: +49 (0)30 399 02 117 e-mail:team@velophil.de Web:www.velophil.de Mon-Fri: 10.00-19.00 Thur: 10.00-20.00 Sat: 10.00-16.00

NETHERLANDS WIM KOK FIETSPLEZIER Nachtegaalstraat 51, 3581 AD Utrecht, Netherlands.

Tel: +31 (0)30 2315780 Fax: +31 (0)30 2316675 e-mail: fietsen@wimkok.nl Web: www.wimkok.nl Tue-Fri: 10.00-18.00 Sat: 9.00-17.00 Thursday evenings: 19.00-21.00

SWITZERLAND VELOCIPED Luzernerstrasse 16, 6010 Kriens/Luzern, Switzerland.

Tel: +41 (0)41 320 53 51 Fax: +41 (0)41 320 53 85 e-mail: velociped@tic.ch Mon-Fri 9.00-12.15 & 13.15-18.30 Sat. 9.00-17.00.

USA PEOPLE MOVERS 980 N Main Street, Orange, CA 92867, USA. Tel: +1 714 633 3663 Fax: +1 714 633 7890 e-mail: peoplemovers@hotmail.com Web: www.recumbent.com Wed-Fri: 10.00-18.00 Sat & Sun: 9.00-17.00 Closed Monday & Tuesday LAKE SHORE SCHWINN 2108 Blanding Boulevard, Jacksonville, FL 32210, USA. Tel: +1 904 388 0612 Fax: +1 904 384 7945 e-mail: lsschwinn@bellsouth.net Web: www.bik4fun.com CENTER FOR APPROPRIATE TRANSPORT 955 W. 1st Ave, Eugene, OR 97401, USA. Tel: +1 541 343 5568 Fax: +1 541 686 1015 e-mail: cat@efn.org Web: www.efn.org Tue-Sat: 12.00-18.00 JAY’S PEDAL POWER 512 E. Girard Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125, USA. Tel: +1 215 425 5111 Fax: +1 215 426 2653 Web: jayspedalpower.com Mon-Fri: 10.00-18.00 Sat: 10.00-17.00 YELLOW JERSEY LTD 419 State Street, Madison, WI 53703, USA. Tel: +1 608 257 4737 Fax: +1 608 257 5161 e-mail: mail@yellowjersey.org Web: www.yellowjersey.org Open every day

encycleopedia video cd The Encycleopedia Dealer Try-Out Tour “The event’s fantastic because Encycleopedia’s great, but seeing a bike in print is one thing. Getting on to a bike and trying it out it’s fantastic...”

Try-Out Tour 2001, Oxford.

This is your chance to see what happened and, for those who came, look closely you might see someone you recognise.

Do you remember the first time you rolled over, crawled or walked? Probably not. But what about the first time you rode a bike? Yes? It’s amazing how many people do. And their experience is usually related with a smile.

So why is it such a strong memory? The exhilaration, independence, mobility.

Probably all of these and more...

In the new Encycleopedia CD some of the makers and shakers of the cycle industry talk to us about their early cycling experiences and their views on cycling as a lifestyle and industry.

Around the framework of industry interviews we look at several areas of interest.

The UMIST Project Each year a raft of innovative designs for bikes and accessories are pushed out into an ever more technically exciting market. But where do these ideas come from and how are they put into practice? The Encycleopedia CD follows students from UMIST, (The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) a hotbed of engineering and design, as their final year students get to grips with designing a recumbent.

Cycling with Georgie An interview with Andy Blanshard illustrating the difficulties of obtaining a suitable bike for people with disabilties. Insightful and inspiring Andy and Georgie show how it can be done.

Where there’s a wheel, there’s a way!

Read the article on page 50.

Martin Stephenson We interview singer/song writer Martin

Stephenson. Famed for fronting the ‘80s band Martin Stephenson and The Daintees, Martin is also a big bike fan.

