What do our customers think?
All our customers can send in their story by e-mail.
How was the actual assembling, how they like the bike and more. We will put their stories uncensored on these pages.
So: Negative AND Positive
The only restriction is content of a political, racist, pornographic or insulting nature will be refused. A photo can be sent along and will be shown as well.
If the customer desires, we will not show his email address
KV4 Customers
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.
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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/
Here is my story about building and riding the KV4
To the English version
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 Vlentine
(France)
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
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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
Neville Whitlock