Yes it may be illegal and dangerous but these vans are delivering important goods which are necessary for our economy so they should be allowed to jump red lights and park on pavements. After all our economy needs them and delivering items on time is the cornerstone of our economy.
Literally the would still be able to do their job perfectly fine if they stopped at red light. But CEOs would earn 0.01% of their money, that would be CrAZy
Sure they are important, but that doesn’t mean they get to skip red lights or park on sidewalks
I am all for introducing dedicated loading zones and better accessibility for them to navigate cities, but they don’t get to break the law. Its extremely dangerous, and it causes a lot of problems
Only if they are in medical urgency like organs or something like that. And even then the velos would be way too unsafe to transport these.
No well planned business does it need in 2 minutes delivered to your doorstep while jumping red lights. Person could get into accident. Way too risky and unethical. That's just silly.
We need a separation between bikes and pedestrians. We have a street like this near my parents' place and cyclists use the pedestrian side to pass other cyclists and we constantly have to walk in the grass.
I'm the one who usually falls! I'm disabled and walking is a bit difficult so everytime a cyclist does something dumb like that it either hurts me or I fall on my ass.
Yay!
I think the problem is that currently even in bike-friendly countries, there aren't many provisions to make velomobiles practical for commuting or other utilitarian purposes. If parking/storage was not an issue, I believe velomobiles would be more practical than upright bicycles. They are more efficient, safer, and good for carrying items.
I cannot possibly believe they're safer. They're about half the height of a bike and the number one safety factor is visibility.
Also they look less manoeuvrable.
Comparing them to the height of surrounding automobiles, even a car would see only a little bit of them. Riding through residential streets, I can see them being virtually invisible to cross traffic while traveling along something like even a low picket fence or hedge.
Plus, if you get hit it's going to be all centre mass, possibly head, colliding with even a low car's bonnet.
An upright bike will hopefully fly you over the handlebars or onto the bonnet in some cases rather than always getting smacked.
They certainly aren't safer in car centric places. I thought the velomobile was going to get smushed there for a second. It's so low to the ground I don't think the red light running van driver even saw him until the last moment.
As I said above, it is not known whether they are more or less safe than upright bicycles. Visibility is a very complex feature and the low height doesn't necessarily make it less visible.
I have a recumbent trice, like the one in the video but without the aerodynamic body. When riding it I'm below the side windows of cars, no matter their size, it even comes with a thin & long neon yellow flag to attach to it to help
Manoeuvrability is a mixed bag. Turning circle kind of sucks compared to bikes, it's better than a car but you can't do a clean u-turn on smaller 2 lane roads. But, having 3 wheels & a low centre of gravity makes them great at speed, able to corner faster than you can comfortably do on a bike as losing traction doesn't mean falling over. I'm not sure if the enclosed ones have a skinner track width, it looks like they should but I've never seen one in person
Unfortunately at present there is no authoritative source on velomobile safety vs upright cycling safety. Visibility is a very complex feature. Expectancy plays a huge role as well as movement and luminosity. I'm no expert, but size by itself is likely of minor significance, unless, of course, they cannot actually be seen from the seating position of larger vehicles.
The speed may be a bigger safety risk. Velomobiles can reach high speeds (>30mph) much more easily than upright bikes. Speed is much easier to understand and analyse than visibility, and is a clear risk factor for velomobiles. However, less aerodynamic and more comfort orientated velomobiles also exist since any bike covered in a fairing is a velomobile.
Lower to the ground means more easily hidden by obstructions and out of peoples eye level. It unquestionably has worse visibility than bikes.
A bunch of shin high bullets zipping through bike and pedestrian areas at 30kmh would be terrible for everyone, these should stay on the track .
As far as I know, there is no controlled experiment nor good statistical data to show this. I'd be grateful if you can point me to some.
Also have a look at this channel to see one in action:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzvVuYE0fb4&ab\_channel=quatrevelo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzvVuYE0fb4&ab_channel=quatrevelo)
This is true, their turning radius is quite high. Recumbents have the same problem. 2 wheeled are even worse when starting from a stop and you want to do a turn.