His music forms the backdrop of this CD which also includes some live footage of Martin in concert. He has just released a new album called Collective Force.

For more information visit Martin’s website: www.martinstephenson.com or follow the link on the Encycleopedia website: www.encycleopedia.com.

The Bikes Over 20 bikes from this edition are featured on the CD. Each bike feature contains action footage, close up detail shots, and on screen graphics highlighting key points of each bikes. Where possible each bike is viewed from 360 degrees and full web contact details are given.

The CD is designed to play on Apple Macs and PCs. Insert the CD into your CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM, copy the MPG file to your desktop, double-click, and the video should start. The running time is approximately 20 minutes and the viewing window is quarter-screen size. You can download (40MBs mind you!) a five minute sample clip about the Dealer Try-Out Tour from our website, where you can also order the CD using the PAYPAL payment system (US$ only) for $12 including postage.

UK readers can order by post and pay with a sterling cheque for £6 (drawn on a UK bank account) made out to Encycleopedia Ltd. Send order and cheque to: Encycleopedia Ltd, PO Box 87 317, Stockport, SK2 7YH.

Cycling in

Germany I am a bicycle person. I just love bikes, fiddling around with the technology, repairing bicycles of friends, trying to combine stuff that never was meant to. You know, tinkering. At a seminar called ‘Framebuilders Masterclass’, I even learned to braze my own frames.

And I am a natural scientist. So for me it is a logical thing to have a bike with me wherever I go. I own a car, yes, but for long distances I always choose the train, which is much more comfortable and, less expensive.

Dr Sebastian Trapp, a professional writer and first class translator with a deep love and understanding of bikes, gives us a short account of what it’s like to cycle in the Black Forest area of Germany. And for the benefit of our German readers, at the risk of straining your eyesight, we have published his translation of the Martin Whitfield maps article from this issue on the page opposite. You can order copies of this, or any other article from Encycleopedia, directly from Sebastian.

e-mail info@trapp-training.de 3 8,00 per article, postage, handling and VAT included.

“Oops” says the cab-driver who picks me up at the railway station. She throws my red Birdy a skeptical glance. “If you travel with a bike, you should say when you contact us. If I had known I would have taken a bigger car.” The car is just fine, I tell her. It takes me about thirty seconds to fold the bike down and fit it into the trunk. As we take off – both of us smiling – I tell her about my journey.

88

You know, Germany is flooded by cars.

We have seven big automobile manufactures, and it shows. It is becoming increasingly difficult for a car driver to find somewhere to park. Many people find the bicycle a cheap and viable alternative. Most cities have bicycle paths along bigger roads (which you are obliged to use – hey, this is Germany, not some anarchistic ThirdWorld-country!), and usually the cars and the bikes get along. In some bigger cities – like Cologne, where I lived for a year – riding a bicycle is not a very pleasant experience, because planners tend to plan for cars. Bicycles only come in as an afterthought.

So it is outside the cities where the real fun starts. The ADFC – the pedaling arm to the huge automobile club ADAC – has come up with some really nice maps that show the more bike-friendly streets: the least occupied by cars are violet, the ones with some car traffic on them are red and so on. Motorways are white. The maps take some getting

used to, but are immensely helpful when you plan a tour. Unfortunately, we don’t have town maps like those Martin Whitfield produces for some British cities (see page 34 for English and opposite for German translation), but perhaps one of the German readers of Encyclopedia feels the itch to provide the cycling community with those…?

There’s a healthy community of weekend racers in Germany, and mountain biking is popular, as I realized when I moved from the flat lands of Lower Saxony to the Black Forest. The terrain is much more demanding than it is in Bremen.

Contrary to common wisdom this increases the number of bicycles used for sports, on the street and off-road. I now live in an area where you can see real downhill races, watch people struggling to conquer routes leading to the highest peaks and still ride your touring bike all day long. If you are afraid of hills, you just cycle along the river Rhine.

