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Sinner Mango Velomobile

At the time of writing, I've only had the Mango velomobile for just over a week. I don't have many photos yet ! However, I can say that this is a wonderful machine. It's the fastest bike I've ever owned by a considerable margin, and knocks 10 minutes in each direction off the time for my commute. It now takes around 50 minutes to cover the 30 km each way of my journey to work.

The Mango is also very much more comfortable than anything else I've ever owned for commuting in winter. It was -4 C when I rode to work this week (my commute is a 60 km round trip). From borrowing a machine earlier in the year I already knew that it would be great in the summer, but I'm learning that it's also superb for winter.

I've already written quite a lot about the Sinner Mango on my blog. Also, for more details please see the manufacturer's website.

Also see the article about how much of a difference aerodynamics make, an online calculator which shows how fast you can go with a Mango and an article about my cycle commuting speeds over the years.

Equipment

I initially used the Vredestein Perfect Moiree tyres. These are the successors to the Vredestein Monte-Carlo which I have used for many years on the PDQ. I had never had a puncture with the Monte-Carlo tyres, but after a couple of punctures in autumn, I changed to Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres for winter. I'll change again to something a little quicker for summer. For racing, the Schwalbe Durano is a good choice on the front, but something a bit wider is a good idea on the back. The Mango has three same sized wheels, which is a big advantage as you don't need to carry two different sized spares, or lose any of your luggage capacity for that extra spare.

There is space for an enormous amount of stuff behind the seat, about 70 l of luggage can be carried there in the out of the weather, separated from the chain and without harming the aerodynamics. That's a larger capacity than any bicycle panniers, and a greater capacity than many other velomobiles, but now quite so large as the 130 l capacity of a Mango+ !

I also want to be able to reach some things as I ride along along I also have made a basket for items I want to hand as I cycle.

For details of other bikes, tour stories etc. return to my bicycles index. For more on the Mango, see my blog posts about the Mango.