Aushiker wrote:
Interesting write-up of
first impressions of a Milan ... particularly the comments on heat and noise. How does the Sinner Mango compare?
Andrew
As he says, riding a velomobile is fundamentally different to anything he had ridden before. It takes a few months to get used to a velomobile - I feel like I'm still learning and adjusting even now after 4 months. I had never even ridden a recumbent before so it was all very different for me and quite a shock in many ways.
The body of a velomobile (at the fibreglass and carbon ones) seems to amplify sounds, so it can be quite noisy over bumpy roads / paths, but not in a particularly bad or consistently loud way. A bit like a wheely bin I think, in that it seems to rumble over bumps. The drivetrain is also a bit more convoluted than on a DF bike so there is additional background noise with the chain dragging through the tubes etc. This seems to present as a whirring, rrrrrr, rrrrr, rrrr, as you pedal, but you don't really notice it while riding. In fact, without the hood on, the biggest noise is wind noise, just like on a DF bike, except maybe there's more because you're going faster
With the hood on, the wind noise is much less, thus making the drivetrain and bump noises more prominent. If travelling at speed, it is difficult to have a conversation with another rider when you have the hood on. No problems without the hood.
So as far as an experience goes, it is noisier than riding a DF bike but not noisy per se. Nitramluap rides with ear plugs and listens to music but he does that on his dutch upright ebike too. I understand a rotovelo is quieter but I've never seen one in the flesh so can't really compare.
The heat again is something entirely dependent on conditions. The Milan is a more track oriented velomobile than the Mango. It only has 1 (or none in the Milan SL version) foothole which also provide ventilation, whereas the mango has 2. The hood there is also quite aerodynamic with limited air flow. When I ride the mango with the hood, I only fully close the visor when going fast or if its very cold. Otherwise I continually adjust it to provide optimal air flow. Normally this means about a 3 to 5cm gap at the bottom, but any decent hills and it goes right up. At high speed ie >60km/hr, it actually helps your stability to have it fully closed.
Oddly, I think the weight was the biggest shock for me initially, but maybe thats because I have 18% hills to negotiate every day and weak skinny legs.
And be assured, you will be the most visible bike on the road, arguably more eye catching than cars. You just can't stop right behind a 4wd or pass the left of 4wds where you are below their window height and hence out of sight. The speed of the velomobile often allows you to claim the lane more often too, as shown in my "Sylvan Road drag" video. Overall I feel much safer in the velomobile than on a normal bike.