sunday, after a full day skiing in austria, i travel to sissach with my youngest daughter to pick up the TWIKE. a brilliant but freezing cold day @ -15°C -> we find the twike fully charged and ready in front of dreifels’ offices. with some serious winter gear TWIKEing in winter can be fun, too – we’re ready! our route will take us through some very rural parts of northwestern switzerland, we then cross into germany to finally cross back into switzerland close to the beautiful rhine falls to then conclude our 105kms trip (with a small detour to drink […]
mmm…TLC, TW560 feeling better now!
after just 3 days at dreifels’ workshop, TW560 emerges feeling much better and refreshed 🙂 no major problems were discovered by ralph schnyder (creator of TWIKE in 1986, middle) apart of the travel-related ones which already had emerged during the wave. (even the shock absorbers seem to be ok!!) equipped with the newest software version and a dump of all controller data for the duration of the WAVE, TW560 is looking forward to the next step in its rehabilitation for swiss roads: deep cleansing (inside and outside) at the TWIKE workshop i usually bring my TWIKE to. a quick check of […]
first WAVE presentation
4feb12 the twike-club had one of its three annual meetings in churwalden, switzerland. traditionally, at this churwalden meeting we gather to have some fun during the day, build up some hunger and then converge onto a converted stable in a 400 yr old building where we eat a fondue, a typical swiss dish in a very rustical and authentic environment. this year, jc and myself chose to drive there with TW231 despite the very low temperatures of -15°C during the day. jc is very proud to have upgraded his TWIKE to the same technical level as TW560 except for the GSM connectivity […]
TW560 back in Switzerland
last friday, jc flew to bremen to oversee the TWIKE being released from our container. he arrived just in time to see the TWIKE being unloaded with all the other cars. since walti will be arriving in about 2 days, jc was asked to plug in the twingo, in order for it to be ready for pick up. the drive from bremen to hamburg was uneventful but very, very cold. jc endured -18°C, which in the TWIKE equals to -18°C interior temperature. during the charge the cold seems to have gotten to the TWIKE computer at last – the display […]
TWIKE arrives in Bremerhafen
a quick update: the TWIKE has arrived in bremerhaven. it will wait in freezing temperatures until jean-claude arrives this friday to collect it. he will then proceed to hamburg where the TWIKE will then be transported by train to lörrach. just a short drive across the border from there, TW560 will receive the required TLC by ralph schnyder and his team at dreifels in sissach. why dreifels? dreifels has offered me to repair the TWIKE free of charge – thank you very, very much, guys! i can not imagine TW560 being in better hands than ralph’s > he, after all, in 1986, […]
TWIKE leaves Mumbai 28dec11
LOADING CONFIRMATION SHIPPER NAME : BUHARIWALA LOGISTICS PORT : BREMERHAVEN, GERMANY PKGS : 04 UNPACK VEHICLES CONTAINER NO. : GESU4641624 VESSEL NAME & VOY : HANJIN MUMBAI V- 01148/S ETD JNPT : 28.12.2011 Tks / Best Regards Buhariwala Logistics Armayesh Buhariwala ****************************************************************** AN ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED COMPANY Buhariwala Logistics Vakharia House, 1st Floor 51/53 Bora Bazar Street, Fort, Mumbai 400 001. INDIA. Tel : +91-22-22625450 – 53 Fax : +91-22-22622724 Email: armayesh@buhariwalasglobal.com *******************************************************************
TWIKE back at indian customs
jc and the gang start the labourous procedure of exporting the cars. there is not much to say, other than there is a last drive from mumbai back to the customs compound which the TWIKE completes without any problems. then the usual procedures start – moving the vehicles from office to office and then to the container and from there into the container. with the container closed and sealed, the team can now relax and head back to mumbai city for some last days before normal life begins. jean-claude heads back on dec23 – just in time for the all-important […]
home hits home a point
after only 17 hours at home, i’m back at the airport en route to vienna. although i was fully aware of this trip before i left, it still forces me to confront my normal working life head-on without any settling-down time. what aggravates the situation is that no-one knows that i’ve been gone and everyone assumes that they can come back piling even more work on me since i’ve resumed normal service with on-site availability… switzerland and austria are strange places to be after 3 weeks in india. the quiet, the calm, lane discipline, so much personal space (i.e. less […]
WAVE India Day16: Final Stage to Mumbai
our last day on the WAVE india. this last stage will take us from the pune plateau down to hot and steamy mumbai. we first set out to pick up the think-driving part of the WAVE at another hotel close to pune. very spontaneously we decide that this might be a good time to take some group photos. the roads today promise to be beautiful, since jean-claude and i have decided to use the expressway. we even are ready to negotiate with police and toll plaza operatives… three-wheelers are NOT allowed on the expressways in india! coming from mumbai we […]
WAVE India Day 15: Kolhapur – Satara – Pune
today, again, we need to split up, since the “big battery” cars are still charging and want to have enough time to fully charge their batteries before setting out and then have enough time to charge the batteries at the first stop in satara. the “small battery / fast charging” battery cars, Reva and TWIKE head off to a local college in kolhapur at 0900 and are greeted by an amazing crowd. this especially since it is saturday and this is a non-mandatory event for the students. the student interaction part was inside a packed hall. lots of interest and […]