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SPEZI 2006 report
Just back from the Special Bike Show in Germany - here's the hot news and first pictures...
Another great show at the eleventh SPEZI: three halls packed with interesting exhibitors, all sorts of outside attractions plus talks, family amusements, great weather and a plentiful and enthusisastic crowd of visitors.
I'll leave the detailed reports about individual exhibitors for the report coming up in Issue 22 but here for now is a glimpse of some of the SPEZI outdoors, with a few product highlights thrown in as well. So in no particular order:
Last year there was the pedal-powered chain saw: this year it was the human-powerd fountain. An attraction you can rent out for events, it's run by H2 Unleaded from Austria. Even a child's pedalling would get a really good water jet going, and there was a constant queue waiting to have a go:
Another attraction was the monocycle - not the easiest thing to control, but its pilot managed to weave through the crowds with some aplomb:
Schmidt Hub Dynamos, makers of what is generally agreed to be the best hub dynamos around, had developed a new version for recumbent trike front wheels, with the axle supported one side only. Still in the development stages, it was certainly attracting interest from the various manufacturers. Here Chris Parker of ICE takes a look. Among the issues to be resolved before it becomes widely available is the matter of standardising the mounting: each manufacturer has a different axle system. So don't go bothering your trike maker about it just yet - we'll report on progress in due course.
Talking of trikes, an interesting new development is expected later this year in the recumbent trike market - but no more can be revealed just now...
One family arrived in style with the Danish Kangaroo trike plus trailer:
As usual the SPEZI had a busy, well-organised test track for visitors to try out the bikes:
There were a number of items of historical interest: this French gentleman was riding what appeared to be a Velocar (the early recumbent, whose racing history was featured in VV21) although he said it was German, not French, and dated it to 1936. He rides it 'on special occasions' but fairly regularly.
Velo Vision's distributor in the German-speaking countries, Kalle Kalkhoff, was there with his Pedersen bicycles, and alongside the modern Danish versions he sells, had an original Dursley Pedersen along too. My picture of the whole bike wasn't much good, but here's a view for hub gear fans of the rear hub internals:
KMX Karts had brought along some jumps which really didn't look like the sort of thing you'd ride a trike over. But KMX's Glenn shows us how it's done:
And this year saw the biggest Trike Race yet. Set on the Saturday evening, it saw 63 competitors racing over a very impressive track constructed by Hase Bikes and HP Velotechnik, with corner banking, a start-finish ramp, plus plenty of jumps and straw bale chicanes. The two sponsoring companies had made available Kettwiesel and Scorpion trikes respectively to those without their own trikes (or unwilling to risk it!) but there were also participants on KMX, Stein trikes, the Tripendo, Catrike and no doubt more I missed. Winner was Bram of Agence Future riding a borrowed Scorpion.
Thanks as ever to the organisers, Hardy and Wolfgang of Germersheim's bike shop Haasies Radschlag, and for all who helped make it such a special event.
Posted on 2 May 2006
Your comments ...| From: Mike Armitage (marmit3759@aol.com) on 2 August 2006 |
| Every year I think of going to Spezi and always kick myself when I see Peter's revue of what I missed! |
| From: Andy Sutty (NoSpamPlease...I'mBritish!) on 2 August 2006 |
The Schmidt Trike Dynamo seems intriguing, but surely the small amount of drag on one of the front wheels would cause a slight veering action to one side or the other? That is unless you are meant to use them in pairs?
Andy
P.S. I can't wait to find out about the new trike development... Maybe a full fairing from a major trike manufacturer? |
| From: Arch (@km) on 2 August 2006 |
oooh, I'd like a go on the monocycle - assuming I could ever master it... But I might give KMX jumping a miss...
|
| From: Luke Hayes (littlelerch@msn.com) on 2 August 2006 |
| If the trike dynamo was put on the right hand side of the trike, then the drag might compensate for the left hand road camber on UK roads |
| From: Luke Hayes (Littlelerch@msn.com) on 2 August 2006 |
| Another thought. Why dont they develop a rear wheel dynamo? That would solve any problems regarding wheel mountings as well as offset drag and braking issues. |
| From: Steve Nurse (cesnur@iimetro.com.au) on 2 August 2006 |
In 2004 I went to Spezi and it was great. It is said that if you sit outside the Spezi Halls for long enough, the whole of the cycling world will pass before your eyes, this year seems to be no exception. More photos are at http://www.oche.de/~luftschwimmer/jpeg/spezi06/index.htm
Regards
Steve Nurse |
| From: Peter Eland (@velovision etc) on 2 August 2006 |
I asked about a rear dynamo and he said they'd considered it but decided to go with the front one because it's simpler/cheaper and also doesn't prevent the use of hub gears, specifically the Rohloff hub which is quite a popular option for Germany.
Doubt the one-sided resistance will have a noticeable effect on handling, but that'll be one of the things they'll be testing.
|
| From: Ian Fardoe (@bentrider) on 2 August 2006 |
Tease!
>>>Talking of trikes, an interesting new development is expected later this year in the recumbent trike market - but no more can be revealed just now...<<'mon spill the beans, shush no one will tell. :) |
| From: Matt (sigstuff@sbcglobal.net) on 2 August 2006 |
Hopefully, the SON will be available next year! My Quest is scheduled for Aug 07, and adding one or two of these would be great for those all night rides.
Matt - Houston TX |
| From: Vulcan (vulcan751@comcast.net) on 2 August 2006 |
| Great Review! |
| From: Becky (@ the usual address) on 2 August 2006 |
> an interesting new development is expected later this year...
Well we can start guessing anyway! How about a full suspension carbon Windcheetah? Or maybe HPVelo is trying a front-wheel drive Scorpion? Or perhaps Mike Burrows has built a new trike, saying "All that single sided stuff? Nah, I've decided it's not that good after all." :-) |
| From: Rod H (a99miata@yahoo.com) on 2 August 2006 |
| maybe the monocycle and segway should get together. between the segway gyros and monocycle there could be a useful if not unusual bike on the rode. |
| From: Hanno (hanno.hirsch@hpv.org) on 2 August 2006 |
It was my eleventh visit to the SPEZI fair, except for the Schmidt Trike hub generator and the Zox all-wheel-drive recumbent there were no big surprises to me. I was a bit disappointed, maybe because the city of Germersheim seemed to me not very friendly to strangers, all restaurants were closed and our accomodation was cancelled and there was no replacement to be found. But meeting all the nice people, you only meet once a Year at the SPEZI, like Peter Eland ;-) was worth it anyway.
see my personal SPEZI report with more pix at:
http:/www.hpv.org/scene/karlsruhe/SPEZI06
|
| From: cogcontrol (cogcontrol@gmail.com) on 2 August 2006 |
The drag on Schmidt is so low it will not be noticable on one of the front wheels of a trike.
CC |
| From: John Turvey (johnturvey@onetel.com) on 2 August 2006 |
| Rear wheel dynamoes are old hat - my first bike - back in 1959 - had a Sturmey Archer rear hub which incorperated a dynamoe as well as a 3-speed hub gear - mind, the dynamoe was not as efficient as the Schmit - though if S-A could do it, others should be able to. |
| From: Frederico Bruno (fbruno69@gmail.com) on 2 August 2006 |
I was there also.
Great weekend.
You can see may photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fbruno69/sets/72057594125705469/ |
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