PPV!

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St Patrick's Day March 17 2007 update!

Well! things are coming around a little, on May 17 2007 the SaPaDaPaSo (Saint Patrick's Day Parade Society) of Cedar Rapids held their 35th annual St Patrick's day parade!  there were a TON of people downtown and the group included two PPVs.  Mine and Rick Paulous'  I also brought a couple of other trikes.  The PPVs were ridden by Rick and Lisa Paulous and my PPV was operated by David and Sandy Meiner.  Rick and Lisa actually RODE to the parade from 2 1/2 miles away then rode home, a long day of about 6 or 7 miles of PPV riding!

the Two PPVs rolled around the streets and it looked like the moves were rehersed as they circled around and around then infigure 8 and other thing. it looked like an elaborate sort of square dance.

 These are two of the photos of the pair of PPVs getting prepped for the parade.  It was a pretty entertaining day!  LOTS of people! Also lots of comments of "I like your CAR!"  One note here is that the solid white windshield on my PPV (Ricks has the white stripe!) is soon to be replaced by a strip of plexiglass.  Both vehicles performed flawlessly!  They may not be the perfect vehicle, but they seem to work VERY well!

FIRST what the heck is it!   It looks like a paddle boat escaped from the local lagoon!  But no, it is the PPV!  originally designed and built as a recreational and fun vehicle in the 1970's.  it has seating for 2 people side by side, making it almost unparalleled in recent cycling history!  Tandem bikes are almost ALWAYS fore and aft seating, though "Sociable seating" was often seen in very early trikes and bikes.                                        

This is the copy of an E-mail I received regarding the PPV from Jerry Flewelling of Michigan who was contacted by John due to an article in the local paper on Jerry's son Zack who rode the PPV in a local Christmas parade.  I can see that I have some inaccuracies in my information and need to do some corrections. (most were done Dec 24, so I THINK they are OK now!)

The photo to the left shows Zack Felwelling showing off his PPV to Jim Chika, former production manager of EVI who produced the PPV from 1973-75

The PPV!

History of the PPV.  a short take.  I spoke briefly with Ziggy Obizenski, one of the three originators of the PPV in 1973.  Production ran from 1973 to 1975 with "about 5000" units being produced.  The Designer was Don Gates and Engineering by Mike Pocobello and Ziggy Obizenski.  Production was in Sterling Heights Michigan.   As he told me, the Oil Crisis of 1973-4 both doomed the PPV and made it popular.  "We had stuff shipped all over " he said, "West coast, east coast.  We had units for rent in Disneyland!"  But the increase in the price of oil made the production costs prohibitive.  They were at first being sold for $99 with the cost of production at about $60 each.  When Oil went from $20 a barrel to $60 the cost of producing a PPV went from $60 to $250 and the retail cost of the units were at $350 or more!   Toward the end they evidently produced a few experimental electric assist units, a few front wheel drive and a few rear wheel drive styles, and Ziggy had a rear wheel drive electric for some years until he finally junked it a couple of years ago.

Ziggy pointed out that they lost a lot of money in the deal and the factory closed in 1975.  It was then, and remains now, a fascinating part of transportation history, and a prototypical Velomobile!

thanks to Jerry Flewelling for putting me in contact with this fascinating and very kind man!

Overall take on the PPV

The PPV is a FUN bike, not a real touring bicycle, but it is quite useful.  There is lots of room for stuff like groceries and you can take a friend along.  Best of all, that friend sits next to you, not behind you like on a tandem bicycle.  Speed is not your issue on this.  FUN is! note the brochure copy in the left showing the PPV in original 1973 drag!  they were built in Sterling Heights Mich by EVI.  which closed in 1975 due to high production costs, and I would wager, the failing economy of the time. 

