One Ride, I’m hooked!
Bad cycling weather this week, but I did sneak in a short
ride before the freezing rain hit again. I could not believe something that
weighs 29.2 kg. could feel so light and go so fast. I’m hooked! I don’t want to
ride my 2 wheel recumbents anymore. The Quest seems so fast and smooth.
I encounter a
few cars and people on my trip around the neighborhood. The sight of this
yellow Quest stopped traffic and turned many heads. I had someone do a U-turn
and pass me to get ahead and take a picture with his phone. At another stop sign a girl almost hit a
pedestrian with her car because she was staring at the Quest. It sure catches
people attention.
I had to do
some fine tuning as I had trouble see over the front and the seat was set low.
Likewise once I adjusted the seat I had to adjust the pedals. Even with the 155 cranks
one heal touches the body sometimes. I had to trim the back of the foot holes.
Of course I added spare tires and tubes, tools and a small blanket in case of
tire problems. Headlights also got adjusted as well. I changed the back tire for Schwalbe Snow stud tire. I took a ride and did some errands in my local area. The studded tire handled the ice really well and the Duranos on the front handled and stopped well too. I was going to change them to a set of Schwalbe Marathons I have but the Duranos seem to be doing the job quite well. The other problem I had was undoing the Velcro stapes on the cockpit cover so I sewed some loops on them to help me undo them.
This weekend I will make the cover I bought for the Quest fit better and with some luck I will begin my daily commuting on Monday with the Quest. Snow and cold weather is in the forecast. Tonight's ride was done at -17 C. with just a light jacket and summer gloves. I brought warmer mitts and a warmer jacket with me, but it was not needed. I have ridden before in winter on recumbent bikes but this is such a pleasure so far. Not all velomobile owners will see the cold and snow that we get in our part of Canada, but it for me it will be better this winter!!!
hi i am glad i found your blog, i have been thinking about getting a Quest for winter cycling, and was wondering if i should order it with winter tyres and just have them on all the time during winter. The Marathon seem to have a lot of studs and thought that if i have tyres with less studs the drag would be reduced but not the grip on the ice... any thoughts on that?
ReplyDeleteHi David,
DeleteI bought the Quest to use all year round, but the weather protection is the bonus. The Quest normally comes with Kojaks in the front, but I ordered mine with Durangos. I used Durangos on my SWB recumbent and I had good luck with them. They are run at 115 psi so they have a bit rougher ride than the Kojaks. The Quest has suspension so I find the ride quite good. I had ordered the front studded tires on line and the rear I had before. The way the studs are placed on the Marathon tires they don't touch the road until you turn when the pressure is at 70 psi. I lower the pressure when I travel on our river trail so they have contact all the time. I started the winter with just the rear but later switched the fronts to studs. Even with the studded tires I have hit over 50 kph which is crazy on ice. Today's blog will have a link to a video. It shows what can happen when you don't have studded tires on ice. I would order your Quest with the standard tires and buy the studded tires on line. Of course you would have to order your Quest and wait as they have a waiting list. Or CyclesJV in France has stock of several types of Velomobiles. WWW.cyclesjv.com or find them on facebook.
Kevin