Welcome to Geoff Bird's Velodynamics Recumbent Bicycle, UK home
page. Contained within you will find details of the bikes I have built over the
last six years and other related material and links.
***CONGRATULATIONS TO FIONA GROVE, THE BHPC WOMENS CHAMPION 2OO1, RIDING A VELODYNAMICS T-5!***
|
|
This is my site selling HPV components, including nosecones and tail-boxes, frame-building materials etc., etc. Click on the logo to be transported… |
Please
choose from the categories below:
You may by now be asking “why a recumbent?” or, indeed “what is a recumbent?” Let me explain¼
Bikes
I have always built bikes primarily for my own use, but with a view to one day starting production, if I receive enough interest or the market in the UK matures. Either way, there is nothing to beat travelling around using your own power to propel a vehicle you have designed and built yourself. Click on the thumbnails below.
|
Mk. 1
|
TX |
Mk. 3 |
T-5 (x2!) |
T-6 |
T-7 |
Links
Organises HPV Races and Recumbent Tours. Has an informative and entertaining quarterly Newsletter and is source of “So, You Want to Build an HPV”- The (compact) Bible for Home Builders. The BHPC hosted the HPV World Championships in Brighton in 2001. The site also contains links to other HPV Organisations, including the International Human Powered Vehicle Association.
Thoughtful quarterly alternative cycle magazine published by Peter Eland (ex-editor of BCQ). Website has excellent cycling news service.
All sorts of unusual British Built cycles, including PDQ Recumbent and Moulton APB.
Very active US club whose extensive website includes building tips. They also host the World Human Power Speed Challenge 2001 site.
Legs Larry's Unorthodox Bicycle Region
Editor of the BHPC newsletter, Dave Larrington, recounts building a full fairing for a Kingcycle and provides hundreds of links to recumbent related resources. Also pictures of WHPVC 2001.
Bike shop co-owned by my mate Richard. For Folders, Recumbents, Tricky Wheel Building.
Efficient mail order service. For Unusual Tyres, Nuts’n’Bolts, Tandems, Hard-to-Find Bits.
Very easy to use website for e-purchases. For Recumbent Tyres etc.
Generally considered the best lights you can buy. They can supply each component separately, so that you can build the system to suit the way you live.
Extremely efficient retailers. Great for hard to find mechanical components as well as electrical stuff.
Oliver Zechlin’s HPV CD-ROM 2001 Edition Now Out!
This is the German HPV Club site.
What I used to do in the daytime.
Very clever fully
faired commuter bike and other stuff about velomobiles.
Includes a whole page of links to home pages that feature HPVs and Recumbents.
Photos
COLOGNE ’97: Pictures from the World Championships. Lots of fully faired bikes at the Velodrome.
DENMARK ’98: Pictures from our tour from Esbjerg to the European Championships at Roskilde.
BHPC MEETINGS: Some photos from the British Human Power Club race meetings and the ’99 Social Tour.
GHENT 2000: Pictures from the World Championships in Belgium.
OTHER PHOTOS: Unsorted pictures added since November 1999. I added some more in October 2000.
Why a
Recumbent?
A recumbent is any
bicycle, tricycle or (sometimes) quadricycle with a supine seating position. An
HPV (Human Powered Vehicle) is usually (but not always) a recumbent, fitted
with some form of bodywork, but HPV has come to mean any recumbent.
The first recumbents were built
around the turn of the Century. There was a revival in the 1930s, when a fairly
unexceptional rider on a French 'Velocar' recumbent broke a number of World
Records. The sport's governing body promptly banned Recumbents.
The modern revival started
in the 1970s, in California, when race meetings were organised for these
outlawed machines. Fairings were added and speeds started to rise. The revival spread to Europe. The present
record for the standing start, one-hour time trial is held by a German, who covered
50.5 miles (81 km). The same record for a conventional bicycle (with a much
stronger rider) stands at about 35 miles.
So, the advantages of a
recumbent for racing are clear. But what
about on the road? Well, the aerodynamic
advantage is still noticeable, but the difference in performance between an
unfaired recumbent and a racing bike is too close to call. On flatter terrain,
the recumbent will probably have the edge (if it is designed for speed). On
hillier routes the conventional bike will be more at home.
It is practicable to add
partial fairings to a road recumbent bike. Despite the extra weight, these can
offer significant performance gains, even on quite hilly routes. A front
fairing also provides weather protection and a tail fairing, luggage space.
Most people find that the
best thing about a recumbent is comfort. Your body is supported over a much
larger area than on a conventional bike and your hands and arms are lightly
loaded. Consequently, you are much less likely to experience aches and pains,
especially on long rides.
The lower Centre of
Gravity of a recumbent bike and rider means that you can stop more quickly than
on a conventional bike. You also tend to get less wet and dirty when it rains
as your feet are above the road spray and you can keep pedalling around corners
without fear of grounding a pedal.
So what is the downside? I hear you say. Well, your back tends to get quite sweaty, you are more likely to be dazzled by oncoming cars, at night and very low speed manoeuvring is more difficult. But worst of all, you have to get used to being a one-man freak show.
Credits
I would like to thank the following people: Charlie Prescott for brazing my frames, but more importantly, for constant encouragement. Jerry, my business partner, for sometimes letting me finish my bikes when I should have been working. Fiona, for not only tolerating my obsessive hobby, but also joining in whole-heartedly. Sherri Donaldson, Paul London and Anna Jenkins for providing some of the photos on this site (I cannot remember which) and Andreas Pooch for the picture of the black low-racer. Mike Burrows, Miles Kingsbury and Dennis Adcock for giving me a friendly introduction to the world of HPVs. Twed, for enthusiastically campaigning my contrivances and anyone whose ideas I might have stolen over the years.
Contact me at: geoff@salmon7.fsnet.co.uk
Last modified: November 2001