What do our customers think?
All our customers can send in their story by e-mail
How was the actual building, how they like the bike and more. We will put their stories uncensored on these pages.
So: Negative AND positive
The only restriction is that content
of a political, racist, pornographic or insulting nature shall be refused.
A photo can be sent along and will be shown as well.
If the customer so desires we will not show his email address
KV4 Customers
He also made a nice website, in French, with lot's of pictures.
http://guilhem.valentin.free.fr/aaw/album
http://guilhem.valentin.free.fr/aaw/
Neville Whitlock (New Zealand)
Vladimir Velitchko
Today I have finished my AW. I'm happy! Finally I've decided to do not paint it. I think it's nice like it is. I send you a picture. I've found it's very comfortable to drive and very good quality. The Flevo roof fits perfectly to AW with the optional tail piece. You can put it to the list of the options. I used a car antenna to make a safety flag. I've found a good idea to put two extra sheets of the aluminum to the package using it like a protection for the other sheets. I've used it to make a new sheet because i have damaged one. Your service after sale is very good. I think you have to make your manual more detailed with more pictures. There is a rivet gun with the rotating head so it's not necessary to cut a rivet gun. (I send you a picture) Finally i think that the construction of the AW is the very nice and funny adventure for the people who like the bicycle and the do-it-yourself. I wish you a good continuation of your business, a good summer and the good holidays!
Best regards!
Vladimir Velitchko.
Guilhem Vlentine
(France)
Here is my story about building and riding the KV4
In French :
J'ai reçu le kit fin octobre 2006. J'y ai travaillé le
week-end, à raison de 4 ou 5 heures chaque jour. J'ai mis environ
1 mois pour construire le vélomobile, puis 1 
mois
supplémentaire pour mener des recherches et le mettre peinture.
J'ai pu rouler avec pour la première fois début janvier.
La construction de ce kit est passionnante, et ne nécessite pas
d'être particulièrement habile de ses mains, mais il faut
savoir prendre son temps, et comprendre ce que l'on fait. Le manuel
est une aide très précieuse, qu'il ne faut toutefois pas
suivre "bêtement" : il faut comprendre à chaque
étape à quoi vont servir les différents éléments
que l'on met en place, et comment vont s'agencer les éléments
ultérieurs.
J'ai été agréablement surpris par la qualité
des usinages. Les pièces s'assemblent parfaitement, sans effort.
La construction du cadre principal est très rapide, les choses
se corsent un peu à la mise en place du carénage proprement
dit. L'ensemble est d'une qualité exceptionnelle, tant au niveau
des choix des matériaux et des composants qu'au niveau des détails
de conception du kit lui-même.
C'est le seul vélomobile existant que l'on puisse construire
entièrement soi-même, ce qui offre l'énorme avantage
de pouvoir apporter des modifications dans le plan de montage pour ajouter
ses propres fonctionnalités. Personnellement j'ai opté
pour un siège enfant intégré au vélomobile
à l'arrière, pour pouvoir emmener mon fils à l'école,
et une légère extension de la partie arrière pour
des raisons esthétiques et pratiques.
Je
l'ai également peint, mais c'est vraiment une opération
délicate à mener pour obtenir un bon résultat sur
de l'aluminium. Si j'avais su ce que cela me coûterait en temps
et en effort, je ne suis pas sûr que j'aurais fait ce choix. Mais
maintenant que c'est fait, je ne regrette pas de l'avoir fait.
Les premiers tours de roues dans le vélomobile qu'on vient de
construire est forcément une expérience excitante. On
se sent tout de suite bien installé dans son "cockpit",
le siège est très confortable, et la position facilement
réglable. Il se conduit très intuitivement.
L'engin est stable à très basse vitesse comme à
haute vitesse. La direction est précise, et très directe.
A plat sur ses trois roues le KV4 se fait chahuter sur mauvais revêtements,
mais le confort reste bon grace aux suspensions. Attention aux bosses
toutefois, le vélomobile pourrait se retourner plus facilement
qu'il n'y parait lorsqu'une des roues avants rencontre une bosse importante
à trop grande vitesse.
Pour la plupart des acheteurs, un vélomobile est un engin destiné
à être utilisé quotidiennement, et cela nécessite
un équipement qui n'est pas fourni d'origine : un éclairage
puissant à l'avant, du matériel rétroréfléchissant
abondant et de qualité, un casque, et aussi un compteur de vitesse,
un antivol en U, un klaxon puissant à air comprimé pour
se signaler auprès des automobiles, des pédales automatiques
particulièrement utiles sur un vélomobile, etc. Quelques
coûts supplémentaires sont donc à prévoir.