This is good cycling country for recumbents too. It’s still early days for general acceptance of recumbents and other specialist bikes, but there are inventive people in small firms and hidden workshops all over the land.

Maybe one day they will all come together to make pedalling an increasingly widespread way of hauling people and things in Germany. It will stink less – and be much more fun.

Photography courtessy of Tourismus Südlicher Schwarzwald

Fahradfahrer in praktisch jeder größeren britischen Stadt, inklusive Groß-London, können heutzutage anhand von Spezialkarten leicht den sichersten und ruhigsten Weg durch den Ort finden. Alle diese Karten wurden praktisch im Alleingang von einem ehemaligen Zeitungskorrespondenten geschaffen, der zufällig zur Arbeit mit dem Fahrrad fuhr. Martin Whitfields Firma CityCycle Guides, die ihr Zuhause in einer umgebauten Wassermühle in Somerset hat, ist heute Großbritanniens wichtigster Hersteller von Stadtplänen speziell für Radfahrer.

Einen der entscheidenden Momente seiner Karriere erlebte Martin Whitfield, Journalist bei der britischen Zeitung ‘The Independent’, in der Eingangshalle eines der größten Gebäude des Vereinigten Königreiches.

Genauer gesagt war es einer der entscheidenden Augenblicke, die ihn dazu brachten, seine Karriere zu beenden.

Er schob gerade sein Faltrad durch die große Eingangshalle auf dem Weg zum Lift und den unmenschlichen, hektischen Vorortböros im achtzehnten Stock von Canary Wharf, als ein uniformierter Sicherheitsbeamter auf ihn zukam mit einem Gesichtsausdruck, der deutlich machte, daß er (der Sicherheitsbeamte) keineswegs davon überzeugt war, daß er (der ein Fahrrad schiebende Whitfield) von ausreichender Stellung war, um nicht gemaßregelt zu werden. „Sie können das hier nicht einfach langschieben”, sagte der Beamte und deutete auf den Boden, über den sich den ganzen Tag lang alle nur erdenklichen Arten von Füßflen, Karren, Aktenwagen und andere beräderten Angelegenheiten ihren Weg suchten. „Es hat überhaupt nichts mit den Rädern zu tun”, dachte Whitfield, „es ist das Image”. Nur Fahrräder wurden von den Uniformträgern von Canary Wharf so angestarrt; sie waren an eine Kultur gewöhnt, die den Respekt für eine Person an der Größe seines von einem Chauffeur im absoluten Halteverbot geparkten Mercedes bemißt. „Für die Zeitung war es schon schlimm genug, in ein Büro umzuziehen, das meilenweit von allem entfernt liegt, was in London passiert und zu dem man fast nicht hinkommen konnte” meint Whitfield. „Aber wir muflten uns von irgendeinem Managment-Spinner anhören, was für eine phantastische Gelegenheit das sei, obwohl es ganz offensichtlich eine finanziell motivierte Entscheidung war, die kein Herausgeber einer landesweiten Zeitung je freiwillig getroffen hätte. Es war ein scheußlicher, hochnäsiger Ort, besessen von kleinkarierten Regeln und Firmenhierarchien, wo man zwar Avocados und Pistazien auf Roggen kriegen konnte, aber kein einfaches Schinkenbrot, und wo leicht ein Anzug für 500 Pfund zu bekommen war, aber unmöglich eine Zahnbürste.

Und als ich jetzt nach einer Radfahrt über fünfzehn Kilometer von diesem uniformierten Rottweiler angebellt wurde, wußte ich, daß dies nicht der Ort war, an dem ich arbeiten wollte”.

