How it all began

It was an average day at the Technikum in Winterthur when a classmate said during the morning break that the "Tour de Sol" would be stopping at the Technorama in Winterthur over lunch. He was going there because he had occasionally helped to build a solar mobile. I didn't want to miss it, and went along. At Technorama, a bustling crowd of people was waiting for us, surrounding several solar mobiles.
These ranged from very simple mobiles bolted together from some pipes and bicycle wheels to an absolutely futuristic looking silver 4-wheeler with beautifully integrated solar cells on a wing. The vehicle was sponsored by Mercedes and equipped with silver batteries. It was in the lead. It was striking how all the solar car drivers tried to catch as much sun as possible with their cells. They tried to chase away all the people who came closer, as they covered the cells with their shadows. Every bit of energy had to be extracted and stored. The topics of lightweight construction, aerodynamics, electronics and drive technology fascinated me and so I decided to build such a vehicle as soon as the opportunity came. It was 1985 and first I had to finish my studies and join the working world.

I met Gerd Gschliesser at my workplace. We had the same interests and wanted to build ecologically sound vehicles. Gerd had already built a first recumbent bike for himself. His idea was to build a motorised recumbent bike - my electric scooter. We joined forces to push our projects further together. Since his project was much further along, we decided to build another prototype for him first. I learned a lot from him. Among other things, he had built the first GRP parts and taught me the craft of handling glass fabric and epoxy resin. Together we built the first front part of the vehicle: a part that held the steering head and the pedal bearing. The rear part of the vehicle we built together out of steel, while I took care of the retractable support wheels. For the drive we were able to win over a former classmate: Benno Jäckle. Meanwhile, he was working in a company that developed inverters. His dream was always to develop converters for asynchronous motors that could do without encoders. So the three of us set to work and built the vehicle.

It drove quite well. It took some effort to retract the support wheels. The driver had to press a switch and then the motors started to move. If they did not move smoothly, there was an impulse that the driver had to compensate for in order not to fall. This could take up a good part of the available road. Good, if an oncoming vehicle didn't appear at that moment. What I will never forget from that time is the feeling of driving. Once you were gliding, you could take curves incredibly fast. Due to the inclined position, the ground was quite close to your head and eyes. The front of the vehicle, which served as a reference, and the ground rushing along suggested to the driver a maximally dynamic driving experience.

What I learned: A two-wheeler with extendable training wheels is not for me. The transition process between static tricycling and dynamic two-wheeling is too uncertain. It was the trigger for me to get involved with cornering tilting vehicles.