Globalement
c'est un vrai bonheur pour moi d'utiliser quotidiennement un véhicule
que j'ai construit moi-même et que je connais par coeur. Je souhaite
ce même bonheur à tous les futurs constructeurs de ce kit.
guilhem.valentin@#no-spam# free.fr
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In English :
I received the kit at the end of October, 2006. I worked on it during
my week-ends, 4 or 5 hours each day. It
took about 1 mouth to build the velomobile, and then 1 more month to
do research and to paint the velomobile. I could ride it the first time
at the beginning of January.
Building the kit is really exciting, and it does not need special manual
skills, but one has to take its time and understand what he does.
The manual is quite useful, but it should not be followed "stupidly"
: one should understand at each step what the currently built elements
are meant to, and how the following elements will integrate with those
elements.
I
was surprised by the very good quality of the fabrication. The parts
fit together perfectly without effort. The main frame is really quickly
built, things get trickier when building the fairing itself. The quality
of the whole kit is outstanding, in what concerns the choice of the
materials and components as well as the details of the design.
That is the only existing velomobile that can be entirely build by the
buyer, what has the big advantage of allowing any personal modification
to add custom functionalities. I personaly chose to add a rear child
seat, to bring my son to school. I also added a slight extension to
the rear, for esthetical and practical reasons.
I
also painted the velomobile, but that is a very tricky job to obtain
a good result on aluminium. If I had known how much time and effort
it would cost me, I would certainly not have chosen to paint it. But
that is not a choice I regret now.
The first ride in the newly built velomobile is a trilling experience.
I immediately felt at ease in the "cockpit", the seat is very
confortable, and the position is easily adjustable. The velomobile can
be riden very intuitively.
The vehicle is stable at very low speed as well as at high speed. The
steering is precise, and very straightforward. On its three wheels,
the KV4 is shaked on bad surfaces, but the comfort remains good thanks
to the suspensions. Be careful on the bumps however, the velomobile
could roll over more easily than it seems when one of the front wheels
encounter a serious bump at a high speed.
For most buyers, a velomobile is a vehicle intended to be used every
day, and that requires a special equipment that is not provided with
the kit : a powerfull front lighting, some abundant reflective material
of good quality, a helmet, and also a bike speedometer, a U anti-theft
device, a powerfull compressed air horn to distinguish oneself in the
car traffic, automatic pedals (particularly useful in a velomobile),
etc. Thus some extra expenses are to be planned.
All
in all it is a great joy for me to daily use a vehicle that I build
myself and that I know by heart. I wish this same joy to all future
builders of this kit.
guilhem.valentin@#no-spam# free.fr
To protect our customers from Spam we have changed their e-mail address. Please remove the #no-spam# after the @ sing before sending the message.
Neville Whitlock
New Zealand
Hi Jurriaan - thank you for sending the KV4 kit (Order 6141, Chassis number 2008119). I completed the kit on Saturday 19 January - quite appropriate considering the chassis number. So far I have cycled around 50-60km.
The velomobile is wonderful - everything I had hoped for. It is comfortable, fast, and with plenty of space for luggage. We timed it against a friend's racing bike - it will reach 40 km/h in around 500 metres, before I had to brake at the end of the street. Later in the day I had to carry a vacuum cleaner and some other equipment - it all fitted inside the velomobile easily and I could still do 40 km/h in some places.
Most of my cycling friends have tried the velomobile and they are also impressed. I am trying to publicise the idea of velomobiles here in New Zealand - most people have never heard of them, but I hope to change that. I commute 13 km twice each day, so thousands of people (mostly in cars stuck in traffic) will see it. We also have "Bike Wise Week" at the end of February, and the velomobile is going to be featured on the website of our Ministry for the Environment.
I also showed the staff at my local bike shop. One of them used to be an aircraft mechanic, and he told me that it is very important to clean any pencil marks off the aluminium as soon as possible after assembly. This is because the graphite in the pencil reacts electrostatically with the aluminium, and the aluminium will corrode very quickly if the pencil remains there. You might want to add this warning to your assembly instructions, or possibly tell people to use a felt tip pen rather than a pencil?
I have some photos still being developed from a film (old technology) - I will send copies as soon as they are printed. (Some are on the film that's still in the camera.)
Thank you for supplying such a fine product. I wish you every success with your business.
Kind regards
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