Bicycling Science, Third Edition

sdedeo writes "Perhaps the only competitor of rock climbing for the canonical geek sport, cycling -- for utility or amusement -- asks for a good blend of engineering and physiological savvy. For many the hands-on tinkering of bicycle maintenance and cycling technique provides welcome relief from more abstract manipulations in the library or office. Whether you think of cycling as the ultimate open source engineering project, or as a handy metaphor for your computer-of-choice, its appeal to the mechanism-oriented mind is undeniable." Read on for the rest of DeDeo's review. Bicycling Science, Third Edition author David Gordon Wilson pages 476 publisher MIT Press rating 10 reviewer Simon DeDeo ISBN 0262232375 summary A technical look at two-wheeled self-propulsion blending engineering and physiological savvy.

Released this April, David Gordon Wilson's updated Bicycling Science fills the gap between, on the one hand, shop manuals and training guides, and on the other the contemporary literature on human powered vehicles. Wilson, Professor Emeritus at MIT, navigates physics and physiology to produce a hefty source of insight.

Wilson splits his book into three broad sections -- the biology of human power generation, the physics of turning complicated muscle motions into linear velocity, and radical redesigns of the standard diamond bicycle frame.

The first section explains, among other things, the role of oxygen uptake and distribution, and gives empirical and theoretical backing to some, but not all, of the conventional wisdom surrounding cycling. The curious will find a detailed explanation of why high pedal cadence allows for long-term, low-intensity, high-efficiency power generation. Modifications to the standard choices -- from elliptical chain-wheels to hand-powered cranks -- are analyzed critically.

The second section might be jokingly termed "extreme high school physics." Wilson explains how people intuitively balance and steer on two wheels, and the design of braking systems to avoid flip-over. He gets down-and-dirty in the metallurgical literature to explain the role of metal fatigue in frame failure, and into fluid dynamics to discuss air drag in laminar and turbulent air flows.

Wilson manages to give a sense of how the different demands physics makes on all aspects of bike design cohere into the more-or-less efficient system that we recognize today as the road and mountain bike. Wilson is an innovator, but he has a healthy respect for current designs along with a good deal of skepticism for passing fads such as that for ultralight components.

The final section covers Wilson's love: the radical redesigns of human powered vehicles to enable people to not only cover vast distances or reach high speeds, but also to swim, submarine, fly and even hover or flap on the power -- between 100 and 700 W -- the "NASA standard" man or woman can provide on timescales between hours and seconds.

The text occasionally jumps into a wider historical and social context to provide lighter relief, such as the diagrams that compare cycling's efficiency to other modes of of transportation (cyclists handily undercut a fully loaded diesel commuter train for calories expended per rider.) Wilson is not amused by those who would compare cyclists to dolphins or hawks in terms of efficiency, distance, or speed -- too bad. A brief rant against cars near the end is the exception to the rule of Wilson's professional, honest style.

Bicycling Science can be used as a handbook for the armchair designer of human powered vehicles. Or, if you prefer, as a way to answer the nagging science questions that arise after a thoughtful bike ride. Perhaps its most inspiring use, however, is as a bed-table compendium of stand-alone investigations into what engineers have come up with on a device that has been perfected, again and again, for decades longer than the internal combustion engine.

You can purchase the Bicycling Science, Third Edition from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, carefully read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Comments

I don't drive

[Capt'n Hector]

I don't drive. I bicycle. It's very easy to get anywhere I need to go around town, and for greater distances there's always public transportation. Over the past few months, I've watched gas prices soar over the 2 dollar mark, I've heared everybody complaining and all the while I silently snicker at these poor drivers, half of whom could easily pick up a bike and cut their gas consumption in half.

But the bicycle from a broad design perspective has not changed much since its invention, save from a departure from amusingly large front (or is it back) wheels. So it seems to me that the bicycle is far from optimised in terms of muscle use. I've seen various contraptions over the years that I suppose attempt to imrove on this. One that I saw just a few days ago appeared to be powered like a rowing machine. Another more popular variation on the cycle has the rider sit much lower to the ground. But I believe this one only serves to have the rider in a more upright position. So does this book point out the "best" design for the cycle?

Re:I don't drive

[jridley]

The classic diamond shape is actually pretty damned efficient. I think some recumbent designs are good too, but they're largely designed for long distance comfort. I just bought a new bike, and I passed up recumbents for a basic hybrid commuter.

It's hard to beat a good stiff road bike with high pressure tires for efficiency.

I also bike commute to work (10 miles one way), though I am a car driver as well. I live in Michigan, and since I switched from a road bike to a hybrid bike this year, I'm *considering* biking in the winter, but normally I only get about 5 months a year on the bike. I also don't ride in the rain, though I'm planning on dumping some money into some good goretex rain gear.

When I can't bike, public transportation is NOT an option (this is true in most areas of the country). It's about 5 miles into town to get to a bus stop, and that's a local commuter line; if I wanted to go more than 20 miles, I'd have to get off at the greyhound station 15 miles away and transfer there. Amtrak goes right through town here but I don't even know where the nearest depot is; about 30 miles I think; they don't even slow down through my town.

Still, between my bike and my Ford Taurus, I'm averaging about 120 MPG the last couple of weeks :-)

Top geek transportation method - Irish mail

[AtariAmarok]

Forget bicycles: Try the Irish mail. The one in the picture is not the weirdest example: there is a model that looks like a giant metal bicycle seat. The big stick in the front provides propulsion.

