Can the Bülk Climb?

I tried to find some hills to test how well the Bülk velomobile can climb. Though my gearing is optimized for flat roads. Finally I tested how the Bülk can handle some gravel roads.
The Bülk velomobile is provided for testing by Jan & the team from Velomobile World.
www.velomobileworld.com/produ...
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#saukki #velomobile #buelk

[@Jeremy-ff3jm]

I don’t understand how your channel isn’t more popular

[@andy-the-gardener]

er, its about velomobiles lol

[@Sekir80]

Niche stuff.

[@kirkjones9639]

I had to do some tweaking to make it work, but I managed to put a 10X54 cassette on the rear. I have 5% to 22% grades to get up. You have the best videos!

[@654789qwe]

A bit late for a reply, but what chain ring size(s) do you use? I got a recumbent and I’d love for hills to be easier lol. Currently got a 50/34 with 11-32

[@kirkjones9639]

@@654789qwe For running errands I use a 67/44, when touring I have a FSA road triple with 73/50/30. A 250W mid drive kicker allows me to cheat on the hills.

[@LeesChannel]

Oh my goodness, when I lived in San Francisco I used to dream of these kind of inclines. Doing bicycle deliveries up 30%+ hills all day was one of the hardest things I have ever done.

[@TommiNummelin]

A year ago, I moved to a region in Finland just as flat as Saukki's. I already have one derailleur that's gone really stiff due to lack of use.😂

[@larsbee]

I lived in sf on knob hill... I'm riding a quatrevelo now and without the extra mountain gears I would not have been able to reach my place up there. I live in the flats of northern Germany now but some of the hills here r mean 😂 especially your combined weight is about 300lbs ...

[@larsbee]

​@@TommiNummelinI think I move to Finland soon

[@mnveloguy]

My chain drags on my front derailleur with my granny gear also. I talked with Jan about making the option in the future to mount the idler by the seat like the Quest so shorter riders won’t have the chain rub in granny gear. The idler is mounted in front of the bridge so the chain doesn’t rub on the leg for riders with big legs.

[@froggomobile]

Argh... can't listen to that noise.... sounds so bad and familiar. Required a cable tie to pull the chain a bit to the boom and a spacer between both chainrings to make it go away.

[@zenpharaohs]

I have to say I have wanted a Velo for a long time but I am afraid to ride one in my area. A lot of steep, some quite unhappy gravel (which I can usually avoid) and the thing I really worry about is since nobody rides a velo for many miles around here, none of the car drivers would know how to behave. So I'm really glad you made a few of your videos. They convince me that my two wheel (unfaired) recumbents are much more useful where I ride. Especially the part about your velo topping out at 87 kph. I've done 84kph on my upright. I don't even know what top speed in descent on my recumbents is (although I know it's faster than 84kph but I promised my wife to stay under 75 kph at all times now. One hill around here will accelerate my Longbikes Slipstream to 75 kph in under ten seconds. All my bikes have disc brakes. This is HUGE for staying under 75 kph. I think I am finally convinced that velos are not for me.

[@jornpaulini3920]

You have a great humour, made me laugh at the losing the camera moment 😂

[@tri-seeker2753]

Hills...🤣 Dude, you really got me there 😀

[@TheVelomobileChannel]

I knew people would say that 😂

[@tri-seeker2753]

@@TheVelomobileChannel Well, perhaps you actually "need" such "hills" to actually enjoy a velo... My chainring is 40t to take local uphills and yet sometimes i could use smaller. Not sure that huff'n puffing such gradient enclosed at that carbon coffin could be the greatest experience in ones life...

[@Rage_Rogers]

2:14 Another idea : put your turn lights on a horizontal bar, on your vehicle tail, a bar like 30cm wide and lights at each side of it. Then, the drivers would clearly see your intentions. Take care of you. Wish you all the best bro! 👌🏿

[@SledgeOfHouseHammer]

I was at the Pedal Point Rally in WI over the weekend and there were two Bülk velos there. I kinda want one.

[@Lufftschwimmer]

The seat angle on this velomobile is very flat ...I have a DF XL and it climbs very well...with 300wat and a system weight of (me and the bike etc) 120kg ...but everything over 8% is a eally adventure.

[@Kraeuterbutter]

i get a bit nervouse on climbes steeper than 15%... if then there happens something with the drive train, you can not stop... i was already on cinclines where both brakes blocking the frontwheels, not able to prevent the velomobil from sliding backwards if not hold with pressure on the pedals to the rear tire also: even when you manage to block both frontbrakes strong enough, its nearly impossible to leave the velomobil on such a hill you also can not go backwards and make a 90° turn, because it will immediatly fall to the side

[@Lufftschwimmer]

Try and Try ....you only can get bette...;-)) but in this times you can see on Google which roads are how steep !!

