At the Energy Fair and traveling back from it, we encountered some
remarkable human-powered vehicles (HPVs), enough that it seemed worth
writing them up to give readers an idea of the range of vehicle
options available. Since we were traveling by bicycle, it was natural
to think about the difficulties as well as the benefits, and compare
our conventional road bikes to all the different HPVs.
Next to the electric and alternative-fuel vehicle display at the
fair were the hybrid human-powered/electric vehicles. Two of them were
conventional mountain bikes with a power assist. We didn't get a
chance to test-ride the solar powered one with panels on the rear
rack. Rachel rode the ZAP with a scooter battery, which had a range of
about twenty miles, and a top speed of eighteen MPH. It featured
regenerative braking, meaning that if one set the speed to 10 mph and
then pedaled or coasted faster than that, the motor would act as a
generator and recharge the battery. She wasn't very impressed with its
power, but the vendor pointed out that it was the end of the day, and
its battery was low. Either of these vehicles could, in principle, be
useful for less able folks who would still prefer to bike rather than
drive.
Mitch test-rode a recumbent tricycle that weighed forty-two
pounds, minus the on-board stereo. He said that it rode pretty well
except that the steering was a bit squirrelly. The builder was working
on building his second one, which was for racing only, and said that
he would charge someone about $6K to custom-build one because of the
time, tools, and the labor involved. DR will likely not be buying one
this year.
"Bill" had brought one of the rad utility bikes that he welded
together from dumpster bikes. It was a "long-haul", with the cargo
basket in front of the handlebars, but behind the front wheel. It was
the longest one either of us had ever seen, with a cargo space of six
or seven feet. It was hard to start out on, because the slightest turn
of the handlebars would send you careening off in some unplanned
direction. Once you got going though, it was all right. After each of
us had gone one a hair-raising test-ride, Rachel climbed into the
cargo and Mitch, (with Bill's kind permission) chauffeured her across
the highway to the drive-in for ice cream. The woman that served us
was duly impressed. THANKS BILL!
Another set of fairgoers with a tandem-bike, told us about a shop
in Madison that exhibits great velodiversity, with all kinds of
tandems, recumbents, trailers, tagalongs, etc...
So when we left the fair, we hitched a ride down to Madison to
check that out on our way home.
TANDEM REVIEW
This is not a very thorough review, as we only test rode two
bikes. Budget Bicycles carries four different kinds of tandem
recumbents; we chose to ride the Screamer because it was the only one
with the handlebars in front of the seat instead of underneath. It was
an unusual setup because it has a twenty inch front wheel, and a
twenty-six inch rear. The gears were all Shimano; controlled by grip
shifters. The seats were a very wide, comfortable, standard style bike
seat, with an adjustable mesh backrest. We adjusted the seating
positions for height by sliding the seat along the single tube of the
frame. This feature makes for total versatility: either a short person
or a tall one can ride in the same seat on the same frame. Halfway
through our ride we switched places so that Rachel could ride as the
lead driver. Versatility is important because both tandems and
recumbents tend to be quite expensive. With a price tag of about
thirty-eight hundred dollars, one would hope that it would work for an
entire community, and not just one couple.
Riding the Screamer was difficult because we both were very
unfamiliar with the steering and handling of recumbent bicycles; but
it wasn't strenuous. The hardest part was starting out without running
into anything; such as parked cars, people, etc. Once we got moving we
found short hill-climbs nearly effortless; we also figured that if we
owned one, and got comfortable, we could make the Screamer live up to
its name.
The other tandem that we got to ride was a Burley mountain bike,
also all Shimano, controlled by gripshifters. Mitch, (on the front)
liked it because it was more familiar, and therefore we could go
pretty fast. Rachel, (riding the rear position) didn't like it because
the chromoly frame was too flexible, the "softride", cantilevered seat
was too bouncy, and that her handlebars that were directly under
Mitch's seat made it extremely difficult to look at anything other
than Mitch's back, (even if it is a very attractive back). Never
having ridden any kind of tandem before, Rachel liked the Screamer
much better than the Burley.
The hardest part about riding either of the tandems in general,
was having to constantly pedal in synch with each other. Since we both
had different instincts of when we should be pedaling instead of
coasting, this created some awkward moments.
Another brand of tandem recumbents in the shop, the Vision,
attempts to solve this problem with its "Independent Pedaling System."
There is a separate ratcheting freewheel system inside of both rider's
bottom bracket assemblies. This means that either rider could pedal or
coast at will without throwing the other rider's balance off, so they
don't have to stay completely in synch. with each other. This also
means that if either of the riders is more fatigued, that one can rest
while the other pedals. Besides independent pedaling, the biggest ways
that the Vision differed from the Screamer were (1) a more complicated
seat adjustment that requires adjusting chain length every time the
seat is repositioned (2) a little bit longer of a wheel base (3)
handlebars under the seats for both riders. The reason that we didn't
ride the Vision is that neither of us is comfortable riding with the
steering under us.
We aren't ready to lay out several thousand dollars this week for
a new bike, but it was good to add to our knowledge of human
transportation options. By this time next year, who knows what
interesting HPVs we may have ourselves!
Intentional Community Bookstore