BROL member Gunnstein came to Taiwan for a visit. One of the things on his agenda was to visit TW-Bents and pick up a new Cobra recumbent bicycle.
This slightly-out-of-focus shot is the meeting of Gunnstein (left) and Walter, the TW-Bents design engineer. They are exchanging business cards.
Walter shows Gunnstein his new bike, on the left. There is another Cobra on the right that was setup for Gunnstein to ride. Riding a 2-wheeled recumbent takes some getting used to and quite frankly, most people (including me!) crash a few times until they get the balance correct. So, Walter had a second Cobra set up for Gunnstein (who owns a TW-Bents trike) to learn on so he wouldn’t be learning on his brand new bike.
Here Walter is explaining the finer points of recumbent riding.
There is a small road in back of the warehouse were riders can check out equipment. This is Gunnstein off on his first ride on a 2-wheeled recumbent.
It only took a few minutes for him to get the feel of the bike.
The aspect of riding a 2-wheeled recumbent that might seem difficult at first, is taking off. Here we see Gunnstein practicing take-offs. One foot is on the ground, holding the rider up, while the other foot is poised on the pedal, ready to power the rider forward.
Gunnstein’s new bike is a custom model, with a wider seat and different gearing arrangement than the stock Cobra.
While Gunnstein was at the warehouse, he checked out some other models like this prototype bigger trike, with larger, stronger wheels. The track is 10 centimeters wider than the Artifice.
Now for the fun part. The Cobra is a folding bike and the main feature is that it can fold up in a very small space. Walter is demonstrating how to fold up the bike.
With the seat off, the folded Cobra has a tiny footprint!
First, they show Gunnstein how to package the bike for the trip back to Norway.
And then, Walter and his assembler show Gunnstein how to pack up the bike for local transport around Taiwan.
Each Cobra comes with it’s own carring bag!
Walter shows Gunnstein just how easy it is to transport the Cobra. The bag can also hold the seat so the entire bike fits into a shoulder bag.
Gunnstein went to Huilien and did some riding with Michael Cannon. The photoset is here. He also did some riding down in Southern Taiwan. On his last night in Taiwan, we took Gunnstein out for some karaoke!
Former field engineer MJ Klein now lives in Taiwan, and writes articles that primarily feature photographs of travels of MJ and wife Hui-chen, plus daily goings on in the bustling island nation of Taiwan, and other places in Asia. Articles feature people, culture, food, situations and sometimes the trials and tribulations of traveling in places such as China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Laos and of course Taiwan.
