November 25, 2006
Human Powered Merry Go Round in Action
Courtesy Cyclecide, the San Francisco based Heavy Pedal Bike Rodeo
November 23, 2006
The Man who has Pedaled the Most Miles
In case you missed it, this is the classic story of Freddie Hoffman, the man who likely has more miles in his legs that any man on the planet:
November 10, 2006
Pedaling for Water
A classic story relayed to us many month ago by Fred Sissinne, the former Mayor of Mount Rainier, MD, next to Washington DC, where we staged Cycle America 2000. This is the tale of a well in the Dominican Republic that serves the drinking water needs of a community made up of 400 people. It draws its water from the ground with the energy of a person pedaling a stationary bike.
November 05, 2006
Bents in Pakistan
A group of engineers who recently graduated from Pakistan's top top engineering university GIKI (
For immediate release
Contact: Aarish@gmail.com, Shekhani@gmail.com
11-05-06
The Mantis is a custom designed and built long wheelbase recumbent bicycle. Each one is first designed in 3 dimensions using computer aided design tools for its individual user with a small range available to adjust for comfort, and is hand manufactured from the ground up by our experienced staff of Mechanical Engineers and skilled technicians to have a zero tolerance for errors.
Designed to be a versatile, ergonomic and robust bicycle The Mantis can do it all and look stunning all the while. The front and rear suspension in tandem with the hand tailored high density foam and polyester seat provide a comfortable ride through even the most ambitious of potholes. The wide mountain bike tires, long wheel base and low center of gravity provide rock solid stability even when pedaling hard into corners. The low profile and the specially added on wheel fairings provide an enhanced aerodynamic performance. The finishing on the bicycle was done using paint and heat treatment techniques normally only used on production motor vehicles.
A large amount of space is available for carrying luggage ( requires carriers, not shown in pictures) and the wide rear triangles serve the dual purpose of providing safety in case of crashes and providing a convenient mount for a rear fairing ( not pictured here, requires fairing mount add on ).
The bicycle itself has been designed for being robust and resists wear, tear and the elements. With the frame pipe bent to provide an efficient stress distribution and an out of the box design strategy to house the seat and steering without drilling or cutting through the frame pipe there is negligible frame flex and risk of frame failure. The strong and safe frame is a careful compromise between safety and weight, and The Mantis is slightly on the heavier side, but the ergonomic working angle and gearing more than makes amends for the few extra pounds.
What makes The Mantis truly versatile is the drive train. With 105 combinations to choose from and ratios ranging from 32.2 to an immense 199 gear inches the performance is purely spectacular; a comfortable cadence is available for any speed, ratios for tackling small hills to even medium sized hills are at the rider’s disposal and the mechanical disc brakes provide stopping power at high speeds. High strength motorcycle wires are used throughout to provide high reliability and response. All these factors combined create a safe, pleasurable and fast riding experience.
Shown in pictures here are The Red Mantis and The Blue Mantis, both unique vehicles with distinct riding characteristics. Different working angles, rear triangles, mainframes, handlebars, etc, create both an aesthetic and a functional variation in both machines that makes them the same yet different, not unlike snowflakes.
The Mantis is a KB Velo product. We provide custom made recumbent human powered vehicles designed by accredited mechanical and metallurgical engineers using cutting edge technology. It is currently in a pre market launch design phase, it has been passed by the design and manufacture teams and is currently being further optimized for maximum comfort and performance by our crew of experienced recumbent riders. We invite comments and queries about this product from the worldwide recumbent community (Aarish@gmail.com, Shekhani@gmail.com). Local market research has given us opinions such as “It’s addictive”, “Its not like the mass produced cold models, it has character”, “There’s a ‘zzing’ to it”; these are, however, views of individuals who had never previously seen or rode a recumbent until they were given a ride on The Mantis. Individuals having never ridden recumbents before were able to ride her easily with a learning curve lasting at minimum to being able to ride it immediately and at maximum spending five minutes trying before succeeding.
Also here are some specifications of The Red Mantis and The Blue Mantis. The ex-works price, subject to change, of The Mantis is US $400. Lower price models without the luxuries of suspension, disc brakes, etc, are also available. For more information feel free to contact us via email: Aarish@gmail.com, Shekhani@gmail.com.
Rob Thomson's Japan to London Bent Trip
Rob Thomson is in Turkey just beyond the half way point of his bent journey from Japan to London. His 9300 mile ride started on 7/17/06 and he expects to be done in March of 07. While a lions share of his ride to date has been on board a train across China, he's averaging 60 miles a day on the roads of Eastern Europe where few people have seen a recumbent bicycle and the challenge is just getting thru the bureaucracy of just being allowed to to ride in such territory.
Do be sure to get to his web. There are videos there and a blog that you can use to send him a note of encouragement. It is well thought out and extremely well done: