Agilo velomobile

[anotherkiwi]

How long you need to build the Agilo ?

Me? A year! I was in solitary confinement so I spread it out and did a little each day to preserve my sanity. The first confinement was a 1 km radius from home... And also my budget was only 200€ a month.

I think the estimation of 4 weeks on the web site is realistic. One condition, buy the velomobiel.nl parts and the swing arm before you start, having them on hand will make construction faster because you will be able to test fit as you proceed.

 

[beate]

Ich dachte, es sollte auf Velomo-Technik umgerüstet werden?

 

[anotherkiwi]

Ich dachte, es sollte auf Velomo-Technik umgerüstet werden?

That wasn't in the question

 

[anotherkiwi]

Some photos I promised of the small modifications.

With a wheel disk. Unfortunately it does not fit my rim.



The DeLorean 2.0 cutout works well and the mirrors are placed at eye level.



The original cutout and the mirror placed on the door gave me otitis in the left ear - turbulence created by the mirror entering the hole even though it was not very flagrant. A piece of poly-carbonate closes the hole in case of heavy rain - to be finished. The windscreen is open at the top in this photo.

Next I need to tidy the cabling in the interior and get the indicators working. The headlight needs to be moved forwards a little, some light bodywork repair and a sanding before a second coat of paint.

 

[Schrau-Bär]

The DeLorean 2.0 cutout works well and the mirrors are placed at eye level.

Wow, that's great.
Did you ride it in rainy conditions with high humidity yet?
What about a fogging windscreen?
I'm really very curious about your painting.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Wow, that's great.
Did you ride it in rainy conditions with high humidity yet?
What about a fogging windscreen?
I'm really very curious about your painting.

I drove in very light "drizzle" and my windscreen has not yet been treated so the droplets just stuck there... It was daytime so I could see out OK and of course I drove home very slowly. I would not try that at night, even the streetlights would be hell. Rain season is here now so I really need to get an anti-droplet treatment on the windscreen.

The windscreen fogs when I stop to chat with people but as soon as I move a few metres it clears thanks to the air extraction through the seat back. I don't think there will be need for any extra ventilation - on the days it fogged we had low temperatures for here, about 9-10º C. A really cold day in the middle of winter will be 4-5º C (it can freeze at night but as soon as the day rises so does the temperature). I will have to try driving in the cold of night but then I won't be stopping to chat with anyone.

I need to refine my side windows some more because at higher speeds (over 45 km/h) I have air leaks around the top. I am working on solutions right now, I just came up from the bike garage. In the cold we had I was even thinking about wearing a wool cap... The right hand side window can be sealed to the frame but the left one opens with the door of course. I am thinking of a strip of wood with a spring that snaps shut holding the PC against the roof. I have seen something like that but I don't remember where... Maybe from a filing folder with a spring plate that holds the sheets of paper.

Paint: It will stay white, I want to encourage potential advertisers And also the white means that inside I have the same air temperature as outside, that varnished bit of hood is about 10º warmer than the white painted part! I just removed the white protective film from the rear window, that will encourage me to buy some anti-UV film to replace it. White is a nice visible colour at night and second to yellow on the road during the day I think (?). I still have dreams of VW Sirocco metallic green however... And of course I need an Agilo sticker or 2.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Did you ride it in rainy conditions with high humidity yet?

I came across a photo of an elastic "windscreen wiper" on the forum. That would be easy to install on Agilo.

- clip the elastic to the rear view mirrors
- mount a small eyelet to the hood in front of the windscreen
- run some nylon fishing line from the elastic to the eyelet then back under the windshield to the driver
- everything is easy to remove (except the eyelet) for when it is not raining

Of course it will scratch the PC but i will buy some more soon and cut a couple of spare windshields in advance, the original is already quite scratched because I did not apply an anti-scratch film as I had intended originally.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Yesterday I drove home in the dark with lots of shopping:

