If you want to get _really_ geeky you can always start riding the wierd bikes too. Recumbents, Tandem, Tricycles (or any combination of the above) all add to the variation - and there's nothing quite like following a recumbent tandem trike to realise how much road prescence a 4' wide, 15' long HPV can have.
Also have a look at the serious end of Human Powered Vehicles for extreme geekiness. Some of the latest speed machines don't have windows - you use a fibre optic camera to a flat-screen display on the handlebars as that improves the aerodynamics.
At the other end you have the Minnesota groups who race ice bikes on the frozen stuff up there every winter and keep it at the reclaimed scrap end of technology (but with just as much innovation when it comes to finding something that will grip on ice...)
Lots of stuff on the geeky end of bicycling at http://www.ihpva.org A UK based magazine on the wider aspects of cycling around the world is Velovision http://www.velovision.co.uk
There's even people who ride unicycles off-road (Muni - mountain unicycle - they call at) and a US company, Haluzak, who have been making off-road recumbents for years.
For interesting extras I've had on my bikes over the years the Air Zound (120 Db+ air horn - pumped up by a bike pump) and the Mountain Drive (extra low gears contained in the bottom bracket - really does let you haul heavy loads up mountains) are my favorites.
Might be a chance of getting mainstream sponsorship in the near future - it looks as though Cannondale might have picked a good time to lauch there own recumbent.
http://www.eland.uklinux.net/cgi-bin/articledb_l is t.pl?DBmode=full&DBform=HTML&DBstorynumber=228
Has some story and pictures.
Re:World record or US record?
on
Biking @ 80 MPH
·
· Score: 1
World record.
This is the record for speeds reached without the assistance of gravity or artificial assistance.
9.81m/s/s would allow sufficiently brave/stupid (delete as applicable) stunt performers to break the 100m record if you could 100m above a landing area...
No external power can be used to help forward motion - the fans Mat Weaver uses to improve airflow are powered by his own pedalling. Climbing up a hill is effectively the same as using a battery - the height you gain is simply a way of storing potential energy.
Re:Why no recumbents in Tour de France?
on
Biking @ 80 MPH
·
· Score: 1
With distance of over 1000KM in 24 hours for unsupported HPVs it loks as though a field of fully faired recumbents could actually match or exceed the performance of the TdeF peleton.
However it would be a completely different kind of race - effectively a lot of consecutive time trials, with no advantage to being in a group (I've tried to draft recumbents just with tail fairings and there's nothing to hang onto). Mike Burrows (who designed the Windcheetah & Ratcatcher recumbents and the monocoque carbon fibre bike that Chris Boardman rode to Olympic gold - surely one of the most re-used designs in track cycling these days) has been racing uprights & HPVs for years and would like to see more recgonition for HPVs but would not like to see faired stage races as it would utterly change - for the worse he (and I) think - the style of the racing. The peleton aerodynamic effects simply do not apply if you have efficient rear fairings - recent wind tunnel test in the UK showed that a faired Windcheetah trike had the same drag at 40mph to a fully tucked racing cyclist at 20mph...
With the IHPVA getting considerable media attention for the recent event at Battle Mountain it loks as though there is a chance that HPV racing will get recognition regardless of the UCI.
The BBC were following Jason Queally's first attempt with a film crew and took considerable time intereviewing the other competitiors as well - a documentary is apparently in the pipeline.
One of the current problems though is that major events, such as the Olympics, like to deal with single governing bodies and so are politically inclined to only listen to the UCI with regards to what kind of pedal sports they wil allow at their events. Whether this will change in the forseeable future - who can tell?
Had one for 4 years and about 20,000 miles.
(A bit down over the last year, used to help run cycling holidays, now work on academic computers - more mileage, but less money, in the former:)
PLanning to buy a recumbent bike now as well, went down to try it out at hte weekend and fell off much - too used to leaning body not bike on corners, and forgetting to put feet down when I stopped... Oh well, I'll p[robably still get one (it will get thourgh the traffic much faster when it's busy round here - York has narrow streets!) but will ahve to unlearn some reflexes!
The estimated cw of the Varna Diablo that set the record is something like 0.05...
Matt Weaver, who built and raced the Kyle Edge is currently working on complete laminar flow, by using small fans to suck air in towards the back of the fairing and continue laminar flow past the noirmal point of turbulence.
Anything that helps speed up a machine relying on the limited power output of the human body must be effiecient in the extreme and so is in many cases ahead of much automobile aerodynamic. See the Rocky Mountain Institute's work on 'hypercars' for an example of how a number of smaller benefits can synergise into a massive improvement.
As a recumbent trike rider I know from rough empircal test that my aerodynamic postion is more or less the same as a fully aero-tucked racing cyclist, without the discomfort. But even with luggage and a pretty steep hill it's hard to get much over 50mph. The benefits of fairing at speeds of over 25 outwiegh the weight costs as long as you are a strong ewnough rider to keep enough speed going _up_ the hills.