Wenige Monate später saß Whitfield in seinem Haus am Kanal von Bristol und beschäftigte sich nicht mehr mit Streit über sein geschobenes Fahrrad, sondern einer Karte von Bristol. Nachdem er zwanzig Jahre lang für Zeitungen gearbeitet hatte, war er nun freiberuflicher Schriftsteller und begann, weniger naheliegend, Verleger zu sein. Der Radtourenführer Bristol, den er nach einer Überzeugungskampagne nicht zuletzt bei beim Landesvermessungsamt, dessen Kartengrundlage er verwendete und modifizierte, veröffentlichte, wurde der erste einer langen Reihe.

Heute gibt es Radführer für Bristol und Bath (beide in der zweiten Auflage), für Birmingham, Oxford, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Leicester, Leeds, Bradford, Rotherham, Blyth und Basildon. Im Moment steht die Firma CycleCity Guides, die Whitfield vor sechs Jahren gründete, bei der London Cycling Campaign unter Vertrag, die mit den Londoner Verkehrsbetrieben die ganze Stadt innerhalb der M25-Ringstrafle abdecken will.

Von einem angestellten Journalisten, der Fahrrad fährt, zu einem selbständigen Verleger von urbanen Radführern ist es ein steiniger Weg. Wo beginnt man mit dem Sammeln und Bewerten von Informationen? Wie kommt man an eine Karte, mit der man arbeiten kann? Wie steht es mit dem Copyright? Welche Größe ist die beste?

Und welches Papier eignet sich wirklich? Woher kann man Landkartenpapier beziehen? Wie überzeugt man Händler davon, ein völlig neues Produkt in ihr Programm aufzunehmen, was verlangt man dafür und wieviel bekommen sie? Jeder, der ein solches Produkt herstellen und vermarkten will, lernt schnell, wie vielfältig die damit verbundenen Probleme sind. Die Probleme, die durch den Verlust eines geregelten monatlichen Einkommens entstehen, sind allerdings noch viel verunsichernder.

Nach sechs Jahren läuft der Produktionsprozefl mit ruhiger Routine. Die meiste vor dem Drucken anstehende Arbeit wird von Whitfield und seinen Mitarbeitern auf AppleComputern erledigt. Mittlerweile arbeiten ein zweiter Routen-Sucher, ein Produktionsjournalist, ein Künstler und ein Designer an den CycleCity Guides. Jeder ist sein eigenes kleines Unternehmen.

All’ dies hat vor allem eine deutliche Veränderung des Lebensstiles mit sich gebracht. Vom innerstädtischen Hackney ist Whitfield über einen Küstenort am Kanal von Bristol weit nach Somerset hinein gezogen, vom hektischen Lebensstil der Metropole weg zu einem ruhigeren, weniger von Wettbewerb gezeichneten Leben auf dem Land.

Manchmal fehlt ihm die atemlose Intensität einer Zeitungsredaktion, die Kameradschaft mit den Kollegen und das Gefühl, sich mitten im Geschehen zu befinden.

Aber wenn er an das Angebundensein an einen Schreibtisch denkt, dessen Ausblick sich auf einen Computerbildschirm beschränkt, oder an die Versessenheit auf Berühmtheiten, die sich sogar bei ernsthaften Zeitungen breitmacht, dann legt sich dieses Gefühl bald wieder. „Ich wußte, daß ich nicht mehr länger bei Zeitungen arbeiten würde, aber ich bezweifle, daß ich mir das hier hätte vorstellen können”, meint Whitfield. „Ich arbeite wahrscheinlich genauso hart wie früher, aber ganz anders. Ich habe kein regelmäßiges Einkommen, aber dafür eine phantastische Lebensqualität. Ich arbeite die ganze Zeit mit anderen Leuten zusammen, aber ich bin kein Befehlsempfänger mehr. Und ich habe nie das Gefühl, dafl meine Beschäftigung Zeitzverschwendung sein könnte”.

Es wäre natürlich passend, an dieser Stelle berichten zu können, daß Whitfield jetzt sein eigenes Büro bezogen hat, wo er nach Lust und Laune sein Fahrrad durch die Eingangshalle schieben kann, um zur Chefsuite zu gelangen. Aber ganz so ist es nicht. Das Büro von CycleCity Guides befindet sich in einer renovierten Wassermühle in dem lieblichen alten Industriestädtchen Frome. Sie ist ganz vom Fluß umgeben, der einen kleinen Stromgenerator im Keller antreibt. Nebenan stehen ein Dutzend Fahrräder im Schuppen, zwei Katzen laufen herum und auf dem Sofa liegen zwei Hunde. Whitfield und seine Frau leben im Obergeschoß „über dem Laden” und planen, eine zweite Mühle auf dem Gelände in ein einfaches Hotel für Radtouristen und Wanderer zu verwandeln. Canary Wharf ist das nicht gerade, und das Britannien der Corporations auch nicht. Und es gibt keine Sicherheitsbeamten, obwohl einige aggressive und energische Elemente in bunter Livree herumlaufen.

Es sind Stockenten.

Martin Whitfield Über seine Karten: Warum gute Karten Menschen zum Radfahren ermuntern, und warum auf dem langen Weg zu ihrer Herstellung besondere Sorgfalt walten muß.

Das beste Radwegenetz macht keinen Sinn, wenn es niemand kennt. Die richtigen Informationen sind von entscheidender Bedeutung. Wir reden viel über globale Wirtschaft und Phänomene von weltweitem Ausmaß, aber das Leben der meisten Menschen spielt sich tatsächlich sehr lokal ab. Vielleicht liegt ihr Arbeitsplatz in einem anderen Ort als dem, in dem sie wohnen, aber normalerweise kennen sie von beiden nur die unmittelbare Umgebung.

Eine unserer Karten – von Blyth und Wansbeck in Northumberland – entstand, weil ein paar Leute von ihrem Arzt Bewegung verschrieben bekommen hatten, was eine Gruppe entstehen ließ, die sie aufs Land fuhr.

Und dabei fiel der örtlichen Gesundheitsinitiative auf, daß es wunderschöne, interessante und angenehme Spaziergänge gab, die viele Leute da unternehmen könnten, wo sie wohnten – vorausgesetzt, sie wüßten von diesen Wegen. Und so enthält diese Karte neben Fahrradrouten auch diese Wanderwege.

Informationen darüber, wo man mit dem Rad fahren oder zu Fuß gehen kann, machen ohne Routen keinen Sinn.

Die meisten Orte und Städte haben ein mehr oder weniger lückenhaftes Wegenetz, ob nun offiziell oder nicht, das von den örtlichen Radfahrern benutzt wird. In manchen Fällen (wie zum Beispiel in der Innenstadt von London) sind die besten Routen lange bekannt, aber in vielen Städten, ja sogar in anderen Teilen Londons gleichen unsere Erhebungen einer Entdeckungsreise.

Wenn wir dann soweit sind, daß wir entscheiden müssen, was wir auf der Karte markieren und was nicht, gibt es vereinfacht gesagt meist einen Konflikt zwischen zwei Arten von Radfahrern: denjenigen, die zufrieden sind, wenn sie die direkteste Verbindung zwischen zwei Punkten kennen, und denen, denen hohes Verkehrsaufkommen die Lust am Radfahren nimmt und die die Verhältnisse verbessert sehen wollen. In den meisten Gruppen von Radfahrern kommen beide Typen vor, und wenn wir auf

Sebastian with ‘one he made earlier’.

Photograph

by Gabby Kalkhoff

den Karten markieren, wo man am besten fahren kann, versuchen wir immer, beide glücklich zu machen.

Wir beginnen diesen Prozeß als Bittsteller und fragen angesichts des überlegenen Wissens vor Ort nach Unterstützung. Wenn aber die Untersuchungen schließlich fertig sind, hoffen wir zeigen zu können, daß unsere Nachforschungen wertvoll sind und das wir ganze Arbeit gemacht haben. Ich glaube, es hat bis heute keinen Fall gegeben, in dem – Hand aufs Herz – die Radfahrer vor Ort wirklich alle Routen kannten, die wir benannt haben.