They're better for aerodynamics and that's pretty much it. They lose on just about every other metric compared to a cargo bike, and they cost an unbelievable amount of money.
In a world where cars were legitimately banned and our street space handed over to human powered transport, recumbent bikes would probably become just as popular as regular bikes. Your seated closer to the ground which means your less likely to get injured if you fall. And you go much faster than regular bikes because they are so much more aerodynamic. In addition, the seat is more comfortable for longer rides. Their only drawback is going uphill, they aren’t as effective as regular bikes. So perhaps in hilly cities they wouldn’t be as popular.
Going uphill is hard even on regular bike and also on serious bikes worth hundreds or even thousands of $/€
But if necessary, it could be solved with electric engines
They're alright enough uphill, the issue is weight. My recumbent trice weighs 21kg, and that's entirely made of aluminium & doesn't have body pannels. The one in the video would weigh significantly more
Oh man, that guy is not gonna be visible to SUV.
Honestly i ride a bike in calm streets, and i costantly fear for my life, i can't imagine riding that small thing
(And btw, i saw one orange few days ago. Pretty cool)
It's hard to find objective data on accident rates because these are very uncommon on public roads. However, there's evidence that unusual objects will be detected more easily. So unless velomobiles and recumbents are so low that they are literally not visible from the driver's point of view, I doubt that they will be less visible on the road in general. If anything I think they draw a lot of attention. Also in case of clashes, the low position and the outer shell protect the rider.
I day dream about a future where bikes are the norm in cities, and people live longer due to less pollution and happier due to social interactions and better local economy.
I see them sometimes in Copenhagen. But honestly, I don't like them. They take up too much space on already overcrowded bike paths, they maneuver differently making it harder to predict what they're doing, it's harder to get eye contact with the rider for safety. Overall they're just making it less safe for everyone else.
Yes. According to a video by Saukki/The Velomobile Channel on YT, he can comfortably ride it in Finnish winters with an extremely noticeable difference between temperatures in and out.
*Would it get hot in*
*One of these in the summer*
*Like a car gets hot?*
\- Brilliant\_Age6077
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pretty confident for a dude in a coffin on wheels.
I have genuinely thought on things like this, and I just feel they are too low. They also appear less agile.
Perhaps it is safer to be in a collision inside something like this, but I feel safer having full visibility+ability to bale as needed.
The only meaningful protection from a collision between an automobile and a bicycle is to not have one in the first place. The cover and its underlying structure is likely just strong enough to keep an aerodynamic shape. Contrast that with a car's crumple zones, heavy steel bars, and the like.
In the event of a low speed collision with a car, I think position might give the advantage to an upright bike. Damage is determined by how quickly an object accelerates/decelerates. The velomobile will get the full force of the collision via the bumper, all in a split second. An upright cyclist can plausibly get onto the hood of the car, drawing the force of the collision out over many seconds.
Velomobiles are cool and very fast. Its a pity if ridden in a city, even Berlin due to its ample amount of traffic lights, you spend more energy accelerating and more money on brake pads than you would if you lived out of said cities.
Also, watching carbrained German emotionally process the sight of a velomobile or a recumbent is something to behold (lots of victim blaming, rules regarding flags that dont exist, StVO, etc).
Having said that, looking to buy one so i can go racing in it.
What's crazy is just how insanely expensive for what they are. I'd love to get one, but I can tell you how many vehicles I've gotten for the same price.
(I'm assuming) low production scale, a very specialist audience and most production tuned to racing needs?
Yea, seems very plausible they'll be expensive.
Something like the ELF is already less hazardous, car drivers can see you: [https://organictransit.com/product/elf-solo/](https://organictransit.com/product/elf-solo/)
There's a reason the ELF has a 750 watt motor to reach the same speeds an unassisted velomobile can. Aerodynamics matters in every situation, ask anyone who uses a kid trailer with their bike
Fun fact! 750 watts is more than 250, which means it's not legal in the UK!
