Monday, October 4, 2010

Lighter is better

The velomobile weighs about 210 pounds empty. I got to thinking that this is a bit heavy considering that most of these things are around 70 pounds empty and without any electrical. At any rate, I decided to remove all attempts at motorizing this thing as it adds weight and as far as I can tell only slows me down when I pedal. Even the new motor did this. I'm thinking if I strip it down I can get it under 100 pounds -- ideas for stripping it include:
  • Pulling the mirrors and replacing with bicycle equivalents
  • Removing the horn (replace with a bike horn)
  • Removing turn signals (replace with bike signals)
  • Removing the struts and hinge for the canopy and making it slide forward rather than lift up
  • Removing some key bits of fiberglass
  • Removing the ventilation system
  • Possibly replacing the full canopy with a cloth top for a heads out sort of velomobile

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