Tl;dr: An enclosed bicycle designed to have as little air resistance as possible. Banned in the Tour de France because amateurs in a velomobile are quicker than pros on a racing bicycle.
Not lighter, it has much less air resistance because of aerodynamic design.
The human torso on a regular bicycle is basically a wall. If you’ve ever ridden a bicycle on a windy day, you should know the agony. It’s like continuously riding up a slope.
Yeah, I didn’t think of the graph when responding.
Though I believe it’s wrong.
How is a bicycle supposed to weigh 100 kg with a rider? The average bike is certainly less than 20 kg so the rider would have to weigh 80 kg or more - which seems like a lot for the average human. I mean, it’s overweight even for the average man.
According to the German Wikipedia page, velomobiles weigh between 20 to 40 kg. And the former seems to be only achievable with a full carbon fiber build. That’s definitely more than your average bicycle.
It’s denoted as being only slightly lighter, which I guess might be doable if you’re optimal about the construction. It is indeed a bit weird though, on average a bicycle should be possible to build lighter than a velomobile
What on earth is a velomobile?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velomobile
Tl;dr: An enclosed bicycle designed to have as little air resistance as possible. Banned in the Tour de France because amateurs in a velomobile are quicker than pros on a racing bicycle.
And how can that be lighter than a bicycle, since it is a bicycle with extra stuff?
Not lighter, it has much less air resistance because of aerodynamic design.
The human torso on a regular bicycle is basically a wall. If you’ve ever ridden a bicycle on a windy day, you should know the agony. It’s like continuously riding up a slope.
It is much lighter in the graph though! And this is even on a log scale
Yeah, I didn’t think of the graph when responding.
Though I believe it’s wrong.
How is a bicycle supposed to weigh 100 kg with a rider? The average bike is certainly less than 20 kg so the rider would have to weigh 80 kg or more - which seems like a lot for the average human. I mean, it’s overweight even for the average man.
According to the German Wikipedia page, velomobiles weigh between 20 to 40 kg. And the former seems to be only achievable with a full carbon fiber build. That’s definitely more than your average bicycle.
Yes, I also believe it’s wrong. Doesn’t make me trust in the rest the graph is showing…
You’re talking about efficiency, but in the chart the velomobile is marked as lighter than a bicycle. Why?
It’s denoted as being only slightly lighter, which I guess might be doable if you’re optimal about the construction. It is indeed a bit weird though, on average a bicycle should be possible to build lighter than a velomobile
Anyone else read the entire wiki article? TIL about velomobiles. So cool.