- the b+m IQ-XS provides sufficient lighting
- I was quite heavily loaded with a large shopping bag next to the seat (just like the Alpha9... ), 2 x 500g boxes of cereal on the rear shelf, my fishing bag, my small backpack with personal stuff, a change of clothing, plus the tools and bike cover I usually carry so not many spare cm3...
- system weight >130 kg, the front suspension made new noises I hadn't heard before...
- I let the motor do most of the work on the hills because of the shopping bag and I took a longer route with less traffic so no automobiles were harmed during this experiment
- I braked to keep the speed below 40 km/h in the downhill sections for obvious reasons
- I had fogging on the windshield below 15 km/h, very light fogging. I guess the outside temperature must have been between 11 and 15 ºC, inside I was comfortable in polo shirt and shorts.
- I am testing the battery limit to empty and so far am over 60 km I hope it runs out somewhere practical but we all know they never do...

The conclusion is that I need to plan ahead when i go on shopping trips or else use the trailer. A comfortable efficient driver needs space and the large empty volume probably prevents windscreen fogging too. Next week I will swap the pedals for hybrid SPD/flat and try driving in town with my normal walking shoes, SPD shoes will follow shortly, I am bored with changing to my SPD-SL shoes for such short distances.

Crank Brothers or Shimano pedals? Comments welcome.

 

[Ixylon]

I am bored with changing to my SPD-SL shoes for such short distances.

There are also pedal adapters to buy for those rides where you don't want to use shoes. You can easily make them by your own with one spare set of cleats, you screw a piece of wood on top. A bit like these:

 

[Ixylon]

Crank Brothers or Shimano pedals?

I like to use speedplay, because i can clip in without looking (double sided pedals). They have accessories like those:

I could imagine, that you can use the other side there as normal with the speedplay shoes, but did'nt try yet.

 

[beate]

There are also pedal adapters to buy for those rides where you don't want to use shoes. You can easily make them by your own with one spare set of cleats, you screw a piece of wood on top.

Cool idea. How thick does the wood need to be if something hard like beech or birch plywood is being used? 5mm in order to be able to use drive-in nuts?

 

[JKL]

Comments welcome.

Lederband an die Pedale.

 

[anotherkiwi]

I prefer click in and forget. Remember I am old enough to have used leather straps for many, many hundreds of km in my youth

Fogging was an issue tonight - cold and humid seaside air on a dirty poly-carbonate windscreen I really have to be more careful. The clean cloth did not remove the fogging so pollution has covered the interior of the windshield. Thank you so much diesel SUV drivers!

I "emptied" the battery - it can't climb the steepest hills at 40v. My LVC is 39.6v so it was as empty as it will ever be. This test run I only drove in assistance level 5, 70 km range in town only so start/stop driving and the steep hills to climb. That is about 7 return trips to my girlfriends house or just over a week. On the way there I often stopped to go fishing so a typical usage scenario.

We will have to wait a bit for the number of Ah used because I did a partial charge to get back home. The Bafang controller behaves very strangely when you run out of volts, the motor makes a kind of strange chugging vibration. The KT controllers I am used to just switch off leaving you there in the middle of a hill with no motor...

I got to test high beam finally, it works for me, I like the b+m IQ-XS. It lights the road well and I feel in security at the night time speeds I am driving - rarely over 45 km/h.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Today same route as above:

- Wind gusting to over 40 km/h on the way, Agilo moves about a little bit, like a gentle push from an invisible hand, but nothing out of the ordinary, always completely under control. I noticed more the gain in speed than cross winds, 50% of the journey was in a crosswind the rest tailwind.
- Return trip in the rain - normal rain, neither heavy or light and 27 km/h wind so the windscreen was being cleared partially. I do need an elastic type windscreen wiper then it will be perfect!
- I only had fogging where I had not cleaned the inside of the windscreen the other day so it was 100% pollution on the poly-carbonate to blame. I need to remove the windscreen and wash it thoroughly in warm soapy water. I was too warmly dressed which is why the temperature inside was high, I didn't stop to take off my polar fleece jumper.

Agilo works as described on the box - weather protection for your daily drives! I am beginning to like these vélomobile things, sitting here in my dry clothes after that weather! With the trike I would have needed a warm shower as soon as I got home and another set of dry clothes!

