The RAIN ride occurs mid-July every year and runs 160 mile (162 this year, due to construction) from Terre Haute, on Indiana’s western border, to Richmond, on the eastern border. This was my first RAIN and I trained hard (and wrong). Central Indiana, you see, is where the glaciers stopped. Imagine a wrinkled shirt, half-ironed….
Let’s talk tires and tubes
The Bülk came, from the factory, with Schwalbe One tires up front, with butyl tubes and a tubeless Conti Grand Prix 5000 on the back. I wanted something faster for the time trial on the Indianapolis 500 racetrack, so I made two changes. I went with GreenSpeed Scorchers and RevoLoop Ultra tubes. Most people are…
Indianapolis 500 (well, 6)
A couple of weeks ago I participated in the Indianapolis Corporate Challenge, a sports competition pitting employees of different local companies against each other. I won’t tell you who sponsored it or who ran it, for reasons that will become obvious. The event started with a Cycling Time Trial on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A…
A video tour of the Bülk configuration
See it on my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nni24dNOIjE. It’s too long to post here.
Velo video
A couple of videos from the commute. The first camera is really old and just 640×480: https://youtu.be/_75_Xej3tQc. here’s a view looking backward, with the camera from the Garmin Varia 710 -https://youtu.be/sN28E970uTw
Fast? Faster!
How fast it the Bülk? I have no idea. I’m still getting the positioning dialed in, and I’m still recovering from a second bout of COVID, disgustingly productive cough and all. So I’m not pushing the bike hard. I’m just riding it. In the last two days I did three rides. The first was a…
14.8v Battery Install
The Bülk is wired for 14.8v. Many people are using a readily available 12v battery without problems (see below), but if you ordered a Bülk with the SL AX Lupine light, most recommend sticking with a 14v system. In my new Bülk I chose to use a 14.8v battery made for RC cars. I did…
Bülk Lighting
Lighting is hugely important on a bike as low and fast as a velomobile. In the Bülk I added the lighting pod above the turtle deck for improved visibility, both for myself (an additional headlight) and others (higher lights and more blinking). In the picture you can see the additional lighting pod. That’s followed by…
The Bülk Interior
It’s obvious Velomobile World paid as much attention to the interior of the Bülk as they did the exterior. Everything is clean and neat. This particular Bülk has front storage, in addition to the standard storage shelf in the back on the right, and the big storage space on the left. The electrical panel is…
Size Matters
How big is a velomobile? Not very big. Even a big one is small and low to the ground. Here are a few pictures for size comparison and entry size. The Borealis V3 is big, for a velo it’s huge. It’s a great grocery carrier and incredibly easy to get in or out of. The…
