Hello, Jan here ...
We get often the question if we also make 2 seat velomobiles and I give every time the same answer, which takes me a lot of time, that's why I thought let's make an article about a 2 seater velomobile in order I can answer to this question with a link to this article.
Why we don't make 2 seat velomobiles
If you are standing in a traffic jam and you look to the left or to the right, you see that there is most of the times only 1 person in the car. But the car is fully equipped for 5 persons and this is not a problem because there is a powerful engine in the car. A car with 139 HP or 100KW is not a strong powered car anymore these days. The car engines became more powerful through the years, but our legs not. We have an output from 200W and if you compare this with the 100KW, what is 100.000W, this is 500x more power in a family car as we have in our legs. Because most of the time we use our vehicle alone, it is more logic to have a velomobile for one person.
Benefits of a 2 seater velomobile
Of course there are also benefits of having a 2 seater velomobile. If you want to travel with a friend or with your partner, you can talk a lot easier with each other. If one of the person is more powerful you still travel with the same speed. For me and my wife this would be a great benefit. In the past we did travel a couple of times on a tandem bicycle and we enjoyed this a lot. Of course it is also practical if you go to work and take the kids to school. So there are some benefits, but there are also some downsides on a 2 seat velomobile.
Downsides of a 2 seater
First question is you need to ask yourself, do you sit behind each other or do sit next to each other. Behind each other makes the bike pretty long and the wheelbase becomes so large that you can get stuck on a curb or speed bump. Having a larger wheelbase also makes the turning circle large. In this case the wheel arches will have to be open (bad for aerodynamics), in order to have sufficient steering angle. Another thing is that the cornering stability will certainly be less than that of a one person velomobile and driving in a tight corners is also more difficult due to the length. A 2 seater is more heavy, than a single person velomobile. Next to each other makes the velomobile wide, difficult to ride on cycle paths and the shape becomes less favorable for aerodynamics.
Electric assist
With electric assist a 2 seater velomobile would be more practical, but you keep the downside which we discussed above.
Conclusion
Because a 2 seater velomobile will not have to much practical application as a single seat velomobile, we choose for the moment to focus on single seat velomobiles.
I hope you enjoyed this article, we have also a YouTube channel and of course, we have a lot of interesting information on our website.
Thanks for following us,
Jan
