International Velomobile-Meeting 2004

5th International Velomobile-Meeting “Biebertal 2004“

by Juergen Eick, Ruesselsheim/Germany

For years now, many velomobilists have firmly fixed a place in their travel programs for one autumn event: the International Velomobile Meeting in Biebertal bei Giessen, Germany. Since 2000, Reinhold Schwemmer, German Eslava and Ruediger Licher of Cab-Bike have invited velomobilists every year at the beginning of autumn to come to the Old Forest House. Deep in the woods, and accessible only by a half-kilometer forest path, it lies at the foot of the Duensberg, a wooded hill which once crowned a large Celtic fortified town (http://www.keltenstadt.de/). Recent excavations suggest that its inhabitants numbered as many as 2000 around the first century B.C. For the past 5 years, this historic mountain has been the most beloved velomobilist rendezvous point in Germany.

We two, Leitra-rider Michael from Bad Homburg and I, were the last to reach the Forest House on the Duensberg on October 1 around 7:30 p.m. after 120 kilometers in beautiful early autumn weather. The other participants were already sharing their travel stories. Thirty-one velomobilists had gathered there this year. The largest group had, as usual, ridden up from the Netherlands. Last spring, drawn as if by a magnet to the mountains, they had already selected a suitable route. Right through the Rothaar-range, over Winterberg (670 meters), they rode. Since they were planning to return by the same route, they had left their tents at the last campsite, so that they would need to carry only the most necessary things on the last hard mountain stage to Biebertal.

Joachim from Neckarsulm (Cab-Bike) and Gerd from Guntersblum (Leitra) had left in the morning from Ruesselsheim at the same time as we, but had chosen a route over “Rote Kreuz” (Red Cross, 670 meters) in theTaunus region near Frankfurt and through the Weil valley down along the Lahn River (information: http://www.weilburg-lahn.info/radwei.htm), while Michael and I had chosen to take the eastern route, skirting the Taunus by way of the Nidda valley. On the yard between the Old Forest House and the barn stood a cluster of 13 Quests (www.velomobiel.nl), 10 Cab-Bikes (www.cab-bike.com), 3 Leitras (www.leitra.dk), 2 Leibas (www.leiba.de), 2 Mangos (www.velomobiel.nl) and one Alleweder (www.alleweder.de).

Peter had come from Gelnhausen in his Cab-Bike. He travels 25 kilometers with it to work every morning and in the evenings has to ride up a short but -- at 20% -- extremely steep hill. For that, he has obtained from Cab-Bike the newly developed “Powerbox ”, a one-wheeled power-trailer with an electric motor that supplies 250 W and feeds off NiMh batteries. The “Powerbox” is easy to pull when not in use on the flat and can be simply detached when the velomobilist wants to travel on an extended tour with long stages where there is no opportunity to charge the batteries.

On Saturday morning, the participants assembled in a parking lot at the foot of the Duensberg for the already-traditional velomobile mass ride (followed patiently by the auto traffic) to Giessen, where their picturesque assembly in the car-free city center attracted the usual excited crowds.

Welcomed by a representative of the council at the Museum of the City around noon, we were treated to a second breakfast, which had been prepared to her usual excellent standards by Margitta Hoffmann, Reinhold’s wife, with the help of her assistants. From the tower of the municipal church of Giessen we enjoyed an aerial view of the velomobile collection before the companionable return trip to the Duensberg.

Except for the smallest passenger, who would be taking her nap, most of the group still felt strong enough for the obligatory uphill race.

To reach the starting line, Reinhold led us over a very bumpy 2.4 kilometer gravel road. The race course, in contrast, was a smooth asphalt service road behind the Duensberg, about 1230 meters long and with a 60 meter rise (an average climb of 4.9%). Among the 24 participants, Ymte Sijbrandij (Quest), with 3 minutes, 12 seconds edged out his business partner Allert Jacobs (Quest) with 3 minutes, 27 seconds and another Quest driver (Niels Vogel with 3 minutes, 30 seconds).

We had to return by the same gravel road to the Forest House. After that, we finally came to the presentations which are a regular feature of the Velomobile Meetings.

First, German Eslava reported on the European Union efforts to harmonize the lighting-system rules for bicycles, among others. As he reported, it is Germany in particular that continues to stand in the way of consistent bicycle-lighting. Thus there is, for example, no official legal status for blinking tail-lights. In addition, the German representatives, in contrast to the other Europeans, continue to insist on requiring a generator for the power to the lights.

In the second presentation, Ymte Sijbrandij, a partner in J&S (manufacturer of Quest and Mango) reported on roll-out experiments with a variety of 20" 406mm tyres, using a specially-built three-wheeled test vehicle. Quite apart from the fact that J&S went to the trouble and expense of procuring three tyres of each of thirteen types for these experiments, the work involved in the experiment itself must have been substantial. With the permission of J&S, we are publishing the results of the experiment (see the table), with the explicit notice that J&S observed these results on a hard, smooth surface, and that it does not assume further legal liability.

(DOWNLOAD Tabelle)

Ymte modified a Quest so that he could fit it with 26-inch wheels for an extensive tour through the Baltic countries. This required cutting away the sides of the chassis, which in the Quest normally encloses the wheels. He then mounted Schwalbe Big Apple tyres and, in his words, was able to overcome the generally bad roads.

For the third presentation, an engineer from Munich had been invited to present a drive system that he proposes for recumbents, which more or less derives from a linear drive. As is so often the case with inventors who don’t come with a prototype or at least a model, but just a design sketch, there was palpable skepticism among the audience. The perception that it is difficult to improve on the efficiency of the drive system which has proven itself through more than 100 years appeared to carry more weight with almost all of the audience.

Afterwards for a change of pace and recuperation there was an excellent evening buffet which Reinhold’s wife and the wife of his partner Ruediger Licher had assembled. The evening ran on somewhat too long for some. As we heard the next morning, the discussions of velomobiles stretched out far past midnight.

Sunday’s weather was again splendid. After breakfast, the Dutch were the first to bid farewell. They wanted to try to reach their homeland in two days again. The others, who didn’t have so far to travel, completed their discussions of the previous evening before setting out on the journey home.

Biebertal 2004 had again measured up to all expectations.

Velomobil-Meeting 2004 "Highlights"

Ladies first:

Margitta & Anja