It's another East Coast dreary cold morning and I find myself jonesing for a decent ride, but I also know full well that I will not take it. I hate the cold and these old bones hate the wet even more. But I find myself thinking back to an article we actually researched last summer but are publishing now. It was about the Go-One³ Velo, the quintessential answer to my meteorological dilemma and perhaps the beginning of the end for the pollution spewing, gas guzzling automobile I will use to get to work instead.



The Go-One³ is a uniquely crafted personal HPV (Human Powered Vehicle) distributed here in North America as of 2005 by Stephen Mosca. Termed a velo, it is actually a fully enclosed tricycle. The rider is shielded from the elements by the body and a massive clear canopy. The running gear and frame material are actually quite similar to your average bicycle, save for the third wheel. The Go-One³ is a trike but a uniquely suspended one that along with the very low center of gravity offers greater stability through the turns. Its low profile and slippery shape offer the rider a huge aerodynamic benefit over the less than streamlined turbulence resistance found while pushing a human body and bicycle through hot dense summer air.



Steve commutes regularly on the Go-One³, a round trip of 15 miles through virtually all kinds of weather where he is safely protected from the elements by the Go-One³'s bullet shaped body. If there is a down side, it is the encapsulated resonant sound chamber created by that protective body that echos the road and running gear noise back into the ears of the rider, additionally, during the hot summer months the decision between riding with heat build up, from a pronounced greenhouse effect, and riding without the canopy must be made. The latest iintroduction of the canvass rag top has made the transition easier while on the road. One of the trade offs present here is the weight. Obviously the presence of the streamlined body adds weight to the rolling mass of the vehicle, but both Dan and Phil who rode (drove?) the Go-One³ reported the effort to be in keeping with a heavy mountain bike on the road. Both also reported that riding the vehicle was a blast. It offers all the weather breaking of a car interior, but it saves a lot more gas, insurance and maintenance costs. As Stephen Mosca says on the Go One web site, "economy got you down, get stimulated in a Go-One³.