J
Tim McNamara wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] wrote:
>
> > Ron Ruff wrote:
> > > [email protected] wrote:
> > >
> > > > Once race rules are taken out of the equation (which makes sense
> > > > since, yet agian, they apply to only a tiny fraction of miles
> > > > ridden) the sky's the limit for tricks one might use to get a
> > > > faster bike.
> > >
> > > If you want the fastest "bike", then you want a faired recumbent.
> > > Search here for some ideas: http://www.ihpva.org/
> > >
> > > If you want a fast upright, then look at current TT bikes... you
> > > won't do much better than that.
> >
> > Probably false. Any data?
>
> Well, Ron should have been more specific since it's "horses for
> courses."
I thought I was pretty clear to start things out that I was looking for
"illegal" and even easy ways to boost upright bike speed. No question
or interest in HPVs in this thread. Ron shouldn't try to hijack the
thread clearly or unclearly.
> Over 60 km, I think you'd find that TT bikes are
> significantly faster than standard road bikes. Over 600 km, you might
> find something different. Few people could ride a TdF TT bike 600 km.
Good point.
A touring bike with faired accessories should be very comfy and also
fast. But even a fast road bike for fun rides could probably be lots
faster than it is now since it's likely set up to meet rules which its
rider never needs to meet.
> Given that the IHPVA faired recumbent hour record distance is
> significantly farther than Chris Boardman's funny bike record, and given
> the annuals speeds at Battle Mountain, it's clear that high-zoot
> aerodynamics make bikes faster. But I'd still rather ride Boardman's
> funny bike on real life roads than Fast Freddy's streamliner.
Probably not in terms of real world bikes. There are everyday
streetable streamliners that readily cruise 30+mph---very comfy and
even offering cargo space. You'd never want to ride a superman style
Obree bike on the street. Tribars on a regular bike can be comfy,
though.
Note that for "quicky" partially faired bikes that tribikes come very
close to partly faired recumbents. They're basically on par. It may
well be that a nicely faired upright bike (with moderate "pod" fairing
units for aerobars and for back of the saddle, and with other add-ons)
would be as fast as a partly faired recumbent and still quite handy and
comfy for many people for moderate distances. Much more work has been
done on buffing up the speed of 'bents, though. Really very little has
been done for uprights---no reason why that I can see. As I've said,
many uprighters like going fast for a given effort. No reason why not.
And as I said even racers could benefit from training with overspeed
bikes.
--JP
> In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] wrote:
>
> > Ron Ruff wrote:
> > > [email protected] wrote:
> > >
> > > > Once race rules are taken out of the equation (which makes sense
> > > > since, yet agian, they apply to only a tiny fraction of miles
> > > > ridden) the sky's the limit for tricks one might use to get a
> > > > faster bike.
> > >
> > > If you want the fastest "bike", then you want a faired recumbent.
> > > Search here for some ideas: http://www.ihpva.org/
> > >
> > > If you want a fast upright, then look at current TT bikes... you
> > > won't do much better than that.
> >
> > Probably false. Any data?
>
> Well, Ron should have been more specific since it's "horses for
> courses."
I thought I was pretty clear to start things out that I was looking for
"illegal" and even easy ways to boost upright bike speed. No question
or interest in HPVs in this thread. Ron shouldn't try to hijack the
thread clearly or unclearly.
> Over 60 km, I think you'd find that TT bikes are
> significantly faster than standard road bikes. Over 600 km, you might
> find something different. Few people could ride a TdF TT bike 600 km.
Good point.
A touring bike with faired accessories should be very comfy and also
fast. But even a fast road bike for fun rides could probably be lots
faster than it is now since it's likely set up to meet rules which its
rider never needs to meet.
> Given that the IHPVA faired recumbent hour record distance is
> significantly farther than Chris Boardman's funny bike record, and given
> the annuals speeds at Battle Mountain, it's clear that high-zoot
> aerodynamics make bikes faster. But I'd still rather ride Boardman's
> funny bike on real life roads than Fast Freddy's streamliner.
Probably not in terms of real world bikes. There are everyday
streetable streamliners that readily cruise 30+mph---very comfy and
even offering cargo space. You'd never want to ride a superman style
Obree bike on the street. Tribars on a regular bike can be comfy,
though.
Note that for "quicky" partially faired bikes that tribikes come very
close to partly faired recumbents. They're basically on par. It may
well be that a nicely faired upright bike (with moderate "pod" fairing
units for aerobars and for back of the saddle, and with other add-ons)
would be as fast as a partly faired recumbent and still quite handy and
comfy for many people for moderate distances. Much more work has been
done on buffing up the speed of 'bents, though. Really very little has
been done for uprights---no reason why that I can see. As I've said,
many uprighters like going fast for a given effort. No reason why not.
And as I said even racers could benefit from training with overspeed
bikes.
--JP
