late love ....
It surely was not love at first sight when it comes to the Alleweder. I remember that about 12 years ago, a friend of mine and me drove all the way to Dronten in the Netherlands to test ride a Alleweder. We had rented one for half a day and brought our own set of SPD-pedals. We also brought one mountainbike, so that we could ride together, taking turns. We drove around for a couple of hours, tried all kinds of surfaces and looked for slopes (which was not so easy in the flat Dutch polders), but neither one of us got a good feeling about the Alleweder. We both agreed that it was way too heavy, we did not like the seat at all and it was too expensive. When we drove back home, we both agreed : we did not like the Alleweder.
It took more than 10 years before I got interested in velomobiles again. I had my own recumbent by that time, a Greenspeed trike, which I enjoyed mainly because of its' comfort (I've never been a racer -and never will be). I'm also a good weather biker, meaning I'd like to ride as often as possible, as long as it does not rain ! I do not mind wind and cold, but I hate rain ! I always used my bike to go to work and because of some reorganizations there and because I moved to another place, I started to look for a more comfortable bike to commute. My main goal was comfort, so I did not want a hard shell seat, I did want suspended wheels and price was also an issue. Together with that same friend, we discussed and compared all the available velomobiles at that time. After considering all the cons and pros, we decided to go for a second hand Alleweder. The main reasons for this choice were (and still are) : the aluminum body is easy to work on and with and because of the price. Because I did not like the looks of the Verhees Alleweder, I started looking for a Flevobike Alleweder.
On the Dutch Recumbent site www.ligfietsplaza.net I found a second hand Alleweder for sale. The add showed some nice pictures, it seemed to be in a pretty good shape and price was more or less right (1200 euro's) . So it was all the way to the Flevopolder again to buy it after a brief inspection. After I bought it, I brought it to the producers of the Quest and the Mango (velomobiel.nl) for an overall check-up and some minor changes.
I've been riding my Alleweder for more than 2 years now and I really like it ! I cannot exactly explain why I did not like it 12 years ago and I'm very enthusiastic about it now. It is still heavy (weight comes close to 40 kg) and the model is the same after all these years, but still ....
I have 8 bicycles in my garage, but the Alleweder has the biggest milage of them all.
Definitely a late love !
It took more than 10 years before I got interested in velomobiles again. I had my own recumbent by that time, a Greenspeed trike, which I enjoyed mainly because of its' comfort (I've never been a racer -and never will be). I'm also a good weather biker, meaning I'd like to ride as often as possible, as long as it does not rain ! I do not mind wind and cold, but I hate rain ! I always used my bike to go to work and because of some reorganizations there and because I moved to another place, I started to look for a more comfortable bike to commute. My main goal was comfort, so I did not want a hard shell seat, I did want suspended wheels and price was also an issue. Together with that same friend, we discussed and compared all the available velomobiles at that time. After considering all the cons and pros, we decided to go for a second hand Alleweder. The main reasons for this choice were (and still are) : the aluminum body is easy to work on and with and because of the price. Because I did not like the looks of the Verhees Alleweder, I started looking for a Flevobike Alleweder.
On the Dutch Recumbent site www.ligfietsplaza.net I found a second hand Alleweder for sale. The add showed some nice pictures, it seemed to be in a pretty good shape and price was more or less right (1200 euro's) . So it was all the way to the Flevopolder again to buy it after a brief inspection. After I bought it, I brought it to the producers of the Quest and the Mango (velomobiel.nl) for an overall check-up and some minor changes.
I've been riding my Alleweder for more than 2 years now and I really like it ! I cannot exactly explain why I did not like it 12 years ago and I'm very enthusiastic about it now. It is still heavy (weight comes close to 40 kg) and the model is the same after all these years, but still ....
I have 8 bicycles in my garage, but the Alleweder has the biggest milage of them all.
Definitely a late love !
posted by allewedertje at 11:27 AM
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