TWIKE 560's adventures

WELCOME! The TWIKE, an electric three-wheeler designed in Switzerland. We’re currently driving from Switzerland via northern Italy to southern Austria – dodging all C-19 quarantine hot-spots. TWIKE? Three wheeler designed in Switzerland in 1985 Name is short for “TWI“n-bi”KE“ This TWIKE is number 560, built in 2000. New ones are still built today. It has […]

Two decades, 280,000+km – countless hours of driving bliss and a persistent attribute of my life – Thank you, TW560! Built in Switzerland mid-2000 by the nascent TWIKE AG, it was put into service one month before my eldest daughter was born. My wife and I had just returned from 3+ years of living abroad […]

Since purchasing my new 51Ah pack over four years (as per today 4 years, 7 months and 6 days) ago, I’ve been tracking the degradation of the pack’s capacity over time with periodic long-distance full-cycle trips. With one of the first nice and not freezing days in 2021, I thought it would be nice to […]

Whew, what a year…for all of us anywhere. Hope you’re staying safe wherever you are. Good news is that my family and I have been lucky. Healthy throughout the year, we got to travel outside of Switzerland twice to meet friends and family … with TW560 being part of the trip. This entry is a […]

During the last few days I’ve been publishing ‘old’ entries on my blog and a few readers reached out to me as they were wondering if something was amiss. All is good (…as someone else tweeted regarding something much more serious) – These entries were just overdue and I’m posting them with the correct date […]

At the end of 2019, I look back at a very nice and fun-packed year with my favourite of all vehicles: TWIKE 560. 2019 was a very busy year. It saw me travelling around 80% and being away for weeks at a time. Most notable was November where I enjoyed full two weeks in warm […]

After a gloriously refreshing night of undisturbed sleep thanks to super-fresh air and no noise, I wake super-refreshed even after a boozy night smoking multiple cigars.   Seb and I meet downstairs for breakfast with fresh Zopf and home-made jam and honey which we eat enjoying the same incredible view on his balcony. Life could […]

Given that I slept in a communal space, it was surprising that I woke up refreshed when the rays of the early morning sun filtered into the room. Grabbing my overnight bag I head upstairs to the upper desk passing still-closed bars to get a glimpse of what’s going on around the ferry and find […]

My last day in Spain has come. I have to get to Barcelona early, as I need to get a full charge to be able to get to Seb’s on one charge. Seb is a long-time friend and reader of this blog who lives in lower Valais. There are only a few commercial charging options […]

After not having slept well due to excessive noise levels outside of the hotel, I get up early and look out of my room to check if TW560 is still there. Two things to report … Good news: it’s still there. Bad news: something else TW560-related appeared overnight: a huge new oil leak. I really […]

We get up at 5 am and pack both car and TWIKE. My family is heading to Sète in southern France as they liked the pictures and description I gave them and wanted to experience the place for themselves. I will drive to Valencia today. Instead of taking the same road back along the coast, […]

This entry is a compilation of some thoughts, stuff TW560 or I experienced and some pics of my stay in southern Spain this year. First, in Switzerland in 2019 there is already a massive market penetration rate of electric cars, especially Tesla’s, but also many other brands. When driving the 20km to my office, I […]

After a very relaxing night at our home in Liria, we parents get up early. Today we’re up at 6 am, as we are covering much less distance today. Our kids will sleep late until around 10 am and then have a Spanish breakfast at one of the local Churrerias before leaving towards San Juan […]

Returning to check on the charge after our drive-free day in Valencia (a town well worth a visit!) everything was OK regarding the charge… but there was another issue manifesting itself on the floor of the garage I was parking in: A puddle of oil! Hmm. Even if a TWIKE only has around 150 ml […]

A relaxing drive-free day in Barcelona with my family is just what I needed. As a family, we’ve been to Barcelona many times. Long before flygskam we loved taking the train from Switzerland to our place in southern Spain. Door to door this trip took us a full 24h and was a great way to […]

Drinking generous amounts of French Rosé Wine induces deep sleep – this is my learning for yesterday’s fabulous evening with my B&B’s hosts, sharing dinner and them telling me many things about France I didn’t know yet. Today, I’m crossing into Spain and will meet up with my family in Barcelona. Before thinking further about […]

Another great day greets me at 5.30 am. Cool air promises a few hours of perfect TWIKEng across France before the sun heats up the air again.   Today I’ll be driving to the sea and along the coast before heading to a small picturesque village called Cruzy and a stay at a B&B. Another […]

I’m probably getting old … for two reasons: Didn’t sleep too well after staying up until way after 1am and having a few drinks whilst chatting with old friends and my body wasn’t at all impressed by me wanting to get up at 5.30 am instead of my usual 5 am and saw me super-awake […]

Today is the day! The side-bar countdown seemed to melt away in no time during the last 20 or so days. With my experience of many TWIKE adventures I was able to pack my bags and required cables for this trip within 30 minutes late Thursday evening after a late business meeting that saw me […]

TWIKE560 is on it’s way to southern Spain! Follow me here with the usual entries and see where I am exactly thanks to TW560’s GPS track!

Balancing batteries is an important part of maintaining pack health. Especially with a battery pack that doesn’t have an active cell-level BMS monitoring every cell. TWIKE 560 currently has three 100-cell stacks which all would need an own balancing connection – a BMS would be adding weight, considerable amounts of cabling and complexity to the […]

It’s been a while since my last post – life’s been hectic and super-busy. There are many draft entries in my queue waiting to be finished… One thing I’m looking forward, though, is our summer holiday as a family this year. We’re heading to Spain and staying at my wife’s parents apartment outside of Alicante. […]

It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned anything about the development of next-gen TWIKE’s. My TWIKE is a third-generation TWIKE that went into production over 27 years ago and is still in production today! The first version of TWIKE’s were a human powered recumbent bike for two people, capable of sustaining 50 km/h for 50km. […]

Today I’m going to push the envelope what a TWIKE is capable of covering in a single day. Sure, I’ve driven halfway across Germany and pushed the envelope whilst driving through Russia but today I’m going to go for 650 km in one day not hypermiling! It was very hard getting up at 7.30 AM […]

Waking up early I am greeted by another beautiful day and a very nice view from my typical Austrian Gasthaus room. After a breakfast including one of my favourites – Handsemmel (hand made Austrian bread roll) with Leberwurst I feel 100% ready for my 330km drive to Linz. I really liked this place as the […]