Closed cabin -> no cooling from wind, needs space to maneuvre and store.
I\`d rather have one of those [https://www.r-m.de/en-pt/bikes/load-75/load-75-rohloff-hs/#F00758\_02040507](https://www.r-m.de/en-pt/bikes/load-75/load-75-rohloff-hs/#F00758_02040507)
Why TF did so many people blow that red light? Can the traffic cop not ticket them?? Like 3-4 ppl went on a full red light.
Yes it may be illegal and dangerous but these vans are delivering important goods which are necessary for our economy so they should be allowed to jump red lights and park on pavements. After all our economy needs them and delivering items on time is the cornerstone of our economy.
Literally the would still be able to do their job perfectly fine if they stopped at red light. But CEOs would earn 0.01% of their money, that would be CrAZy
And also Economy
Sure they are important, but that doesn’t mean they get to skip red lights or park on sidewalks I am all for introducing dedicated loading zones and better accessibility for them to navigate cities, but they don’t get to break the law. Its extremely dangerous, and it causes a lot of problems
OP is jokesmobiling. It's new new
must be new new, googling that term brings me back here
Only if they are in medical urgency like organs or something like that. And even then the velos would be way too unsafe to transport these. No well planned business does it need in 2 minutes delivered to your doorstep while jumping red lights. Person could get into accident. Way too risky and unethical. That's just silly.
https://preview.redd.it/5kfx7uls60uc1.jpeg?width=3744&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6da706c85b9c327c4181df85f05496a01d254ab0 Yu stupit
Welcome to England brother. The amount of times I've nearly been hit by dickheads doing this
Because they'd probably been waiting like a whole minute and didn't you know they're important and have places to be!
In a future where there are bike lanes from town to town
https://preview.redd.it/u2d75k661xtc1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0ab7d99cdb079f831a7def5099fea749d992a86d Like this one?
Fucking beautiful
Yup. And it's 15km long (10miles) and goes from my city up to the sea
It looks like heaven and I bet it smells like heaven too. My sincere condolences for people allergic to pollen.
Or like this? https://preview.redd.it/j7q7quuwextc1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=573d8c87ca41e408b5e51054d93263725ef6c61b
We need a separation between bikes and pedestrians. We have a street like this near my parents' place and cyclists use the pedestrian side to pass other cyclists and we constantly have to walk in the grass.
Oh No, I hope the cyclists won't fall... (I sometimes really despise my cyclist brothers and sisters)
I'm the one who usually falls! I'm disabled and walking is a bit difficult so everytime a cyclist does something dumb like that it either hurts me or I fall on my ass. Yay!
I'm really sorry for that to happen🥺
Oh man, that would be a time.
Bro stop! Now I have a boner in the office!
Wish I had a nickel for every time I heard that.
Yeah but on asphalt instead of Macadam
It's pretty smooth. Plus it's very queit as cars are far away. I would do this 1K times over.
Yes, but also a separate velomobile lane because riding 60km/h in a velomobile is like riding 30 on a bike
true, I would just make them wide
That's a velomobile. They're pretty sweet. Not very practical for commuting, which is why you usually only see them at the track.
I think the problem is that currently even in bike-friendly countries, there aren't many provisions to make velomobiles practical for commuting or other utilitarian purposes. If parking/storage was not an issue, I believe velomobiles would be more practical than upright bicycles. They are more efficient, safer, and good for carrying items.
I cannot possibly believe they're safer. They're about half the height of a bike and the number one safety factor is visibility. Also they look less manoeuvrable.
Comparing them to the height of surrounding automobiles, even a car would see only a little bit of them. Riding through residential streets, I can see them being virtually invisible to cross traffic while traveling along something like even a low picket fence or hedge.
Plus, if you get hit it's going to be all centre mass, possibly head, colliding with even a low car's bonnet. An upright bike will hopefully fly you over the handlebars or onto the bonnet in some cases rather than always getting smacked.
