Spring 2023 Wildfire Human Powered Vehicles Newsletter
Wildfire Human Powered Vehicles, LLC
Snippets below written by Ethan Davis, Proprietor
281 Mountain Rd.
Arundel, ME 04046
(207) 423-7360
wildfirehpv.com
2023 Northern New England Human Powered Vehicle Rally (NNEHPVR):
Mark your Calendar! This year’s rally will be held on Saturday, July 15, 2023, rain or shine in the Portsmouth, NH area (specific location TBD).
As always, riders are welcome to bring any type of human powered vehicle, whether it be conventional upright or recumbent, with one, two, three, four or even more wheels. Load carriers, velomobiles, recumbent bikes or trikes, folding bikes, e-assisted, you name it – the idea is to showcase the wide variety of transportation powered primarily by muscles that is possible. The only requirements are that if you plan to utilize your vehicle on the ride, it must be safe to ride on the road. When riding, please wear a helmet.
We’ll spend the morning from 9:00-11:00 gathering to check out the various machines, socialize, take test rides (at the discretion of the owner), and share stories. At 11:00 we’ll go for a ride in the beautifully scenic Portsmouth countryside with a stop for lunch. After we return to our starting point, there will be some additional time to socialize until 4:00.
Here is a picture from the 2015 Rally in Kennebunkport, ME:
Wildfire Cycles Obscure Inventory Page
I’ve become aware that I have a wide variety of cycling related items in stock that people don’t know about, so they can’t sell, unless I do something to publicize them. I’ve started putting together a list of these items to post on this website, called the Wildfire Cycles Obscure Inventory Page (check it out!) and expect to continue to add items as I can. Let me know if there is something that catches your eye. I can ship many of these items if needed. Mention that you read about it here, and get 10% off the posted price. Attend the NNE HPV Rally and get an additional 5% off!
Special Offers from ICE!
For the month of May, ICE has some great offers available – click the link to check them out!
Odds and ends:
Project Bike
In my other role as a high school shop teacher, I have a class that I started about a year ago called Project Bike. We take old bikes and cut them up, reconstructing them as a variety of other human powered vehicles, including recumbents, kickbikes, and swingbikes. Along the way the students learn their way around hand and power tools associated with metal working, and get to try their hand at welding. They also learn basic bike mechanic skills. From what I can tell, a good time has been had by all!
Velonexus
On the personal front, I’ve been working on a project I am calling Velonexus, which is an unusual approach to homebuilding a velomobile. It consists of a composite (fiberglass to start) fore and aft deck that get retrofitted to a recumbent trike (I’m using an ICE QNT with retrofit suspension added as a chassis), which serve as a solid mounting point to allow more easy mounting of a nose and tailcone and belly pan, as well as other items such as mirrors, cameras and GPS’s. I don't have any commercial ambitions for the project, but it is a fun process and could serve as inspiration for others.
2023 Martha’s Vineyard Velomobile Gathering
The Martha’s Vineyard Velomobile Gathering is taking place on Martha’s Vineyard on the weekend of Friday June 23. It is spearheaded by David Whitmon, who lives on Martha’s Vineyard car free, with his Carbon Quest Velomobile serving as his main form of transportation. We typically stay in a cabin at the Martha’s Vineyard Family Campground, and spend Friday afternoon, Saturday and sometimes a bit of Sunday riding around the island, and having a great time hanging with friends who share our passion for these amazing vehicles. FMI, email me and I’ll point you to David!
Here we are at Morning Glory Farm on the 2022 Gathering:
