Thank you.
I believe there are velomobiles such as the Alpha 7 that can be as light as 28lb (13kg) in special versions. I know a lot of people who race velomobiles who would be interested in such a machine. I would like one to be sure, but I think there is inevitably a conflict between building lightweight and building for usability and repairability. Leo Vischer who developed and sold my Alleweder has talked about a growing divide between sportive velomobiles which are built to be as light and sporty as possible, with cost of secondary importance, compared to velomobiles designed for motorisation which are sturdier and perhaps more practical in everday use.
There are also a surprising number of people who make absolultely gorgeous wooden velomobiles out of spruce strips or aircraft ply:
You’re not wrong Maoraigh, but aviation is at least as risky as cycling.
I was looking at those pictures. Nice work indeed. But then I was thinking Norwegian condition. That design wouldn’t be very practical where there’s some terrain, a bit of snow. How would one modify such a vehicle for offroad/snow conditions? How about a belt instead of the drive wheel? Then skis instead of the front wheels ? something like this perhaps 
:
Turns out the “off road version” is extremely popular for sport as well as utility
kwlf wrote:
You’re not wrong Maoraigh, but aviation is at least as risky as cycling.
Cycling is safer than driving, at least for me.
While there is more chance of getting an “immediate” injury from riding to work and back, I do a very sedentary job (software development), the idea of going to a gym makes me lose the will to live – I need some kind of exercise I enjoy. Having a car-based lifestyle might save me from an “immediate” injury, but car-based lifestyles are very dangerous: they tend to result in chronic debilitating injuries from lack of exercise (heart disease, obesity, weakness when you get older etc) especially when coupled with office jobs. Inactive travel is likely to result in a very poor quality retirement from chronic health issues.
Active transportation (I ride my bike nearly exclusively only for transportation) means it’s much less likely that I’ll get these diseases or lose my aviation medical. The statistics show that people who use active travel tend to live longer than sedentary motorists (on average 3 years longer) despite the higher risk of an “immediate” injury from colliding with a car. Not only that, the extra years tend to be a much higher quality of life.
It also saves pretty significant sums of money. I think the last two years of cycle commuting probably saved enough money to buy a brand new aviation radio :-)
Could not agree more!
Yes, I agree. I cycled to work four days a week for a long time. There are many advantages, but inevitably some disadvantages. My issues were somewhere to get changed and showered. Then the need to stock up on fresh clothes at the office end so they didnt need to be carried every day. So some logistical issues.
The other point I always make to people is when you do this all weathers, including in the darkness of winter you quickly learn one really big lesson. Every driver is out to kill you. I dont mean intentionally. I nearly killed myself three times in the first month, then never again after that. You learn quickly (or suffer the consequences) that is for sure, and it is the most important single thing to tell anyone doing this.
I find it safer in the winter – there’s less traffic (most of the elderly don’t like driving in the dark) and I almost never get close passed at night, that’s something that seems to exclusively happen in the day. However, most of my commute is unlit roads, and I’m less likely to be lost in the clutter. I’ve also got a lot of retroreflectives – Ortlieb back roller panniers with large retroreflective panels (no need to stock up with anything at work when you have a pair of Ortliebs!), retroreflective mudguards, a very good rear light, a very good front light, retroreflective piping on the jacket and gloves etc. I also don’t ride in “kit”, even though it’s 20km each way. Going into work, I only need a fresh shirt if it’s not raining, coming home I just ride in what I was wearing at work – although this is largely enabled by us not having any extremes of temperature here (rarely below freezing in winter, rarely above 18C in summer).
