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Gold medal for Jetze Plat during EC in Oostende, Belgium	May 21st, 2016
Italian ex Formula 1 driver Zanardi now defeated for the first time since 2011
Image: Tom Skulander It was the ultimate challenge for Jetze: beating Zanardi, highly admired by Jetze and his fellow athletes. Last year Jetze rode minutes behind him and others during time trials. Now Jetze took the lead and was racing alone in front! The speed difference with last year is around 3 to 4 kilometres. On the one hand this is the result of the much lower weight (reduced by 4.5 kg), but especially by the fact that I have minimized the dimensions of the frame, making it as tight as possible, constructing the frame tubes close around him. The enormous aluminium tray on his previous aluminium bike was realy a wind catcher. On the new carbon M5 Handbike there's no tray at all saving surface area and reducing a lot of turbulence. Lastly, some nice gimmicks were added, like special carbon aerocranks. After all, these are a lot longer on a handbike and exposed to the wind. On the stretches with a little tailwind Jetze was able to keep his speed around 56 km per hour. Arm power only! Jetze currently delivers around 290 Watt. That's pretty close to what I have left now in my legs... When riding my world record in 1994, I generated an average of 333 Watt, which has by now, 22 years later, close to my 60th birthday, dropped to approximately 300 Watt.

New M5 Carbon Handbike for Jetze Plat	May 21st, 2016
One of the three projects released
Image: Bram MoensBack in 1994 M5 designed and produced Cr-Mo Handbikes (about 60 pieces in total).The full company name in these days was like M5 Recumbents and Handbikes. Because of stupid government regulations production and sales was no longer worthwhile and was stopped for this reason. Truly a bit disappointing since this product did have potential. Last September sports physician Paul Grandjean called me with the question, more a request actually, if I could support Jetze with a really fast and light handcycle (a three-wheeler). For a carbon race handcycle build from scratch you can not just start out of the blue... But nevertheless the first test runs were already made between Christmas and New Year and after several sessions of finetuning his first training sessions and competitions are held, and not without success... Recently Jetze won a 12 km time trial with a lot of sharp turns and an average of more than 41 km/h! Three kilometres faster than his nearest competitor... Tomorrow is an important European Championship qualifying tournament in Ostend with the handcycle in which ex Formula 1 driver Zanardi will participate as well. And he is the man to beat there. Now that Jetze has the same quality of material, he should be able to come close to the current world's fastest. Learn more about super athlete Jetze Plat? www.jetzeplat.nl facebook.com/jetzeplatprohandbiker www.vimeo.com/166986729 >>

Coming up soon!	May 18th, 2016
Three major M5 projects shown soon.
Last year and a half we were very busy here at M5 developing new products, but for various reasons it was impossible to show these due to embargo's. Sometimes quite difficult but now they will be revealed soon and in practice immediately one proved very successful. More is shown by tomorrow!

World premiere?	March 2nd, 2016
Mr. Halbertsma, only 90 years old and the latest M5 Carbon High Racer customer! So customers of 72 years, 90 years! Where are the teenagers??
Mr. Halbertsma, 90 years of age and M5 Carbon High Racer rider since last Saturday The first metres on his new Carbon High Racer go astoundingly smooth. One hand on the handle bar, the other to adjust mirror and summer hat... And no, there is no need to provide tips for a smooth start. Just a few short trips to check if stem and seat angle are right and that is it. For getting these right a longer testride through the countryside is next, accompanied by his grandson on another CHR and yours truly on his own lime CHR. It is sunny, cold and there is a tough wind. We let mr. Halbertsma determine the speed and despite the strong headwind we are still doing 18 kmh. (11mph). On our way back we are having tailwind, and are cruising at 30 kmh. (18.65 mph) Most important for mr. Halbertsma is a comfortable and nice ride and indeed: since very low energy input is needed on the Carbon High Racer this requirement is met. His cycling friends (all 80+) have an electrically assisted bicycle by now. However, not an option for mr. Halbertsma, these bikes lack comfort. By choosing the lightweight (9 kg) and smooth running (set of 28 inch wheels) Carbon High Racer he hopes to keep up again, without any electrical assistance. Up till now he used his 17 year old M5 Blue Glide, which is becoming a bit old and heavy by now... For longer, multi-day distances the M5 Carbon High Racer is equipped with the latest 21 litre Carbon Tail Bag. It only adds 550 grams to the bike but helps to reduce energy input even more. The crankset has somewhat smaller rings than usual, to reduce the gear steps. With 42-11 being the biggest and 24-36 the smallest gear the range is huge anyway. We are looking forward hearing about his travel experiences! Dutch language only link..... www.pzc.nl/regio/walcheren/90-jarige-schaft-supersnelle-ligfiets-aan-1.5768754#comments >>

