BicycleCinema.org
VéloKino pedal-powered open-air screening, Switzerland
Photo: VéloKino (provelo-regionthun.ch) — via provelo-regionthun.ch

Vélorution Zürich VéloKino / velokino.ch / VCS / Pro Velo

Switzerland, Zürich · Nonprofit association

Active last verified 2026-09
Battery-buffered AC
10 bikes per system; five or more independent Velokino systems tour SwitzerlandDocumented
  • Split from an aggregated directory row

Websitehttps://www.velokino.ch

Swiss VéloKino is one pedal-cinema design run by several bodies: a Zürich volunteer collective, a booking site and two cycling associations. Vélorution Zürich built the original ten-bike, battery-buffered system and credits it "© fahrradkino.org", a descendant of Germany's KLAK.

Key facts

  • Design lineage

    10-bike system credited '© fahrradkino.org' (KLAK-derived)1

    Documented

  • Output

    ~50 W per bike; ~0.5 kWh generated per hour by 10 riders1

    Operator-stated

  • Rider changeover

    Film pauses roughly every 20 minutes2

    Documented

  • Reach

    5+ operators/collectives touring Switzerland, 2025–20261,3,2,4

    Documented

“die 0.5 Kilowattstunden, die durch zehn Pedalende in einer Stunde generiert werden (50 Watt pro Velo) würden aus der Steckdose gerade mal ca. zehn Rappen kosten.”

the 0.5 kilowatt-hours generated by ten pedallers in one hour (50 watts per bike) would cost only about ten centimes from a wall socket.

Vélorution Zürich, VéloKino page1

Vélorution Zürich, a small volunteer collective distinct from the French-speaking Vélorution bike-advocacy networks that share its name, built the original VéloKino 1. Bicycles clamped into roller trainers drive generators at the rear wheel; cables carry the current to a control unit with a built-in battery, from which the projector, sound system and a laptop draw their power 1,3. The booking site velokino.ch offers full-service and do-it-yourself hire of the same hardware 3; the VCS Verkehrs-Club der Schweiz tours it to Swiss towns, with 2026 dates published for Kreuzlingen, Aadorf and Frauenfeld 2; Pro Velo chapters in Graubünden and the Thun region run their own versions 4. At the VELOVE Cinema Week on Zurich's Polyterrasse in April 2025, part of that year's Sustainability Week Zurich, ten spectators pedalled at a time 5.

Specifications

What do these labels mean?

FieldValueConfidenceSources
Bikes per system10Documented1,3,2
Per-bike output50 W (operator figure, not independently metered)Used by Vélorution to compute the 0.5 kWh/hour cost comparison; the research records its basis as an operator statement, not a measurement.Operator-stated1
Hourly energy, 10 riders0.5 kWh (worth about 10 Rappen of grid electricity, per Vélorution)Operator-stated1
Rider changeover interval~20 minutes (VCS tour events)Documented2
BufferCentral control unit with a built-in batteryDocumented1,3
Pro Velo Graubünden touring since2022Documented4
VELOVE Cinema Week showcase7–10 April 2025 Zürich PolyterrasseDocumented5

Technology

velokino.ch describes the same architecture as Vélorution in near-identical terms: the battery sits centrally in the control unit rather than at each bike 1,3. A 2022 Pro Velo Graubünden account of its own event describes nine riders pedalling at once, each bike's output shown as a bar at the top of the projected image 4. No source quantifies battery capacity, buffer runtime or projector wattage for any of the Swiss operators.

Diagram showing the Swiss VéloKino ecosystem descending from the German KLAK manual
KLAK manual (© fahrradkino.org) → Vélorution VéloKino → velokino.ch, VCS, Pro Velo1,3,2,4,5 Image: BicycleCinema.org, drawn from the research corpus
Timeline strip of showcase Swiss deployments in 2025 and 2026
VELOVE Cinema Week, Polyterrasse Zurich, April 2025; VCS tour August 20261,3,2,4,5 Image: BicycleCinema.org, drawn from the research corpus

In their own words

"10 Fahrräder werden in Rollentrainer eingespannt… In der Steuereinheit ist eine Batterie eingebaut, in die der Strom eingespeist wird." — Ten bicycles are clamped into roller trainers… Built into the control unit is a battery, into which the electricity is fed. 1

"You're welcome to bring your own bike to clamp into our home trainers!" 5

Descends from:KLAK / Solare Zukunft e.V.

Sources

  1. [1]Vélorution (Zürich) — VéloKinovelorution.ch
  2. [2]VCS Verkehrs-Club — Velokinowww.verkehrsclub.ch
  3. [3]velokino.chwww.velokino.ch
  4. [4]Pro Velo Graubünden, 16/08/2022provelogr.ch
  5. [5]VELOVE Cinema Weekvelovezh.ch

Comments

Comments are reviewed before they appear. How comments and contributions are reviewed