[@ArjenMeurs]

Not in Germany...@@Lufftschwimmer

[@leohorishny9561]

That’s actually a pretty clever, real world user feature, the lifted deck. In my geography if I had one, I’d use that position regularly and in fact, looking at it in the raised position, I would run alternating diagonal strips of red and white reflective tape…or yellow and black…so that I was that much more visible to overtaking traffic at a longer distance, day and night.🤔🤷🏼‍♂️ Weird? Maybe so, but to my mind, in traffic, weird looking means I’m noticed sooner.👍🏻

[@leohorishny9561]

In a velo, you already have inherent aerodynamic boost level or downhill, I’d pick a 34 or 36T rear option over the 63T front chainring.😉

[@ShinryuuTAS]

I've been looking at your videos for around a year or so. It's good to see how different velomobiles are made and what kind of issues different brands might have in them. Velomobiles have piqued my interest in recent months. I only have around one year of experience about recumbents and I ride a modded Velomotion stick at the moment. I remember talking to some recumbent group at Liminka a long time ago and one of those people had a velomobile. I believe that person with the velomobile was from Liminka where I also used to live in the past. Nowadays I reside in Oulainen. Anyway, keep up your good stuff!

[@VadimR4]

With a tail wind, can you use your hood as a sail?

[@TheVelomobileChannel]

Hmm, with strong wind it might work 🤔

[@patseize]

Magnifique routes bravo.

[@energyscholar]

My velomobile & I had no problems climbing steep hills. I also had huge legs and electric assist.

[@Kraeuterbutter]

what is your velomobile? with my evo-k i get problems at about 20%, loosing grip even on tarmac

[@energyscholar]

@@KraeuterbutterI built mine. Chassis is a LWB recumbent bicycle with a custom enclosure. Two wheels only. All wheel drive: front hub motorized & rear pedal-driven. Custom very-wide gearing. Zips up hills nicely. No regenerative braking. Aerodynamic cross section constant about 0.4. Top pedal-only speed about 60 kph. I've put about 160,000 km on this velomobile.

[@energyscholar]

@@Kraeuterbutter See answer below. It's a two-wheeled 90% enclosure head-out velomobile. All wheel drive makes it quite stable and able to get up very steep hills. Two wheels, so so I gear down and spin the peddles to move faster than stall speed.

[@theowink]

Had a one just like this. I sold it asap😂

[@mlee6050]

I looked at schlumpf more and felt disappointed, was dreaming of like 75T and what is max smallest gear on front and still get to use schlumpf for like when need drop into climbing gears on front and 11-32T on back

[@Beinhartwie1chopper]

Viking Power ❤

[@jirivrana3623]

Interesing problem but also one which dont really affect velomobils too much. One feet trail recumbents need some minimal speed just to keep balance so for me lowest climbing speed on my Azub is about 6-7km/h and i cant go for heavy gear because pushing pedals affect ballance while velomobile dont realy deal with this kind problem. Its stable and dont have to keep balance. In theori velo dont need too much light gears because climbs can be just force power grind but same time not every velonaut will have ennogh power to overcome hill without ennogh low gears so its hard discusion.

[@TheVelomobileChannel]

Good point 👍

[@Rage_Rogers]

Hello from Paris bro. I recommend you to put some strobe leds on your bullet, like airplanes have while taxiing and flying. Strobes light would make your more visible even if the others are distracted. What do you think about it? Take care of you and thanks a lot for your videos and experience sharing.🙏🏿

[@Bergwacht]

for that price it would be sad if it didn't climb the everest

[@mikewhite955]

Hey Saukki, can you make a Video about the Katanga VM45? ❤

[@leohorishny9561]

Watching the stretch of rough road at speed, I came away thinking a velo driver might benefit from a camera in front and a monitor in the cockpit showing a lower view of the road ahead.🤔

[@hilgo_velomobile]

Ah, youth! I'm at the age where a 5% grade has me outside pushing my Hilgo. And I'd have to bring along some spare underwear if I went 87 kph.

[@Addarraj]

What drone are you using?

[@TheVelomobileChannel]

Mavic Air ( the original one)

[@Kraeuterbutter]

haha.. i was wondering where you made that climbtest seeing the thumbnail... in reality this is mostly not climbable with a velomobile... at least: i have to fight against loosing grip on more than 20% with my evo-K (GP5000 at the rear) not enogh weight on the rear tyre

[@better.better]

why don't you find someone to 3D print an aero housing for your camera?

[@arnoldanderson1501]

Saukki, do you worry about high speeds with bicycle tires, or are they rated for high speeds?

[@TheVelomobileChannel]

I'm running similar tyres as pro cyclists use in races (Schwalbe One). They reach similar speeds with their upright bikes because how strong riders they are. So I'm not worried about my tires.

[@Kraeuterbutter]

the centri-pedal forces on a bicycle tire are tiny - so i would not worry at all about problems with speed

[@crimsonfox87fluxule62]

Yeah, if that thing can barely make it up a hill like that, then it would not survive around here, I live in Washington state around the Kitsap county area, and even around the city of Seattle where you would actually want to use this for a commute, if you don't want to stay by the water, you're going to be going up streets that are hard to walk up let alone bike. Is it normal or common for you to put a large battery or a powerful engine that could help you get up these hills when you would normally pedal otherwise? Like you pedal without electricity on flat ground and downhill but you only use the engine and electricity for more steep terrain.

[@runcycleskixc]

A 63T chainring is highly proper! Do you have a power meter in it, to post the %, Ws, and km/h in real time?

[@TheVelomobileChannel]

Yes I have. But for some reason I decided to not include the power & gps data on the video. That would have been interesting 🤔

[@davidwolfs9505]

if the wind comes from behind it would make sense :-)

[@Arbarano]

It's Bülk, not Bulk. Like Bylk in Finnish, AFAIK.

[@mlee6050]

Buelk as some put lol