Brakes: independent levers have moved further up the list of things to do soon, the right wheel blocked up at the first intersection and after that I drove slowly and within the limit (theoretical) of my brakes. I can understand combined brakes working for most people but I don't have the patience to fiddle with balancing them. Setting the track was much easier!

The DTH tyres behaved well in the wet, lots of very big puddles driven through today.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Back to the future...

In the 1970's I rode a racing frame converted to a touring bike, the pedals had toe clips and straps. I have been annoyed with having to change into my SPD-SL shoes every time I drive so I bought a set of cheap pedals and Zefal toe clips. These days the toe clips are plastic and not stainless and the straps are nylon and not leather but everything is much more comfortable than back in the day. I can strap in firmly because there is no risk of falling over!

I just couldn't push myself to buying a set of hybrid Shimano SPD/platform pedals at 70€, this solution cost 19.80€ and works with 3 pairs of shoes that I own - city shoes, summer and winter walking shoes. Next summer I might buy some cheap SPD pedals and SPD sandals but the Zefal equipped ones will be remounted as soon as the weather gets colder. I looked at the XLC plastic road pedals with straps but some online reviews said they were too tight for size 43 walking shoes, a shame because they are much lighter.

The SPD-SL pedals will go back on the trike which is destined to become a fair weather sport machine (no motor...).

 

[anotherkiwi]

Last night I discovered what is perhaps my braking problem, I changed one of the brake cables when I installed the brakes, it is not Teflon coated. The original brake cable provided with the tiller IS Teflon coated! That might explain the difference in balance between braking on the right and on the left...

I am also wondering: does a hidden wire brake sensor work well on a Teflon coated brake wire? Or is the wire too slippery despite the magnetic force? That is a purely theoretical question because I am going to use a mechanical brake switch now.

And a question: has anyone experimented with a split tiller braking lever? Like the one supplied but split down the middle with individual braking to right and left. The parking brake rod would still work I both brakes. Or is it too hard to balance braking force with both index fingers?

 

[tieflieger]

I saw a very clever wood spring hatch on this channel. I is used to close the rear deck hatch. I am just not sure if it is in episode 1 (linked) or 2. It's a simple and clever design. With your boatbuilding background u might have been there to.

There is one Dutch rider Mick Leemans who simply cut the brakelever of his DF in the centre. He is happy with it, he also did this on the previous Limit velomobile he owned, so he seems to like it. His blog posts are very short. https://mick-eigenfietsnl.blogspot.com/search?q=rem+df

He cut it in half, filed the remaining central pieces of a bit and added some extra washers on the pivot to keep both parts from hitting eachother.

There are many velomobiles with Panzer steering and seperate brakelevers, but they have a steering geometry that keeps the Velomobile more or less on a straight line. Mine did not have that at first, and i still remember my first singlehanded braking action, when i pass that moderate downhill. It was scary! I'd ask Bodo what he thinks about it. Its about the Lenkrollradius,( if i use the right word? ) cant get the English word right now.

I have an occasional light skid on the tyre that is on the inside of the corner, that is easily caught. I imagine with a coupled lever i'd be getting more skids. With the correct amount Lenkrollradius the Velo stays stable under braking, other wise it can go hard outside or inside, if u have to much or to little, or the other way round. I still don't quite get the terms and understanding wich does what.

Greetings, Jeroen

 

[tieflieger]

Noch mal als erganzung ein wikilink mit bilder. Heisst Lenkrollradius oder lenkrollhalbmesser, scrubradius in English.

Lenkrollradius – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

 

[anotherkiwi]

Noch mal als erganzung ein wikilink mit bilder. Heisst Lenkrollradius oder lenkrollhalbmesser, scrubradius in English.

Lenkrollradius – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

Or https://gitlab.com/cmoder/velomobil-grundwissen#velomobil-grundwissen

That hatch is great! Thanks for that! I'm having one of those...

And the splitting of the brake lever is something I will look into more closely too.

 

[Windfisch]

I just couldn't push myself to buying a set of hybrid Shimano SPD/platform pedals at 70€

You should. I have them in my Alleweder, have only used the platform side yet but it has good grip with everyday shoes. Only downside is that finding the right side and positioning the feet is a bit fiddly first.