W9S Velomobile: Tech Review Part 1

Описание: Edit: please mute the sound when it's distracting. So sorry, I forgot to do it in iMovie.
This is part one of my review of the W9S velomobile. This is a highly optimized and sophisticated machine, a lot of thought has gone into it. It happens to be the latest Series 9 velomobile designed by Daniel Fenn and probably benefits greatly from iterative improvements. I took delivery in April 2025 from Hanno at Pedalwirbel Witten, and rode it for about 500km in Germany. The idea was to test and debug the velomobile before shipping it back home. Just 500km, but to me Germany seems a wonderful place to ride, lots of hills and back roads. I felt riding is much safer in Germany than in Arizona. Driving skills are perhaps one reason, another is that cars are generally smaller than huge SUVs and pickup trucks we have. Third, I think drivers are generally much less angry and aggressive. The US is quite a high stress environment to live and work in. Anyway, this video documents the process I went through to dial in fit. Part two will be posted later and talk about how the W9S handles, how I sit in it and how well it rides compared to my other two velomobiles, the DF and the Snoek. 500km is enough I think to give me a good basis for reliable impressions. As I'm a bit mathematically inclined, formal testing will have to wait until I run all three machines round and round on the same course.