Homemade fairings

[Steve Hodgson]

As I was cycling home today I passed someone riding a bike fitted with a
large home-made fairing. I could see there might be some benefits to this on
a recumbent but I'm not sure I see one adding anything (other than weight) to
a conventional bike.

Would protection from wind and rain be a great benefit?
--
Cheers,

Steve

The reply-to email address is a spam trap.
Email steve 'at' shodgson 'dot' org 'dot' uk

 

[Mark Thompson]

> As I was cycling home today I passed someone riding a bike fitted with
> a large home-made fairing. I could see there might be some benefits to
> this on a recumbent but I'm not sure I see one adding anything (other
> than weight) to a conventional bike.

It'd give a much higher top speed. Somewhere there's a pic of a chap with
a faired upright bicycle - someone'll prolly be along with a link soon.

> Would protection from wind and rain be a great benefit?

Well, the fairing would keep the rain off, but any crosswind would prolly
see you veering into the path of overtaking buses.

 

[Mike Causer]

On Sun, 21 Jan 2007 14:15:53 +0000, Mark Thompson wrote:

>> As I was cycling home today I passed someone riding a bike fitted with
>> a large home-made fairing. I could see there might be some benefits to
>> this on a recumbent but I'm not sure I see one adding anything (other
>> than weight) to a conventional bike.
>
> It'd give a much higher top speed. Somewhere there's a pic of a chap with
> a faired upright bicycle - someone'll prolly be along with a link soon.

You rang sir?
http://www.zzipper.com/Products/prod_upright.html



Mike

 

[Steve Hodgson]

On 2007-01-21 17:54:46 +0000, Mike Causer
<[email protected]> said:

> On Sun, 21 Jan 2007 14:15:53 +0000, Mark Thompson wrote:
>
>>> As I was cycling home today I passed someone riding a bike fitted with
>>> a large home-made fairing. I could see there might be some benefits to
>>> this on a recumbent but I'm not sure I see one adding anything (other
>>> than weight) to a conventional bike.
>>
>> It'd give a much higher top speed. Somewhere there's a pic of a chap
>> with a faired upright bicycle - someone'll prolly be along with a link
>> soon.
>
> You rang sir?
> http://www.zzipper.com/Products/prod_upright.html

Fantastic way to keep bar bags dry! Still can't see the extra 1.5lb.
being dramatically offset by improved aerodynamics.
--
Cheers,

Steve

The reply-to email address is a spam trap.
Email steve 'at' shodgson 'dot' org 'dot' uk

 

[Peter Clinch]

Steve Hodgson wrote:
> As I was cycling home today I passed someone riding a bike fitted with a
> large home-made fairing. I could see there might be some benefits to this on
> a recumbent but I'm not sure I see one adding anything (other than weight) to
> a conventional bike.
>
> Would protection from wind and rain be a great benefit?

Depends on the amount of wind and rain (and cold). Wind from other
directions than the direct front might actually cause problems with a
fairing. I've seen bar fairings on m/bikes (that is individual bar
covers, not a handlebar mounted half-fairing) that might have a cycle
application for the real cold by giving you a hard shell around and away
from gloves/hands.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

[Rob Morley]

In article <[email protected]>, Peter Clinch
[email protected] says...
<snip>
> I've seen bar fairings on m/bikes (that is individual bar
> covers, not a handlebar mounted half-fairing)

On dirt bikes those are hand guards intended for crash protection, on
road bikes thay are bar muffs for keeping the weather off - I used to
use the latter but found that at high speeds they tended to press
against the levers.

 

[dkahn400]

Steve Hodgson wrote:

> Fantastic way to keep bar bags dry! Still can't see the extra 1.5lb.
> being dramatically offset by improved aerodynamics.

As usual the answer is "it depends". If you're riding in traffic, doing
a lot of stop-start, or riding uphill the weight will be significant.
For cruising at speed on the flat, a few pounds extra weight would be
insignificant compared with even a moderate aerodynamic advantage.

--
Dave...

 

[Alan Braggins]

In article <[email protected]>, Steve Hodgson wrote:
>On 2007-01-21 17:54:46 +0000, Mike Causer
>> On Sun, 21 Jan 2007 14:15:53 +0000, Mark Thompson wrote:
>>
>>>> As I was cycling home today I passed someone riding a bike fitted with
>>>> a large home-made fairing. I could see there might be some benefits to
>>>> this on a recumbent but I'm not sure I see one adding anything (other
>>>> than weight) to a conventional bike.
>>>
>>> It'd give a much higher top speed. Somewhere there's a pic of a chap
>>> with a faired upright bicycle - someone'll prolly be along with a link
>>> soon.
>>
>> You rang sir?
>> http://www.zzipper.com/Products/prod_upright.html
>
>Fantastic way to keep bar bags dry! Still can't see the extra 1.5lb.
>being dramatically offset by improved aerodynamics.

Depends where you cycle. I go through Mike's home village on my commute,
then up the largest hill on the route to the next village, climbing
twelve meters in a kilometer and a half. There are two windmills on top
of the hill. So round here, sacrificing a little weight for improved
aerodynamics might be more worthwhile than somewhere hillier.
On the other hand, anything that encourages a gusty sidewind to push you
across the road in front of a sugar beet lorry is a bad idea.

 

[Grant-53]

Fairings on an upright bike need to be attached to the frame to avoid steering input from cross winds. Lightweight materials make for a very effective improvement in speed and protection.