Finn Ari Jukka Luomaranta is a professional guitar builder, but he has also restored two vintage sportscars, Massey Ferguson tractor, or a Vespa scooter. And an …. aerobatic biplane so he is racing in this discipline now as well. Simply a skilled and experienced craftsman. His latest creation is a side-by-side two-seat four-wheel velomobile he is going to produce on a regular basis. He has called it a Kinner.
Ari Jukka says: “Kinner is first of all human-powered vehicle. Electric assistance makes low-speed driving easy. With its composite chassis and road bike wheels, the Kinner is very light and moves with very little effort.” He expects to equip it with an automatic gear/electric motor for ease of use. There are two new such systems coming to the market at the moment and Ari Jukka is working with both of them and will decide which one to use soon. But the Kinner rides easily without the e-assist as well, so he is thinking about offering a pure human-powered version too.
The prototype has a wheelbase of 220 cm / 87″, the total length of 285 cm / 112″ and the width is 100 cm / 39″ to match the requirements for an “electrically assisted bicycle”, so no driving license is needed, insurance either. The exact weight isn’t known at the moment, because the electric motor arrangement could change and some details for the final product need some refinement.
Although the entrance seems to be large enough for getting in and out comfortably, the velomobile has a huge nicely shaped hatch which makes daily life much easier. Lots of options including mudguards will be offered as well, however, Ari Jukka doesn’t plan to have a roof for the velomobile, but some sort of cover over the cockpit to cover it from the weather when left outside will be available.
Guitar building know-how in use
I have asked Ari Jukka, which knowledges he has used from the guitar building when working on the Kinner. “It’s difficult to say one thing,” he says. “Guitar building is handcraft. You need to be able to do woodwork, metalwork, composites for cases, etc. To do finishing, sanding & spraying. Also design new products, new musical instruments and later promote and sell them around the world is important. Besides that, one has to be an entrepreneur, arrange subcontractors, do marketing, and much more. It’s more like that the history has taught me how to find out how to do this and that.”
And if you wonder why the name is Kinner, you can find an answer in my previous article about the Finnish amphibious velomobile from 1949.
Finally, you can go Kinner’s website to know even more details, about this wonderful project.
