Alpha 7 in the UK

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137
I picked up my A7 on Saturday, this is the first privately owned A7 in the UK, the other is dealer owned. After adjusting the pedal position and gears, I took a short trip of 50 km.

I like the very good handling of the suspension, the low weight and the cornering stability.

I don't like the very stiff movement of the tiller, is that normal?

I also find the seat too upright, resulting in a painful left buttock, and too tight between my shoulder blades, which hurts my back.

The A7 came with a hood, it wasn't fitted, I don't like driving with a hood so either it will gather dust in the garage or I have it in the sales department, the third alternative is to cut it off and just make a sun hood out of it .

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)20200912_133039[1].jpg
 
Ian, you can write in English on the Velomobilforum as enough readers can understand it.

congratulations on the Alpha7.
 
haha, something very strange happened, I copied and pasted the German text, but it looks like DeepL in it's wisdom translated it back to English, I didn't realise as I have a translator extension permanently running for velomobilforum (not DeepL), it is not the first time this kind of software has tricked me much to @Reinhard annoyance! I hope he forgives me this time.

VeloAds was a broker in this case, it was returned unused from the original purchaser as he did not like it for "reasons".
 
Ian, you can write in English on the Velomobilforum as enough readers can understand it.

congratulations on the Alpha7.
Thank you!

I appreciate that most readers understand and possibly have better English than me, but I think it polite to use the language of people who's company I am in, even if it requires external help.
 
it was returned unused from the original purchaser as he did not like it for "reasons".

That explains a lot. Because - as far as I know - otherwise the seat would have been chosen out of a variety of different seats and installed and fitted to your needs. If it is too tight between your shouldblades you need one that is more narrow.
 
I don't like the very stiff movement of the tiller, is that normal?
Schau Dir die Gummischeiben am vorderen Ende der Längslenker an, manchmal sind sie zu fest verspannt.
Auch die Kunststoff Gelenkköpfe sind eventuell zu fest angezogen.
Bezüglich Sitz würde ich zum Händler gehen (John W.?) Der hat hoffentlich auch andere Typen da.
 
Take a look at the rubber washers at the front end of the trailing arms, sometimes they are too tight.
The plastic rod ends may also be too tight.
Regarding the seat, I would go to the dealer (John W.?) He hopefully has other guys there too.

I did wonder about the rubber washers being too tight, I will check them, yes John Williams.

That explains a lot. Because - as far as I know - otherwise the seat would have been chosen out of a variety of different seats and installed and fitted to your needs. If it is too tight between your shouldblades you need one that is more narrow.

The previous owner was the same size as me, but I have asked the dealer to measure the other seat he has (size large)
 
I also find the seat too upright, resulting in a painful left buttock, and too tight between my shoulder blades, which hurts my back.

Ian I had the same problems.
Already in the DF. There I put the seat flatter at 25 degrees.
That is not so easy to do in the Alpha, because there is no adjustable suspension behind the head. That would be a good improvement.
Secondly, I added a seat mat with holes in the seat mat in the DF. This removed the problem with the seat bones. Alternatively you can cut holes in the seat and reinforce the edges with carbon again in the Alpha.
I got the new seat from Daniel with a shaped seat. That means the seat has the shape of an ass. That helps. I can now ride in the Alpha without the mat. Together with the thin ventisit it is even very good.
Between the shoulders it also presses on me. The reason is that as a desk worker I no longer have a straight back. My solution are two pieces of foam, which I glued on the seat with armoured tape at shoulder blade level. In this way the shoulder is brought forward a little and the spine is relieved. The thoracic vertebrae no longer press against the seat.
 

Anhänge

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No ... :unsure:;)

You can write in English here. But I expect that German quotations are not translated into English (#9), because then it is no longer a quotation.

Yes, I remember that was the problem before, I will try very hard not to do that in future, but it is difficult to override the translator.
 
@Fritz, yes I too reclined my Df seat to about the same angle, I will try the changes as you have done first, then speak with VeloAds about the new seat.
 
Congratulations Ian - I hope you get your seat problems sorted.

Another option might be to look at alternative providers of seats (Thorn Composites or the like) if you don't get on with the sizes for the Alpha that John has in stock at velo-ads.

Fortunately I'm too tall to easily fit into an Alpha7, which prevents any disagreements with my wife who still doesn't understand the N+1 rule. I am tempted by the ICB 4-wheeler though - I must buy her more bribes gifts in the period before it is released!

Cheers,
Phil
 
Cheers Phil, being a relative short arse at 1.76m I fit in most velomobiles, the world is my oyster!
 
Looking at the picture above, one more thing to consider: the rolling resistance get even lower if you put wheels on. :LOL:
 
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