Can somebody tell me why alternative solutions always have to be so incredibly expensive? Is it gov’t regulations? Greed? Lack of business sense? I am truly perplexed!

Us po’ folken want to be green too!

Also, I would love to incorporate a solar battery for a radio, or even heat if possible.

If I could get all that for about 7K, and ditch my gas-guzzling truck, I’d do it in a second.

I am NO expert but I have been around long enough to see similar products like the old PPV come and go without really growing beyond the tourist/rental market. Even then the cost was prohibitive for extended use beyond that. I also fall into that group which would love a viable alternative to what we have. The other factor that needs to be looked at is convenience , as a whole the American populace due to laziness, work ethic and focus on the almighty dollar needs a fast convenient way to get to work that does not ADD time to their day, conversely it needs something that provide sthem with more time with the least amount of hassle, ie: having to change clothes because they got wet /sweaty/dirty.
I love the product and if I have enough of the almighty dollar when I get done with this deployment I will likely look into purchasing one…but then, I live in the country and have wide open roads….

Two of the things I like about riding my bike to work every day are:

– The wind rushing past me keeps me cooler than i would be if I was doing any other type of exercise;
– I can see above the traffic around me – allowing me to see further and see any approaching vehicles or obstacles sooner.

With regards to the weather – I take a change of clothes to work so it doesn’t matter if I get wet in the rain. And with regards to the comments about fast-moving traffic being dangerous – I take the back streets, often moving faster than the motorised traffic.

Consider this: if there were only velomobiles on the roads, hardly any protection would be needed. Why is more protection desired? Because the roads carry poorly-controlled vehicles of high kinetic energy. Why high kinetic energy? High weight. Why high weight? Crashworthiness. It’s like an arms race, leading to highly protected drivers who subconsciously allow themselves to be inattentive because of the low personal risk of injury.

It may sound peverse, but until we *reduce* the crashworthiness of motor vehicles, we won’t improve the safety of velomobilists (or cyclists or pedestrians).

In My country (Indonesia), I ever look a university had made competition for this manpower car (it’s called boxsoap), but I think participants of this competition didn’t have a research about aerodynamic side of their boxsoaps

A recumbent style of cycle like the GoblinAero typically affords the rider more safety than a rider of a standard bike due to it appearing unusual to drivers of cars. When I commute with the GoblinAero’s motorized trike chassis, I am typically given about 5 feet of clearance by car drivers as they stare at me.

It is easy to park anywhere you would park a standard bicycle, at bike racks, etc. It is easy to pass a heavy duty cable through the chassis and a security post. It is also easy to take the GoblinAero through a doorway. It fits through all standard door sizes.

Best regards,

Jeff Bales
GoblinMotors.com