Relaxed and Recumbent

Creator of Rotorua’s human-powered monorail, the Schweeb, Geoffrey Barnett, “combined a laid-back, recumbent bicycle with monorail technology” and came up with the idea while living in Tokyo. Barnett worked on the design for six years, and in 2007, opened a 200m track in Rotorua. “You jump on, you sit on the recumbent seat — it’s very comfortable, it’s like sitting at home on your sofa,” Barnett explained. “It’s got seven gears to play with and it’s a lot faster than any other bicycle.” Riders can get up to speeds of 60kph. The Schweeb is also environmentally friendly, he added. “To me as a cyclist, it’s just obvious, you should be able to ride over the top of the traffic, so I came up with the idea of a weather-proof capsule that is completely safe,” said Barnett. Schweeb is derived from the German word schweben which means “to float” or “suspend.”