Monthly Archives: January 2017

DF #36 Sold

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My friend, Jonathan Gray, is selling his standard-sized DF velomobile for a great price. I hate the fact that I’m losing a velomobile riding buddy. I’m selfishly hoping that someone in my area buys it so that I don’t have to ride solo. I don’t want to post his contact info here. So if you’re interested, comment below and I’ll get back to you.

DF #36 has been sold.

Here’s the info from Jonathan:

“I’ve decided to sell my standard size DF No. 36 for $7,500. The price includes two head lights, race cap/hood, Kojaks, cloth protective cover, kayak-style cockpit cover, four batteries, GPS mount, water bottle mount, Ventisit seat cover (standard thickness), triangular velomobile bag (for carrying tools, food, etc., inside DF), UTC (Universal Trike Carrier – a simple device to transport a velomobile on car roof), portable pump, and some related items like tools and tubes.

All electrical works correctly. The crank rings are 34/53. Included is an unmounted 56t ring. In the rear is a 11-36 cassette. Shifters are X0 10-speed. Drive train operates reliably and smoothly.
For an additional $500 I’ll include my used SportsRig lightweight trailer at the time of sale.
Also included in the price of the DF are the normal scrapes one would expect to find on a used velomobile.
I’m told by someone who recently purchased a new DF, that you should expect to pay $9,500 today for a DF and transportation to the US.
Should you know anyone interested in purchasing my DF, please give them my contact information. I’ll be happy to show it to prospective buyers here in Santa Barbara. Thank you.”

DF XL Update

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img_0885It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about the DF XL. I’ve been having a lot of fun riding it and tinkering with it. These are some of the changes that I’ve made lately…

  • Lowered the front end by using a shorter, but stiffer spring combination in the front struts. Each strut came with a 25mm red (stiffer) spring and a 64mm blue (softer) for a total spring length of 89mm. The problem was that the front wheels didn’t seem to fit the openings to my liking. The body seemed to ride high above the wheels. After some trial and error I ended up with a 45mm red spring and a 38mm blue spring for a total spring length of 83mm with a higher percentage of the spring rate contributed by the stiffer red spring.
  • Swapped out the outer tie rod ball joints for spherical rod ends to allow changing tie rod lengths by half a turn instead of the full turn required with the stock ball joints.
  • Experimented with the DT Swiss rear shock that came on early DFs. Mine came with the new simple strut. Having seen Jonathan Gray’s tail end (equipped with the new simple strut) dance around and almost tip him over upon encountering a rumble strip, I decided to play with his original DT Swiss shock. After experimenting with the shock air pressure and rebound settings I’ve got it working well.
  • Played around with vinyl wrap material to add a stripe to the rear deck and race cap. I’ve added some new pictures here: DF XL