Some news about the Milan SL

I have come up with a different way to hold the door in place on the SL.  I am using some shock cord to latch it at the front and back.  The previous method had a hinge at the front that seemed to rattle some at times.  It was also hard to remove and replace if you wanted to remove the door to work inside the velomobile.

The shock cord at the back edge hooks around a plastic hook bolted the the door.

The same idea at the front but I will be changing it slightly so its easier to reach.  This was the second attempt so the final result will be neater.

The additional advantage of being able to prop the front edge open for ventilation or for use as an air brake for long descents. You would most likely had to have it open more for much braking effect.  It just a rocket going down hill. 

I went for a ride this evening checking out the local time trial course.  I did ride a time trial on it yesterday so had another go at a slightly slower pace to figure out where to optimize my effort.  On yesterday's ride I got it slightly wrong in not attacking a slight grade enough and lost some speed. Even though I had ridden this section quite a few times I didn't realize how much it could hold you up if you had your effort wrong.  I guess this is the difference between racing and just riding.  The slower ride was about 30 seconds longer than the actual time trial.  During the time trial I had a few folks in front of me to catch so the rabbit effect was in full force.  I did the course in 9:47 with an average speed of 44.27 kph. The course is a bit hilly and not much in the way of rolling hills that favor a velo.   Right now I have a rather low high gear in the SL mostly so I also have a very low gear for climbing the hills here.  A bit higher gearing would have helped some but the engine needs to be more fit to make a real difference.  It wasn't too big of a surprise to set a new course record considering the aerodynamic advantage of the SL.

I am getting using to the tiller setup in the SL.  I was a bit shocked to see a max speed over 83 kph as I braked  some to keep my speed down.  I will continue to ride the SL and then switch back to the GT once I have changed out the rear fender.  The new three layer fender with carbon and Bio-Mid is much less noisy than the glass and Kevlar one.  They both ended up weighing about the same but the carbon/Bio-Mid one  is much nicer and will even go into the glass versions of the Milan.  One does get spoiled easily.  

An Xseam of 45" or more means you will not fit in the SL.  With very short cranks and an extended BB position it may be possible to fit slightly taller but I would recommend a trial fit.  

Left Coast Velomobile Gathering

Back from the Left Coast Velomobile Gathering.  Lots of driving, not so much sleep and some excellent riding.  A very fun weekend.  Many thanks to Craig and Vicky for hosting the event.

This was the first time I could ride the Milan GT with other velomobiles to compare performance.  While I knew that the Milan was quick I had no real reference point.  After the first half of Saturday's ride I was more than a little pleased especially considering that I have not ridden much in the last few months.   Now I understand why Markus would start later in the mornings on ROAM and come whizzing by.  The folks at Raderwerk who designed the Milan have succeeded in building a very fast comfortable velomobile.  I was impressed by being able to climb a gentle slopes at reasonable speed.  Carrying momentum up the next hill was great fun.  On gentle up slopes the saved up kinetic energy sure cared one a long ways.

At the LCVMG there were a couple of other velos that were quite interesting.  I have always liked the sort of retro look of the Allweder.  There was one that was polished up to a high level.  It sure looked nice.  I checked out how it was constructed and it's amazing what can be done with aluminium.  There were also two chloroplast velos built on ICE trikes.  Nicely built and a good way to get into velomobile if you already have a trike.  While not quite as fast as a Quest or Milan they provided most (90-95%) of the benefits velos offer.  You would be hard pressed to go back to the bare trike after riding these.  

Here are a few of pictures at the Avila beach on the second day.

The previous day I managed to scare myself at bit.  I actually overdid it a bit and ended up going down a hill too fast.  I was reluctant to do anything but let it run out.  I didn't have my GPS on but was going at least the speed of traffic(55 mph if they were going the speed limit, doubtful at the best of times) and certainly a lot more than the 85 kph I have been at before.   Lesson for the future about keeping speed in check. I didn't actually have any trouble controlling the Milan GT it just felt way too fast, enough so that I was even reluctant to apply the brakes. I have since practiced braking from fairly high speed and am now more comfortable doing this. 

Here are more pictures of "Bubbles".  It  got stuck with this name before it even made it off the car.  

Before and after snow

We did get some snow a while back that almost covered my GT.  It was a bit of an unexpected snow fall.  I didn't move in inside in the evening and this is how it looked in the morning.

Here is what if looks like now.

I dressed it up with some graphics.  The real reason for the graphics is the make some of the inconsistency in gel coat less noticeable.  I rather like it dressed up as it is.  

The new rear signal light.  I have built a new enclose for the LED lights.  A little carbon fiber and some clear casting resin.  Much nicer than the first version.

Here is a  view from the back.  The small cutout in the reflective sticker on the the back allows the three 2W LEDs for the brake or rear light to shine through.  This light is much brighter than the standard rear bike light just below it.  One can also see how flush the new enclosure for the turn signals is.  

Milan SL Pictures

The first few pictures of our demo Milan SL.  Next step is the roll out tests to check the front alignment.  

No mirrors or lights yet so there is still a fair bit to be done before I can consider it finished.  Once I have ridden it a some and fine tuned my fit I'll post about the maximum size that will fit.

Milan for bigger folks?

We have laid up some heavy sections out of the Milan GT moulds.  We had three reasons for doing this.  To use up some old material that we can't use for anything else,  train a new staff member in hand laminating and perhaps build a new velomobile.

Of the first four or five potential customers who visited me looking at the Milan GT two certainly didn't fit and a third was too close to call.   The need is for a bit more clearance for bigger feet, even 1-2 cm would be a big gain, accomodating a longer femur lenght and more knee space can be acommllished by moving the door opening forward 5 cm.  Adding 2.5 cm extra width at each shoulder will be a big plus for some.  Just from looking at the shape it can be blended into the existing bulges and still look very nice.  Is adding 5 cm in total width at the shoulders enough?

We are not sure if this will happen as building a new velomobile is a very big project.  In any case it's going on the back burner for a while.  Still an interesting undertaking to contemplate.

Taking Orders and Prices

Finally at the point where we can take orders for the Milan GT and Milan SL.  It has taken far longer than I thought it would but I think well worth the delay.  For something as simple as a bike it has proven to be quite complex.

The base price for the Milan GT and Milan SL is $8,500  This includes carbon wheel wells, carbon rear fender, carbon ribs in the floor and sides of the shell, left and right mirrors with carbon fairing and reflective stripe, rear tail light. 

Upgrade to carbon/Kevlar laminate  $1,500

Lighting package( two headlights, running/signal lights, brake light)  $800

Storage compartment in front of wheel wells  $100 each

Upgrade to 90 mm drums $100

Side stick (tank steering)  $100

Hood   $450

More details to follow!!

Milan SL

 Front storage compartments for the Milan SL

 

The picture shows the front storage compartments for the Milan SL installed in the bottom half of the velomobile.  I find them quite handy to contain loose items you don't need too often.  Each one is about 8-10 liters in size.  It is best to install them when the shell in at this stage as it is hard to reach once the top is on especially if you do not cut footholes. 

 

Jig for bolting the rear swing arm into the Milan SL.  I was working on this on the weekend and didn't have anyone to help squeeze the parts together when tightening the bolts so I made a jig.  The rather beefy rear swing arm has two plastic shims on each side that need to fit tightly between the plastic blocks that clamp the pivot tube in place.  Having two shims on each side allows for some adjustment sideways of the swing arm for the wheel and the fender. Here's a better picture of the swing arm with the spacers visible. 

 

This is the third Milan SL being built.  It will be our demo and the one I try to make fit me.  We are now able to start building the Milan GT and Milan SL for customers.