Slashdot Mirror
If you want to get _really_ geeky you can always start riding the wierd bikes too. Recumbents, Tandem, Tricycles (or any combination of the above) all add to the variation - and there's nothing quite like following a recumbent tandem trike to realise how much road prescence a 4' wide, 15' long HPV can have.
Also have a look at the serious end of Human Powered Vehicles for extreme geekiness. Some of the latest speed machines don't have windows - you use a fibre optic camera to a flat-screen display on the handlebars as that improves the aerodynamics.
At the other end you have the Minnesota groups who race ice bikes on the frozen stuff up there every winter and keep it at the reclaimed scrap end of technology (but with just as much innovation when it comes to finding something that will grip on ice...)
Lots of stuff on the geeky end of bicycling at http://www.ihpva.org
A UK based magazine on the wider aspects of cycling around the world is Velovision
http://www.velovision.co.uk
There's even people who ride unicycles off-road (Muni - mountain unicycle - they call at) and a US company, Haluzak, who have been making off-road recumbents for years.
For interesting extras I've had on my bikes over the years the Air Zound (120 Db+ air horn - pumped up by a bike pump) and the Mountain Drive (extra low gears contained in the bottom bracket - really does let you haul heavy loads up mountains) are my favorites.
But the wheel was patented, in Australia, by a Lawyer who wanted to point out the ridiculous new Australian patent legislation...
r s.html
He won an IgNoble Pirze for it too...
http://www.improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinne
Get a recumbent and you even have some Geek Factor
- and more comfort, speed & safety...
Might be a chance of getting mainstream sponsorship in the near future - it looks as though Cannondale might have picked a good time to lauch there own recumbent.
l is t.pl?DBmode=full&DBform=HTML&DBstorynumber=228
http://www.eland.uklinux.net/cgi-bin/articledb_
Has some story and pictures.
World record.
This is the record for speeds reached without the assistance of gravity or artificial assistance.
9.81m/s/s would allow sufficiently brave/stupid (delete as applicable) stunt performers to break the 100m record if you could 100m above a landing area...
No external power can be used to help forward motion - the fans Mat Weaver uses to improve airflow are powered by his own pedalling. Climbing up a hill is effectively the same as using a battery - the height you gain is simply a way of storing potential energy.
With distance of over 1000KM in 24 hours for unsupported HPVs it loks as though a field of fully faired recumbents could actually match or exceed the performance of the TdeF peleton.
However it would be a completely different kind of race - effectively a lot of consecutive time trials, with no advantage to being in a group (I've tried to draft recumbents just with tail fairings and there's nothing to hang onto). Mike Burrows (who designed the Windcheetah & Ratcatcher recumbents and the monocoque carbon fibre bike that Chris Boardman rode to Olympic gold - surely one of the most re-used designs in track cycling these days) has been racing uprights & HPVs for years and would like to see more recgonition for HPVs but would not like to see faired stage races as it would utterly change - for the worse he (and I) think - the style of the racing. The peleton aerodynamic effects simply do not apply if you have efficient rear fairings - recent wind tunnel test in the UK showed that a faired Windcheetah trike had the same drag at 40mph to a fully tucked racing cyclist at 20mph...
With the IHPVA getting considerable media attention for the recent event at Battle Mountain it loks as though there is a chance that HPV racing will get recognition regardless of the UCI.
The BBC were following Jason Queally's first attempt with a film crew and took considerable time intereviewing the other competitiors as well - a documentary is apparently in the pipeline.
One of the current problems though is that major events, such as the Olympics, like to deal with single governing bodies and so are politically inclined to only listen to the UCI with regards to what kind of pedal sports they wil allow at their events. Whether this will change in the forseeable future - who can tell?
Had one for 4 years and about 20,000 miles. :)
(A bit down over the last year, used to help run cycling holidays, now work on academic computers - more mileage, but less money, in the former
PLanning to buy a recumbent bike now as well, went down to try it out at hte weekend and fell off much - too used to leaning body not bike on corners, and forgetting to put feet down when I stopped... Oh well, I'll p[robably still get one (it will get thourgh the traffic much faster when it's busy round here - York has narrow streets!) but will ahve to unlearn some reflexes!
The estimated cw of the Varna Diablo that set the record is something like 0.05...
Matt Weaver, who built and raced the Kyle Edge is currently working on complete laminar flow, by using small fans to suck air in towards the back of the fairing and continue laminar flow past the noirmal point of turbulence.
Anything that helps speed up a machine relying on the limited power output of the human body must be effiecient in the extreme and so is in many cases ahead of much automobile aerodynamic. See the Rocky Mountain Institute's work on 'hypercars' for an example of how a number of smaller benefits can synergise into a massive improvement.
As a recumbent trike rider I know from rough empircal test that my aerodynamic postion is more or less the same as a fully aero-tucked racing cyclist, without the discomfort. But even with luggage and a pretty steep hill it's hard to get much over 50mph. The benefits of fairing at speeds of over 25 outwiegh the weight costs as long as you are a strong ewnough rider to keep enough speed going _up_ the hills.