Bülk Urban Review
The Urban is a Model that wasn’t ever supposed to exist. When the factory owner Jan told me they were making a budget fiberglass velomobile, I was very intrigued by the idea, but my memories of fiberglass are of the old models like the Quest that were heavy and flexy. They really weren’t very nice to ride. That’s how I figured the new model, the Bülk 4More, would be (spoiler: it actually is 65lbs and really not very flexy.). I asked Jan if he would make one for me out of carbon fiber. At first he said no, but then as he got to thinking about it, he concluded that it actually was quite a good idea. The extra width between the wheel wells and a bit more space for larger feet would make it a good option for the US market where a bit more space is nice to have and riders like high-performance Velomobiles. At first he was only going to sell it in the US, but it turns out the European market had a desire for the Urban as well.
When I was thinking about this trip and what I wanted to ride for it, I thought a lot about last year. I really like to tour on bike paths. It’s nice to not have to worry about traffic and just enjoy riding and zone out a little. However, European bike paths can be quite challenging at times. Narrow bridges, sharp turns left and right, and worst of all, bollards. Lots of them. These challenges made for some frustration last year. The W9 I rode had a roughly 18 meter turning radius. That’s…massive. It was not at all a practical choice for my type of touring. Sometimes it wasn’t even practical for riding on European roads! The Bülk MK1, which is what I normally ride, has an 11m turning circle. That’s pretty good, but still not quite tight enough for European Radwegs. However, the Bülk Urban has around a 9m turning circle because of the open wheel wells. It has all the things I like so well about my beloved Bülk MK1. My hope was the tighter turning circle would mean I wouldn’t have to climb in and out every time I wanted to turn and would maybe even get me through some of those horrible bollards. The other thing I was thinking about was brake cooling. With the drum brakes exposed to the air, I was hoping I wouldn’t have brake fade during the mountains descents, of which there were three.
So, how did it go? First, I’m riding a prototype. They just barely got it finished in time, so I was admittedly a bit nervous. However, I didn’t need to be. Jan and his team would never let a bike out the door that wasn’t ready. Johann at HoVelo and I didn’t need to do much to the bike for it to be ready. A tweak of the alignment I think was it. Everything we checked was ready to go. Even the chain was the right length. I already knew where I wanted the seat positioned since I have Urban #1 at home. The biggest thing for me with this trip was that the bike would be stiff. By stiff I mean that the carbon fiber shell doesn’t flex under power. That’s especially important when accelerating and climbing, two things I needed to do a lot of this trip. Crossing two mountain passes showed me the stiffness is excellent. I also was curious how the bike would handle on descents. Coming down the mountain into Jenbach and also descending the Brenner involved high speeds and traffic. Trucks especially can blow the bike side to side. The Urban handled incredibly well in these conditions, including when the pavement wasn’t perfect. I was also pleased to not experience any brake fade. I use my brakes a lot more than probably most when descending. 40-45mph is fast enough for me. In addition, all of the descents were curvy roads. That means even more braking. While I did stop once during the Brenner descent to cool the brakes, I don’t think it was actually necessary. The Urban also has a bit more ground clearance than the MK1. This also came in handy a lot. Transitions over curbs can be nasty here in Europe, nothing like the trip-free smooth transitions in the US. The Urban never had any problems clearing obstacles, annoying speed bumps included (very popular in Italy.) I also was able to navigate the majority of the annoying bollards. On occasions when turns really we’re just absurdly tight, I was able to back up wheelchair style and to get a better angle on things. I ended up having way more luggage space than I needed. A person could easily fit ample camping gear in the Urban. It runs quiet, it soaks up bumps beautifully (and there were plenty of bumps!) Nothing broke, no mechanicals. I was never stranded anywhere. Pretty amazing for a prototype fresh off the assembly line.
The Urban was definitely the right choice for this trip. It’s fast enough to enjoy cruising on the long flat stretches of trail, it’s nimble enough to handle the challenges of obstacles in the bike path, and it’s stiff enough to climb mountain passes. It was the perfect partner for this epic journey. A huge thanks to Jan and his time for building a great bike that has left me with some pretty awesome memories.
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 3 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 1 |