Down under it's still summer...	February 14th, 2016
M5 CHR enthusiast Paul Worden (he's only 72) sent us a nice action image from Australia and a nice short movie! or this one.

2 0 1 6	January 1st, 2016


Winterbreak	December 22nd, 2015
The M5 showroom is closed until january the 22nd.Phone and e-mails are as normal. Shipping and receiving of parcels is postponed until that date. The coming period will be used for oilpainting, photographing and the realisation of new designed 3D bike(parts)models. More information coming soon!

South Korean M5 CHR customers	October 26th, 2015
South Korea also has an enthusiast recumbent community as shown by these mainly M5 Carbon High Racer customers. Images taken in Seoul surrounding


And another sunny one from Dieppe in France...	October 26th, 2015
M5 M-Racer from multiple M5 customer Daniel Gonano in France

Mont Ventoux, downhill 107 km / h (66.5 mph) with the M5 Carbon High Racer	October 6th, 2015
... a true story from France by Patrick Proesmans
Every year we plan a week cycling holiday with some friends in May. Last year we booked a five-days vacation in Bedoin at the foot of Mont Ventoux. This is the only time that my road bike friends have a chance to beat me ... Four racing bikes from 6 to 8 kg at the start against my red M5 Carbon High Racer which just hits 9 kg. However, the weight difference between the riders is much greater. I am unfortunately the one whith the lowest exercise and I still put 87 kg on the scales while only 1.76 m (5 feet, 10 inch.) ... The other four are all well trained and weigh all under 80 kg. Bedoin, at the typical starting place, the fountain, to the summit via Chalet Renard is about 21 km. The summit is above 1,900 meters in the lonely desolate moonscape. The verdict, two men before me, guys who continuously train all year round, and two men of normal caliber behind me. So I was third up in two hours 17 minutes and was given my bad condition quite happy with that. A few years ago, and 10 kg less, I have just driven within two hours of the same route with my recumbent. Then downhill to Malaucene ... haha, that was my specialty of course. After allready half a minute I saw the four musketeers disappearing from my mirror. They drove around 65 to 70 km per hour on the straights where I had to brake constantly in order not to exceed 90 km/h Suddenly I saw a road bike that apparently knew every bend and corner up there. This had to be someone from the neighborhood, the man threw himself at every turn and made himself as small as possible. Since I did not know the terrain very well, we were on the steepest slopes fairly close together. I reached him easily and biked away smoothly when it went straight but every corner I braked much harder than him so he came back a little bit closer. After about 5 km the slope began to sink below 10 percent and the straightaways were longer. I could therefore safely let my bike do the rest and leave him behind... 107 km per hour (66.5 mph) I looked up on my Garmin GPS watch, the local boy was gone. As I waited in the village of Malaucene this guy arrived about 10 minutes later and stopped beside me. I was looking in the window of a bicycle shop and he spoke to me in French. It was indeed a local and he told me that in the past 20 years while climbing and descending dozens of times each summer this Mont Ventoux no one did ever overtook him. His nickname was apparently Roi de la Montagne which means as much as king of the mountain. Oh poor him ... I almost felt guilty. Quite funny that this avid racer, who had never seen a recumbent in his whole life, had to capitulate allready the first time...