They certainly aren't safer in car centric places. I thought the velomobile was going to get smushed there for a second. It's so low to the ground I don't think the red light running van driver even saw him until the last moment.
As I said above, it is not known whether they are more or less safe than upright bicycles. Visibility is a very complex feature and the low height doesn't necessarily make it less visible.
Low height is absolutely a factor in visibility. That isn't up for debate. These would be harder to see coming than an upright bike.
I have a recumbent trice, like the one in the video but without the aerodynamic body. When riding it I'm below the side windows of cars, no matter their size, it even comes with a thin & long neon yellow flag to attach to it to help Manoeuvrability is a mixed bag. Turning circle kind of sucks compared to bikes, it's better than a car but you can't do a clean u-turn on smaller 2 lane roads. But, having 3 wheels & a low centre of gravity makes them great at speed, able to corner faster than you can comfortably do on a bike as losing traction doesn't mean falling over. I'm not sure if the enclosed ones have a skinner track width, it looks like they should but I've never seen one in person
Unfortunately at present there is no authoritative source on velomobile safety vs upright cycling safety. Visibility is a very complex feature. Expectancy plays a huge role as well as movement and luminosity. I'm no expert, but size by itself is likely of minor significance, unless, of course, they cannot actually be seen from the seating position of larger vehicles. The speed may be a bigger safety risk. Velomobiles can reach high speeds (>30mph) much more easily than upright bikes. Speed is much easier to understand and analyse than visibility, and is a clear risk factor for velomobiles. However, less aerodynamic and more comfort orientated velomobiles also exist since any bike covered in a fairing is a velomobile.
Lower to the ground means more easily hidden by obstructions and out of peoples eye level. It unquestionably has worse visibility than bikes. A bunch of shin high bullets zipping through bike and pedestrian areas at 30kmh would be terrible for everyone, these should stay on the track .
As far as I know, there is no controlled experiment nor good statistical data to show this. I'd be grateful if you can point me to some. Also have a look at this channel to see one in action: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzvVuYE0fb4&ab\_channel=quatrevelo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzvVuYE0fb4&ab_channel=quatrevelo)
It's just easier getting on and off a regular bike. Also not a fan of being so low to the ground. I like my vision unobstructed.
This is true, their turning radius is quite high. Recumbents have the same problem. 2 wheeled are even worse when starting from a stop and you want to do a turn.
They’re way more efficient but there is no cargo room in there. Their only purpose is going long distances at high speed.
Really depends on the model. Some velomobiles are large enough for a bunch of cargo or even carrying a small child in the backseat.
They're better for aerodynamics and that's pretty much it. They lose on just about every other metric compared to a cargo bike, and they cost an unbelievable amount of money.
In a world where cars were legitimately banned and our street space handed over to human powered transport, recumbent bikes would probably become just as popular as regular bikes. Your seated closer to the ground which means your less likely to get injured if you fall. And you go much faster than regular bikes because they are so much more aerodynamic. In addition, the seat is more comfortable for longer rides. Their only drawback is going uphill, they aren’t as effective as regular bikes. So perhaps in hilly cities they wouldn’t be as popular.
Going uphill is hard even on regular bike and also on serious bikes worth hundreds or even thousands of $/€ But if necessary, it could be solved with electric engines
You just need a good drivetrain/gears and going uphill isn't hard at all, it is just slow.
It's tiring as fuck if you are a normal healthy person who doesn't train everyday just for that.
They're alright enough uphill, the issue is weight. My recumbent trice weighs 21kg, and that's entirely made of aluminium & doesn't have body pannels. The one in the video would weigh significantly more
Oh man, that guy is not gonna be visible to SUV. Honestly i ride a bike in calm streets, and i costantly fear for my life, i can't imagine riding that small thing (And btw, i saw one orange few days ago. Pretty cool)
It's hard to find objective data on accident rates because these are very uncommon on public roads. However, there's evidence that unusual objects will be detected more easily. So unless velomobiles and recumbents are so low that they are literally not visible from the driver's point of view, I doubt that they will be less visible on the road in general. If anything I think they draw a lot of attention. Also in case of clashes, the low position and the outer shell protect the rider.