Bevor wir beginnen, ein zusammenhängendes Netzwerk zu planen, überprüfen wir wirklich alles vor Ort, egal, wer eine Route vorgeschlagen oder zur Verfügung gestellt hat. Ganz bewußt berücksichtigen wir dabei keine Hauptverkehrsstraßen – wer da fahren mag, tut das sowieso schon, und zu verpassen sind diese Straßen kaum. Wir versuchen, auf unseren Karten möglichst wenig anstrengende Routen anzugeben, um auch wenig erfahrene Radfahrer zu ermutigen. Eine Fahrt auf der A4 würde ausreichen, daß sich so jemand nie wieder auf ein Fahrrad setzt. Unsere Kriterien sind Steigung, Direktheit und die kleinstmögliche Bedrohung. Interessanterweise stellen Frauen die Hälfte meiner Versandkunden, was deutlich mehr ist, als ihrem Anteil an der radfahrenden Bevölkerung entspräche. Ich glaube, das zeigt, da· wir unsere Zielgruppe ganz gut treffen, denn wahrscheinlich gibt es unter unseren Kunden wenig Schnellfahrer, die sowieso keine Unterstützung benötigen.

Als wir anfingen, versuchten wir etwas radikales. Auf der einen Seite unserer Karte war eine konventionelle Karte des Stadtzentrums, auf der anderen eine digital veränderte Karte der Umgegend, auf der die kleinen und ruhigen Straßen vergrößert und betont waren. Ich glaube immer noch, daß das eine gute Idee war, aber auf dem Land gibt es eigentlich überall genug angenehme Wege für Radfahrer. Dann stellten wir fest, daß die Leute, die unsere Karten kauften, weniger Freizeitfahrer waren als Leute, die ihr Fahrrad als Transportmittel benutzen und die Führung in der Stadt brauchen.

Unsere Erhebungen vor Ort können Teil eines selbstverstärkenden Regelkreises werden. Oft werden die verkehrsarmen Routen, die wir identifiziert haben, von der örtlichen Verwaltung zu einem Teil des offiziellen Radwegenetzes gemacht, und man versucht, sie durch Verkehrsberuhigung und zusätzliche Ampeln weiter zu verbessern. Es ist nicht einfach, das Gleichgewicht zu halten zwischen einerseits den Wegen, die Radfahrer tatsächlich nehmen – zum Beispiel durch Parks oder über Klinikgelände – und andererseits den Wegen, die sie offiziell und rechtlich nehmen dürfen. Wegerecht ist eine empfindliche Angelegenheit, und es kann immer Konflikte durch Rowdies oder Mountainbiker geben. Oft ist der Status bestimmter Strecken – alte Eisenbahndämme sind ein typisches Beispiel – auch noch gar nicht wirklich geklärt.

Wenn es darum geht, Leute aus dem Auto aufs Fahrrad zu bringen, kommt man um die Feststellung nicht herum, das britische Städte in einen sauren Apfel beißen müssen.

Die Versuchung ist immer da, den Platz für Radfahrer bei den Fußgängern zu finden. Aber man mußdiesen Platz den Autos wegnehmen. Viele Städte leisten Lippenbekenntnisse für den Fahrradverkehr, haben aber dafür nur ein winziges Budget. Sie reden über Millionen, die sie in hochentwickelte Verkehrssysteme investieren wollen, obwohl sie für einen Bruchteil der Kosten dafür sorgen könnten, daß Menschen sicher radfahren könnten. FahrradInfrastruktur bietet einen geradezu phantastischen Gegenwert fürs Geld.