Some additional facts.  the Green PPV has a serial Number of 114014 85.  I am absolutely unsure of what this exactly denotes.  But the Yellow PPV that I also own has the number 043073014.  I BELIEVE that the Yellow one is somewhat older than the Green one.  the reasoning is this.  the body is cracked and broken in places.  the body also has white stripes on the lower body panels and a "PPV" Logo on the hood.   while the Green one is unadorned and appears to have never sported the racing stripes Additionally there are white reflectors on the hood and yellow/amber reflectors on the lower side body of the yellow one and none on the green one.  The hood is somewhat more flimsy/brittle on the Yellow version and is an entirely different material than that on the Green one.

I believe that the Green PPV that I have is original as far as it goes because the upper body had not been removed to my knowledge.  the original oblong keeper nuts were in place and rusted fast in some cases. But it did respond well to repair and is easily ride able.  I note that with two adults it is actually quite easy to ride, though it could use wider range gearing and more effective brakes.  the photo at left is my youngest daughter Mindi and her future husband Josh riding the PPV. 

Due to the gearing , single operation is not unpleasant at all on the flat,  but certainly requires a bit more effort than most people would like to deal with when climbing a moderate hill.  I have taken it to local stores and carried a good amount of groceries aboard.

Note that when riding with Mindi, I discovered that the pedals are independent of each other and that either side can pedal while the other rider rests.  This is a vast improvement over most tandem bicycles which require that BOTH riders pedal or coast at the same time. One small problem with the PPV is it's SIZE!  It is 78 inches long and 48 inches wide making it difficult to transport and it weighs about 130 lbs making it a bit hard to lift into a pickup truck or  van.  But it WILL fit in the back of a Full size van or pickup truck if you have a helper!

Notes on improvements that could be done.   Gearing.  This vehicle cries out for better gearing!  It also would benefit from suspension, though it isn't really all that uncomfortable to ride.  the pedals are the only really big limiting factor.  they are undoubtedly the worst part of the design overall!  But they are not hopeless.  they simply need to be improved.

6/18/6

this photo shows what the PPV is all about!  these three children took possession of the PPV and I almost didn't get it back! (Kidding really!) they rode around in it for hours and were nearly pried out by their father and it shows the reason that I like the silly thing.  It is not a great Velomobile, but it is a good one!  Not really suitable for hilly areas, as it sits anyway, weight and all are against it.  But it does work well.  Improvements that need to be made are things like good brakes, better gearing and wheels that are more in line with standard bicycle style/type.  As it currently stands, the PPV has a 16 inch bicycle front wheel and two 19 inch motorcycle wheels on the rear. It is hella strong, but heavy and slow.  On the other hand.  It is not a bad bike in reality!  I need to do some research into the pedals to see if I can find something that works better, but there are possibilities here!   Happily, I have a second one that needs some massive repair. It MAY be the experimental unit for gearing changes, and high performance modifications!

Next we have a photo of My two Nephews fooling around in the PPV.  the "driver" is Hunter who sometimes acts as a co-pilot with me and loves to have me take him home from school in it.

My personal feeling is that the PPV is a very nicely DESIGNED vehicle, but that it evidently was dunned to death by accountants so that the design was not executed the way it could have been.  The problems with the design are not those of bad planning, but those of the feeling of "That is too expensive". the pedal bearings, the headset bearings, the clunky transmission are only a few of the ideas here that might have benefited from a little less financial oversight.

After some tinkering and work, the PPV is becoming better and more fun.  Getting used to riding it makes a difference as well!  I have a feeling that the whole idea of Human powered cars, while not "an idea who's time has come", may indeed be something very special.  EVERY time I ride mine to the store, or around the block, I receive comments about it.  99% have been positive so far!

Here is an article from August 1973 in Popular Science Magazine about the PPV

These are the 3 "Golf Cart" PPVs from Wisconsin Michael Judkins talks about in his e-mail.  I LOVE the canopies!  how about that, a green one, a blue one AND a yellow one!  what a fabulous FIND!   the only thing missing is a BLACK one!

I was sent this series of copies of articles from Nick Hein who is another PPV enthusiast, and they show an review

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