You'll fit in real good at the scientist loony bin in the "She Blinded me with Science" music video. If it looks out of place there (like a regular bike would), it is not "real geek".

Re:Bikes the top geek transportation method?

[WormholeFiend]

I'm working on modding my mountain bike, the same way people mod their PC cases... with come cool lighting from fossilfool.com and some strategically placed EL wire.

I'd love to put a laptop somewhere on it, but I have yet to figure out what it should be used for, and I dont want to put wi-fi on it.

Re:Bikes the top geek transportation method?

[Suburbanpride]

I am a certified geek, and I love my bikes (I have about 6) For me tinkering on a bike is more fun that tinking on a computer. Bikes are very simple machines, but they require a lot of work to run perfectly. Bike are also high tech. Forget the old schewin cruiser you rode as a kid. todays bikes are made out of things like titanium and carbon fiber. The cycling industry actually perfected the manafacturing of carbon fiber. Car makers are begining to adobt it, the new sony ultalight laptop uses it, and there are rumors of apple using it in their new powerbooks. I'd love to have my laptop math my bike. Bicycles are the most efficent form of traspertation out there. As a geek, you should admire that. My only problem with bikes is that the nearest Fry's isn't close enough to ride to.

One use...

[joggle]

It doesn't require a laptop (too heavy anyway) but a PDA. I just bought a personal GPS receiver and am working on a program for my Pocket PC to give me audible directions while biking/driving using maps I build myself (tracing over aerial imagery).

Re:ultralight components

[superdan2k]

Yeah, as someone who's been serious about cycling (competitively) for the last 15 years, I have to agree with the other poster that "ultralight components" are not a passing fad. Cycling, perhaps more than any other sport has a materials science and mechanical engineering war brewing. Every company is looking for an edge in materials -- look at the recent adoption of scandium-aluminum alloys for frames. Old ideas get rehashed every so often -- it used to be that carbon fiber frames were three main tubes of carbon, lugged together with aluminum. That "fad" passed away, but has returned now that people realize that blending materials in certain parts of the frame have benefits -- adding carbon seatstays to an aluminum frame cuts weight and dampens road-shock before it reaches the rider...and recently, LeMond bikes have shown up where the primary stress-bearing portion of the frame (the chainstays, down tube, and head tube) are titanium and the remainder of the bike (seat stays, seat tube and top tube) are Trek's proprietary OCLV carbon (LeMond is owned by Trek)...making for a very light bike that rides smoothly (the carbon upper portion gives it nice shock absorption) and is torsionally stiff (thank you, titanium), so it rides nice, is much lighter than typical titanium frames, and it sprints and climbs like a m-therf-cker.

Sure there are fads, and they pass, but most of the time, Joe Average bike user isn't going to be concerned with it, becaus a Joe Average bike shop bike (not a department store bike) sees those development years after the "lightweight, passing-fad" parts have been put through the evolutionary wringer of the market. If the design concept works, it trickles down into Joe Average bikes -- things like aluminum frames, indexed shifting, threadless headsets, etc. -- and if it doesn't work or is too expensive to be anything but a high-end product, then you won't see it on entry-level bikes. Things like titanium bolt sets (expensive, not worth the weight savings) come to mind.

The last two to three years have brought some seriously interesting developments, some of which I suspect will be see in Joe Average bikes within 5 years -- the aforementioned carbon seatstays, scandium-aluminum alloy framesets, paired-spoke wheels, etc.

Just because the market is being used to filter out what works and what doesn't, doesn't mean that every attempt at a lightweight part is a passing fad.

Bicycle Economics, Physics, and Culture

[taoboy]

Funny, a lot of the "wisdom" about bikes goes out the window in a setting where:

• No private autos allowed: everyone rides bikes to get around, or walk
• Distance between the farthest points on land is 2 1/2 miles - it's an island in the Central Pacific
• Salt from the ocean makes for one of the most corrosive environments in the world

This is Kwajalein (9Nx167E), where I currently live. Green one-speed Huffys rule here - flat terrain, and why spend more than $90 if the damned thing's gonna be a pile of rust powder inside of 8 months? The most popular mod is a 3-foot extension of the handlebar yoke so you can rest your forearms on the handlebars without bending over. Bike trailers are a must, for transporting large boxes home from the post office or schlepping SCUBA tanks to the beach. Adkins diet is a killer, because you need carbs to pedal a bike, go figure! And most important, there are many more bikes than the few government vehicles prowling around, so bikes rule the road - yeah!

The local store has brought in aluminum-frame bikes with 4-speed internal transmissions - they'll last about 2 years before the steel components go. I have one, sprayed a couple of coats of clear Krylon on it, and it's still going after a year and a half - did have to replace the chain. But at $300 apiece, the economics of the green Huffy still rule.

Some folks with time on their hands will scrounge parts from Bicycle Heaven (where all rusty bikes go) to build their primary tranporation - hey, what's a little rust, or a off-true wheel that shoves the seat up your butt, when all you need is a ride from the dorm to the chow hall?

We do have competitive cyclists on-island, and they get into the standard stuff - aerodynamics, lightweight materials and such. But we also have folks who compete in the annual triathalon (aptly called "The Rustman") with "Kwaj-condition" bikes.

All this to say it's been interesting living in a world where bikes really do rule...