WAW and Mango coming to Finland

[Pieter]

Hi!

I apologise for writing in English, i moved to Finland recently and don't speak Finnish yet. Which is a pity, as there seems to be plenty of interesting information here. During the past year i got very enthusiastic about velomobiles, and decided to start up a small company to import them to Finland. I have so far an agreement for importing the WAW and Mango to start with. My first WAW (with electric uphill assistance) should arrive next week, while the Mango is for after midsummer. My main goal is to get as many people as possible on velomobiles (especially as alternative to cars for medium-distance commuters), and because i think the price is a problem for many people, i plan to cheaply lease/rent out velomobiles for long term, with financing coming from advertising.

So everyone welcome to test-ride the WAW and Mango+ in Tammisaari! I also plan to visit some cities (Helsinki, Turku, Oulu, ...) where people can test-ride those velomobiles. Please let me know by PM or email if you want to be updated about those visits. More information on http://www.velocraft.fi .

Kind regards,
Pieter

[PW]

Very intresting idea ! I just wrote few days ago about this kind of idea here in this forum. I found from Norway company which had same kind of system.
So if I unterstood right you are searching people who want to ride your velomobiles. So there will be opportunity to be almost professional velomobist.

Petri

[Pieter]

That's right, i've been even been in touch with Anders from Norway. It will be interesting to see how it will evolve there, as well. I'm convinced that many velomobiles riding around in Norway are a consequence of Anders' enthusiasm!

In Holland, by far most velomobile users are daily commuters, for distances of between 10 and 40 km one way (a VM shop owner told me), and this seems to me also the most logical way to use these vehicles. But anyone who is planning to make intensive use of a velomobile around a city can contact me for cheap velomobile leasing, then we can see what the possibilities are!

For promoting the velomobile in Finland, i'm also looking for two people (or one) interested in making a long-distance tour through Finland (route can be chosen freely), during summer or any time. There are some conditions (as it's supposed to be a 'promo-tour'), but they are reasonable in my opinion and it's a good occasion to thoroughly test two different velomobiles for free!

[Wacky]

I'd definately be interested to test a velomobile just to see how fast they really are.

[TMS]

I also think that this is a very interesting idea. I read the leasing conditions and one thing came to my mind: should one drive at least four days a week (twice a day) also in winter time? I'm afraid that it is't very realistic presumption. I'm quite sure that there will be plenty of days in winter when velomobile just won't go forward because of snow and lack of traction in back tire .

[Pieter]

@ Wacky: The e-Waw should arrive by the end of next week, then it's only a matter of coming here to test it! Or, i will probably also soon visit Helsinki with it, that could be easier for you.

@ TMS: That is a good question. In reality it works so that we discuss with the 'leasing candidate' how much they think they will drive, both for daily commuting and in weekends (the more the better), and how much someone is motivated to try to make it through the winter months. Of course it is true that sometimes it will just be impossible to drive the velomobile, but something is also dependent on own motivation. Then we have some idea about what we can 'promise' to advertising companies. The conditions are written there to make clear that we are looking for motivated drivers who are not planning to leave the velomobile in the garage from October until March. They're not for scaring people!

[Wacky]

@ Wacky: The e-Waw should arrive by the end of next week, then it's only a matter of coming here to test it! Or, i will probably also soon visit Helsinki with it, that could be easier for you.

@ TMS: That is a good question. In reality it works so that we discuss with the 'leasing candidate' how much they think they will drive, both for daily commuting and in weekends (the more the better), and how much someone is motivated to try to make it through the winter months. Of course it is true that sometimes it will just be impossible to drive the velomobile, but something is also dependent on own motivation. Then we have some idea about what we can 'promise' to advertising companies. The conditions are written there to make clear that we are looking for motivated drivers who are not planning to leave the velomobile in the garage from October until March. They're not for scaring people!

I'll probably have to wait for you to make a visit and hope I'm not working then.

Winter riding with a velomobile will be difficult if there is a lot of snow and dangerous if you can't fit studded tires. Getting the needed traction will be the big problem if it's a snowy winter. The extra weight of the velomobile will help on ice, but it will also be a big problem when the snow isn't hard packed as the velomobile will just sink into the snow too much. I don't know how much ground clearance these velomobiles have, but getting snow inside from the holes in the bottom will probably also be a problem.
I used my azub bufo for all but 185 km last winter (total 1900 km) and a handful of days when I just had to take the metro. Most of the time it was quite a battle to stay up right as you couldn't get enough speed, which wont be a problem with the velomobiles as you can't fall over as slow speed, but pushing three wheels through snow is a lot harder than, two in a row.

[leppis]

Hi Pieter,
I is that your yellow WAW in the parkinplace front of tammisaari´s school (Novia?)
if so, i´m wery interested to try it some day if its possible.
i´m living near by Tammisaari , so i´m almoust daily there

[Ralii]

Ill be also interested in testdriving your velomobile in Helsinki. We could try to reach more people for testdriving the velomobile and arrange suitable day for everyone.
I personally like your idea and consept very much eventho i have no idea of the potential about velomobiles working as a marketing plathform. I hope you will succeed!

[Pieter]

Hi Pieter,
I is that your yellow WAW in the parkinplace front of tammisaari´s school (Novia?)
if so, i´m wery interested to try it some day if its possible.
i´m living near by Tammisaari , so i´m almoust daily there

Funny that someone on the forum here is at the same school. Surely you should try the Waw some day soon! You can find my contact details on my website and i'll try to find out if this forum has some PM possibilities.

[Pieter]

Ill be also interested in testdriving your velomobile in Helsinki. We could try to reach more people for testdriving the velomobile and arrange suitable day for everyone.
I personally like your idea and consept very much eventho i have no idea of the potential about velomobiles working as a marketing plathform. I hope you will succeed!

Thanks Ralii. The whole undertaking feels indeed like an experiment. We'll see how it turns out.

How about joining Kriittinen Pyörämatkaretki in Helsinki (that would be 12th of June, i think), and doing some test-riding before or after that? Other dates are also possible, but it would be good if you're at least some 3 people that could sign up for the same afternoon or evening or so.

I haven't managed to join KP in Helsinki yet, but i'm looking forward to see how it is up here.

[PW]

PM is in finnish YV (Yksityis viesti) you can find it from small box , right side of message hope you understood.

petri

[PW]

Ligfiets.netissä vinkkiä/linkkiä Velocraft.fi sivustoille ja varsinkin tuosta Suomen halki ajosta: http://www.ligfiets.net/news/4225/vrijd ... ht-32.html

Petri

[PW]

Velocraftin sivuilla maininta ett velomobiili malleja olis tullut/tulossa lisää Tammisaareen - Quest ja Strada.

Petri

[TMS]

Tämähän on hienoa, pitäisköhän vuokrata Questi Nokialle .

Lisäksi huomasin että Velomobiel.nl sivuilla olevassa tilauskannassa oli kaksi suomalaista tilausta. Normi Questin oli tilannut Antti Pietiläinen Helsingistä ja sitten se tuoreen punaisen Questin kanssa HBL:ssä ja Tekniikka&Taloudessa ollut Pietarsaaren kaverin oli tilannut Quest XS:n. Oliskohan vaimokin innostunut asiasta