From: wadenelson@frontier.net (Wade H. Nelson) Subject: Arm and Leg Power X-Sender: wadenelson@animas.frontier.net Mime-Version: 1.0 I asked one of the Team Varna members -- Paul?? --about arm and leg power last year. His comment was that when you're going all out, you need to devote just as much attention and energy to steering as you do to cranking and/or pedaling. In other words, while theoretically you can get more power by using both arms and legs, its hard to do so while staying in your lane. For this, and the added weight/complexity reasons, Varna has dumped handANDleg crank designs for THEIR record attempts. Asides, the # and size of muscles available for pedaling are much larger than the pecs and arm muscles available for cranking. Having said all this, i'd love to own a Varna arm-cranker just for the upper body workout it provides. Skip the bench pressing! WADE H. NELSON EFBC: EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS phone 970 259 1494 Marcom, Techcom, Salescom 420.5 E 5th Ave Durango CO Inform, Educate, Entertain ---> SELL! wadenelson@frontier.net From: wadenelson@frontier.net (Wade H. Nelson) Subject: Georgiev / Team Varna X-Sender: wadenelson@animas.frontier.net Mime-Version: 1.0 There's always one tempermental artist among all the engineers and designers whose work is so fluid you worship them despite their personality quirks. For me thats Georgi Georgiev. His cycle creations are beautiful, elegant, simple, .... what can I say. The Italian influence, even though he's from Bulgaria or somewhere equally obscure. (Varna is his home town) When I look at the Presto, I almost see the lines of Georgief's more beautiful SWB. Who influenced who I don't know. When I look at his Varna HPV, I see a Jaguar XKE. The man's a master. Mimic him, you crude metal-bending engineers, and learn the beauty and symmetry he uses, and the masses shall throng to purchchase your creations. He's the DaVinci of recumbent design. Here's his address. As I understand it, if you want a Georgiev, you send him a fat check and then he tells you what you want. WHN > >Georgi Georgiev >RR 2, Site 54 >Gabriola Island, BC >Canada >Phone: 604-247-8379 > > From my conversation with Georgi last Sunday, he is interested in >building cycles to meet people's needs. We were discussing most >specifically older people (who generally ride those tippy, heavy tricycles) >and people with disabilities. Don't count him out as someone who would >build a Varna hand-cranker. He left photos with Paul Atwood for Zippy of >his hand-crankers (one for quadraplegics; another for double amputees). > > Georgi doesn't have an e-mail address as far as I know. > > --Jean Seay >===================================== >>>From: CKirks@aol.com >>>Date: Sun, 16 Jul 1995 21:41:19 -0400 >>>To: wadenelson >>>Subject: Re: Arm and Leg Power >>> >>>In a message dated 95-07-15 13:31:19 EDT, you write: >>> >>>>Varna (Geiorgeff) has dumped >>>>handANDleg crank designs >>>>I'd love to own a Varna hand-cranker >>> >>>What is a Varna hand-cranker? Does (did?) it have leg cranks also? Bike? >>> Trike? >>> >>>Tom (CKirks@aol.com) From: Rick Horwitz Subject: Re: Georgiev /Team Varna Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 14:26:48 PDT To: hpv@SONOMA.EDU From: Rick Horwitz Subject: Re: Georgiev /Team Varna I wish to throw in my .02 about George Georgiev. At last year's IHPVASC in Eureka, I had the rare opportunity to meet Mr. Georgiev and company in the pit as his rider Paul (last name escapes me) was attempting to set an IHPVA 12 hour endurance record. I tried to do a video interview with George. Being a smart-ass he replied he couldn't speak any English and went on his business. Obviously Georgiev was too busy to engage in leisure conversation. For those unfamiliar with the Varna 1 and 2, they are both LWB, front wheel drive, ASS with the frame built into a Kevlar cigar shaped body. These machines are one of the finest looking vehicles ever produced. If anyone is interested in designing a long wheelbase racing machine, the Varna should be requisite for a baseline. That night I had the chance to have a pleasant chat with Paul who was busy mending a rear flat on his lovely Varna. He indicated that his Varna was not able to maintain high enough speeds while negotiating the sharp corners of the small circumference track he was racing on. Consequently, Paul and his Varna team decided to abandon their endurance attempt shortly after 6 hours of riding. As he was putting the finishing touches on his machine, he noticed my admiration for the work that went into it. He encouraged me to hang around awhile and chew-the-fat with him. I obliged, and he proudly pointed out a few features of his extraordinary machine. He showed me a particular, intricate part and went on to say "You gotta understand Georgiev. He's very eccentric, but really a nice person . Here's a man who is a top notch machinist, yet because of his abrasive and his out-spoken personality he can't hold down a job. He's made a meager living as an accomplished sculpturer. Everything this man does is a work of art. The parts on this Varna were not made in a machine shop, they were made by hand using a hack saw and file." Paul went on to say, "His shop is actually his backyard. He works under a tarp when it rains. A remarkable person, he can do so much with so little." After Paul was finished showing me all the neat features of his ride I asked why there were only two Varnas left in existence. Paul responded, "Well, as I mentioned Georgiev works outdoors. The plugs he used to make these machines were eventually ruined as they were warped by the sun. No big loss, he needed to streamline the design anyway." I mentioned, "The cost to produce one of these must have been staggering." Paul added, "Yes it is, but Georgiev could never put a dollar and cents value on this machine, it's like a masterpiece, it's priceless." As Wade mentioned, Georgiev is one of the greatest designers in the HPV business. I am not claiming that his designs are on the cutting edge of technology, but they are beautiful forms of art, worthy of my praise. ********************************************************** Rickey Horwitz Email: rhorwitz@hooked.net Practical Voice: (408)578-5753 Innovations "Where technology and innovation meet the road!" *********************************************************** From: mikep@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu I own a Varna 2 identical in color and style to the one in the picture that was built for Rick Hansen on which George Georgiev is seated, and couldn't be happier with it. I use a wheelchair, so a handcycle ("arm-cranker") was my only option. After trying several models of handcycles, including riding a Freedom Ryder across Iowa on RAGBRAI 23, I bought the Varna 2 based on ad literature and a brief conversation with George because it just looked so right. Still, upon receiving the bike I was amazed at its elegant design and craftsmanship - truly handcrafted in the finest sense of the word. Despite this, at US $1750 (including shipping and an optional chainring derailleur), it was the *least* expensive of any of the bikes I tried. Regarding dealing with George: he is opinionated and will make suggestions, but will also respect your final decisions. He prefers to have the full purchase amount wired to his bank before he starts construction, which I did although it seemed unusual at the time. I would have no qualms whatsoever about doing it again; in my experience when he says he will do something ("I will build you a bike in two to three weeks"), he does it. He was also sincerely interested and helpful in the assembly and setup process, which was fairly simple. I enjoyed reading the personal comments about George and his working style; they reinforced my own impressions from phone conversations. I hope to meet him in person someday, meanwhile I greatly enjoy the results of his craft and look forward to riding my Varna on RAGBRAI 24. Mike Partridge mikep@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu Director of Software Development Breakthrough, Inc. Oakdale, Iowa 52319 319/335-4760