[ contents ] JUNE 2002

Velo Vision is published quarterly by Peter Eland (trading as Velo Vision), Daily news and updates can be found on www.velovision.co.uk

ISSN 1475-4312

Velo Vision, The Environmental Community Centre, St Nicholas Fields, York, YO10 3EN, UK

Tel +44 1904 438 224 (from UK, 01904 438 224) Fax +44 1904 438 236 (from UK, 01904 438 236) Email peter@velovision.co.uk Website www.velovision.co.uk

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER: Peter Eland DESIGN: Brian Holt WEBMASTER: Simon Ward PRINTER: Stephens & George Magazines Ltd, Merthyr Tidfil, Wales, UK. Tel 01685 388 888 CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER: Jason Patient 01890 883408 ADDITIONAL HELP AND SUPPORT: Kriss Fearon, Mark Marsh and many more.

PUBLISHING SCHEDULE: Issue 7: 5 September 2002 Issue 8: 4 December 2002 Issue 9: 5 March 2003 Issue 10: 4 June 2003

VELO VISION AND VELO-VISION We weren’t first with the name. Velo-Vision (note the hyphen) is a progressive HPV-friendly bike shop in Köörten, near Bergisch-Gladbach, Germany, who also make their own recumbents. Velo Vision magazine is working in friendly harmony with Velo-Vision in Germany. Contact them on www.velo-vision.de

4 News

8 Bikeshare

A free bike scheme that actually works.

10Folder Fever Tinkering with transportables.

12Mirage on the Murray A down under tour by pedal kayak.

16The icycle bicycle

We check out the amazing see-through bike.

18On the road with Old Li A meeting of worlds in China.

19Signal innovation

Is this the future of cycle lights?

20A whole new way to ride Inspirational handcycling from Canada.

24Test: Dahon SpeedPro Dahon’s fast folder, complete with DualDrive hub.

28Testing a townie A low-maintenance commuter in the spotlight.

32Bags of burden State-of-the-art courier clobber.

34Letters MTBs strike back, and no end of canoes and

kayaks carried.

40SPEZI 2002 Six pages of packed news from Europe’s biggest

special bike show.

47How to subscribe

46Advertising Please support these companies, who support

this magazine.

WHEELS OF CHANCE

It’s that time of year again: time to look forward to the rush of summer events that drag me away from the computer and actually onto a bike – or, more often, see me behind a stand or tramping the aisles of a trade fair. There’ll be a Velo Vision presence at the York Rally in late June, at Cycle Vision in Holland, and at the two UK festivals Cyclefest in Lancaster and Spokesfest in Leicester. Then, between sending Issue Seven to print and receiving it back, we’ll be at the Mildenhall Rally near Cambridge, and visit the Eurobike trade show in Germany. Then a London show in late September, and we’ll be looking forward to the winter lull. One of the particularly nice things about all of these cycling events is the coincidences they throw up. So it was that the designer of the new bike lights described on page 19 of this issue just happened to be visiting the same stand as me, at the same time, at a trade show in Birmingham in early March. Somehow, such coincidences always conspire to fill the pages of Velo Vision with stories: not always with as much time to spare as I’d like, but I hope the content is all the fresher for it. Other pages are more predictable: the bike tests we do, for example. I know a number of readers may be looking at this issue and bemoaning the lack of a recumbent test – fear not, they will return! In fact, we have some rather interesting machines coming up in the next few issues...

Peter Eland

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