My wife and I have had a recumbent tricycle for a few years now and she's been enjoying riding it. This year we decided we wanted a second one so that we could go out riding together. The only issue with that is that it was going to eat up my CH-750 budget for the year. As a result I put my foot down (didn't really take any convincing, she's a great wife) and said rather than another trike I want to build a velomobile.
Now what's a velomobile, you might ask. It's an enclosed, aerodynamic tricycle. The newer ones tend to be built from composites, but the one I bought (FAW+, based on the Dutch Alleweder A2) is an older, cheaper design that is built from typical aircraft sheet metal construction. You can either purchase it in kit form or pre-built. I opted to go for the kit-build since it is cheaper and gives me more experience with sheet metal construction before I build my airplane.
I know there's at least one other velomobilist on this forum. Between that and it being made from standard aircraft construction techniques, I figured there may be some interest on here for a build thread. So without further rambling to the photos:
The Fedex truck making the delivery:
Opening the box:
The larger components:
All the little guys:
Now what's a velomobile, you might ask. It's an enclosed, aerodynamic tricycle. The newer ones tend to be built from composites, but the one I bought (FAW+, based on the Dutch Alleweder A2) is an older, cheaper design that is built from typical aircraft sheet metal construction. You can either purchase it in kit form or pre-built. I opted to go for the kit-build since it is cheaper and gives me more experience with sheet metal construction before I build my airplane.
I know there's at least one other velomobilist on this forum. Between that and it being made from standard aircraft construction techniques, I figured there may be some interest on here for a build thread. So without further rambling to the photos:
The Fedex truck making the delivery:
Opening the box:
The larger components:
All the little guys: