Overall

Overall (5 months on the road)

The quality of parts is quite decent, except as mentioned below. The canopy’s quality, according to Leo, isn’t as good as that of Quests, so don’t be afraid if you need to cut the upper part before gluing. The paint on the canopy is so so, there are spots without it and if you look close, you could see some green spots on the one I got. The aluminium parts are very good, they fit each other neatly. The only welded aluminium part is the upper section of tilt, all the rest is riveted. Bolts, washers, nuts and bearings seem to be made of stainless steel.

A7 is good for almost any roads, but I’m inclined to believe it’s best on the ordinary roads – they are smooth and wide enough, if you aren’t paranoid about cars. On biking paths there is not always enough room to overtake or go over 30 kmh (which is hard anyway). During the first ride I managed to speed A7 up to 40 kmh (by the wind, 20x1.35 Marathon Plus tires). Another day (10 degrees C, the same conditions) I managed 42 kmh. It was hard, on Koyaks I added a km or two an hour. On Duranos in the summer I think I made about 45kmh. It was real hard. During 5 months of riding I made about 3,000 km on it, with 270km a day record.

After the first ride, my wife told me she wouldn’t ride a KMX X-class trike we had (a bit modified), so huge was a difference in comfort and quite a bit in speed. Since I have no steady income now, I'm not planning to buy another velomobile. Otherwise, I could think of another A7, but if funds allowed would definitely try the best kid on the block, i.e. Quest.

I'm a big fun of racing bikes: they are beautiful, fast and a good workout. But after a7, they seem to be a pain in that part of the body, literally and not. Giant, Track & Co must be happy with the simple way they make money. If people were less conservative, more demand would ensure lower prices, lower prices ... but it's a topic for another post.

If you are guessing why there is little about a7 on the Internet (I found no single word of an a7 owner in the end of 2011), I think it’s due to the “one-man-shop” limitations (Alligt, the manufacturer of a7, is run just by one man), there are few owners and they are busy or content riding it. Hope these notes will help someone. I think I’d recommend a7 to anyone who can fork out EUR 4,000 for the kit (or 5,000 for a ready to go). For this price, having spent half a year researching, I found nothing better. Hope the time won’t change my mind.