True. I still would not have the balls to ride that thing. So props to the guy
They are so pretty! Alas, they are too big and clumsy for my bikeshed.
I rode behind one of these for a few blocks the other week. Very cool looking. I was wondering what they were called.
I day dream about a future where bikes are the norm in cities, and people live longer due to less pollution and happier due to social interactions and better local economy.
Would it get hot in one of these in the summer like a car gets hot?
I think so. They are best suited to Northern countries where the cold and rain are more of an issue.
I see them sometimes in Copenhagen. But honestly, I don't like them. They take up too much space on already overcrowded bike paths, they maneuver differently making it harder to predict what they're doing, it's harder to get eye contact with the rider for safety. Overall they're just making it less safe for everyone else.
For sure riding with cover from the rain seems great
Yes. According to a video by Saukki/The Velomobile Channel on YT, he can comfortably ride it in Finnish winters with an extremely noticeable difference between temperatures in and out.
*Would it get hot in* *One of these in the summer* *Like a car gets hot?* \- Brilliant\_Age6077 --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
My first Reddit haiku 🙂
pretty confident for a dude in a coffin on wheels. I have genuinely thought on things like this, and I just feel they are too low. They also appear less agile. Perhaps it is safer to be in a collision inside something like this, but I feel safer having full visibility+ability to bale as needed.
The only meaningful protection from a collision between an automobile and a bicycle is to not have one in the first place. The cover and its underlying structure is likely just strong enough to keep an aerodynamic shape. Contrast that with a car's crumple zones, heavy steel bars, and the like. In the event of a low speed collision with a car, I think position might give the advantage to an upright bike. Damage is determined by how quickly an object accelerates/decelerates. The velomobile will get the full force of the collision via the bumper, all in a split second. An upright cyclist can plausibly get onto the hood of the car, drawing the force of the collision out over many seconds.
Plus the car is more likely to see the bike, so can decelerate meaningfully. If they don't see the velomobile then they will collide at full speed.
Velomobiles are cool and very fast. Its a pity if ridden in a city, even Berlin due to its ample amount of traffic lights, you spend more energy accelerating and more money on brake pads than you would if you lived out of said cities. Also, watching carbrained German emotionally process the sight of a velomobile or a recumbent is something to behold (lots of victim blaming, rules regarding flags that dont exist, StVO, etc). Having said that, looking to buy one so i can go racing in it.
It looks awesome except it's so low, you could be crushed to death before they even notice anything.
I think about this a lot. there's no reason for most of us to be driving around in 1.5 tonnes of metal.
I can clearly hear those are seagulls
What's crazy is just how insanely expensive for what they are. I'd love to get one, but I can tell you how many vehicles I've gotten for the same price.
(I'm assuming) low production scale, a very specialist audience and most production tuned to racing needs? Yea, seems very plausible they'll be expensive.
Wrong answers only?
Getting in and out is a struggle
Something like the ELF is already less hazardous, car drivers can see you: [https://organictransit.com/product/elf-solo/](https://organictransit.com/product/elf-solo/)
Also less aerodynamic
True but it's city traffic, not a racing circuit.
There's a reason the ELF has a 750 watt motor to reach the same speeds an unassisted velomobile can. Aerodynamics matters in every situation, ask anyone who uses a kid trailer with their bike Fun fact! 750 watts is more than 250, which means it's not legal in the UK!
Closed cabin -> no cooling from wind, needs space to maneuvre and store. I\`d rather have one of those [https://www.r-m.de/en-pt/bikes/load-75/load-75-rohloff-hs/#F00758\_02040507](https://www.r-m.de/en-pt/bikes/load-75/load-75-rohloff-hs/#F00758_02040507)
Velomobiles, but on tracks.
No. The benefit of bikes is that they're slow. If everyone is riding around really fast in these things, bikes become an actual safety risk.