Mittlerweile habe wir eine große Anzahl Karten hergestellt, und die Rückmeldungen kamen zum großen Teil in Form von Anekdoten. Daher war die erste offizielle Untersuchung ihrer Nützlichkeit, die von der Verwaltung des Landkreises Rotherham, dem Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, durchgeführt wurde, nachdem man 3500 Exemplare verteilt hatte, für uns besonders interessant. Hundert Prozent der Befragten fanden die Karten nützlich (niemand fand das nicht, und es enthielt sich auch niemand) und neunzig Prozent sagten, daß die Karten ihnen geholfen hätten, neue Wege zum Radfahren zu finden. Sechzig Prozent meinten, daß die Karten Leute dazu ermutigten, mehr radzufahren, und ebenfalls sechzig Prozent waren der Ansicht, daß mehr Menschen das Rad benutzen würden, wenn die entsprechenden Einrichtungen besser wären. Und alle Befragten meinten, daß dies eine sinnvolle Aufgabe für die Stadtverwaltung wäre; 95 Prozent verwenden die Karten weiterhin.

Das Council schloß daraus, daß unsere Unternehmung ihr Geld mehr als wert gewesen war, und daß sie eine gute Grundlage sei, um bessere Einrichtungen für Radfahrer zu bauen. Unsere Karten können keine Wunder bewirken, aber wir sind überzeugt, daß sie ein wichtiger Schritt in die richtige Richtung sind.

89

INDEX Encycleopedia is read in many different countries. It would be a gargantuan task to try and list every single manufacturer’s agent in every country where their products are sold, not least because by the time the book is published this information would probably already be out of date anyway.

The quickest and most accurate way of finding out your nearest supplier for any of the products featured in Encycleopedia is to go on to the manufacturer’s own website

PRODUCTS

MANUFACTURERS

and follow their links. Please do not hesitate to contact us directly should you need any assistance contacting any of the manufacturers featured in Encycleopedia, wherever you live.

90

3-RAD 4 Cross BFR-It Bichette Birdy Brompton Chameleon Compagnon ConferenceBike Cyclone d’Lite Delta DoubleDay Flyke Greenspeed Halfway Hepcat Kinetic Koolite Laguna Like-a-Bike Message Paraiso Pedersen Pino Postertrike R4 ScooterBike Slam-X Speedhub Spirit Super Deluxe Velocipede Swiss Flyer Tartaruga Triciclo Triumf Whopper Chopper XO ZEM 2 Seater

25 78 82 12 7 8 9 17 15 74 69 60 49 61 62 10 68 80 72 20 75 21 65 23 55 26 11 63 81 83 64 73 27 48 24 54 22 79 16

Airnimal Bike Friday Biketec Break it, Fix it, Ride It Brompton Burley Epple Fresh Breeze Giant Greenspeed Gubesch Haluzak Hase Hoening HP Velotechnik Jesper Sølling Kokua Kool-Stop Kurt Kynast Mobility MIC WIC Nihola Pacific Phat Quetzal Radical Riese und Müller Rohloff SRAM Staller SIC Zem

9 49 27 82 8 68-69 20-21 61 10-11 62 78 54 55 17 64 23 75 72-73 80 25 & 63 60 26 12 & 48 22 24 & 65 74 7 83 79 15 81 16

ENCYCLEOPEDIA 2002- 03

ryin

g

3e

ncycleop

ben ts

car

200 2 edia

load

dia 200 ope

eS

bil

accessories

cyclin g the

encycle

mo

o vel

e

n

Rec um

trikes

practical

les tab cleo cy ped

3 200

s in ve

quads

por

in cycling th s e ve cycleopedia

e to alterna d i ti gu

002 ia 2 en

£12.00 $23.95 319,00

2002 -03

to alter n ide a ti gu Richard Ballantine

ALAN DAVIDSON -

“ In addition to bringing news of interesting products and things, the Encycleopedia talks about the people who make and sell them, and tells where they can be found. It’s your guide to the places that have what interests you.

Seems a simple thing, but this is unique – and is what makes the Encycleopedia so essential a tool for advanced enjoyment of cycling.”