Did some Hard Maths On What Gives the Most SPEED Gains

[Ming the Merciless]

The rolling resistance is proportional to the rider + bike weight and speed. Did you take this into account? Bike rolling resistance website usually tests at 30km/h so you cannot just use those figures directly in your calc.

 

[Tin Pot]

It’s helmet and aero position, the rest are marginal gains.

 

[StuAff]

View attachment 408602
About €8-9,000 gives the most speed gains.....
About 60-70% lower drag than an upright. In other words, for the same power output you need to do 20 mph, you'd be doing 30 or 35.....

 

[classic33]

View attachment 408602
About €8-9,000 gives the most speed gains.....
About 60-70% lower drag than an upright. In other words, for the same power output you need to do 20 mph, you'd be doing 30 or 35.....

One on here going for less!

 

[Tigerbiten]

View attachment 408602
About €8-9,000 gives the most speed gains.....
About 60-70% lower drag than an upright. In other words, for the same power output you need to do 20 mph, you'd be doing 30 or 35.....

Only on the flat.
On a long draggy uphill slope where you're not in the aerozone then the extra weight kill your speed.
Also without any airflow you have to be careful you don't overheat. If you do overheat then you need to drop your power output which drops your speed even more.
I run into both these problems hill climbing on my bent trike.

 

[Globalti]

My best bike has a set of Rubino Pro Speed tyres that, in reviews, perform best at 110 lbs and above. I normally pump them to 95/100 but last night I tried 105/110 and on my 9.5 miles with 820 feet of climb evening quickie circuit I was 1.5 mph faster than I've ever done it, despite a strong breeze part of the way. Coincidence?

 

[Tin Pot]

N=1=Statisitical insignificance

 

[StuAff]

Only on the flat.
On a long draggy uphill slope where you're not in the aerozone then the extra weight kill your speed.
Also without any airflow you have to be careful you don't overheat. If you do overheat then you need to drop your power output which drops your speed even more.
I run into both these problems hill climbing on my bent trike.

Indeed.

 

[Gravity Aided]

View attachment 408602
About €8-9,000 gives the most speed gains.....
About 60-70% lower drag than an upright. In other words, for the same power output you need to do 20 mph, you'd be doing 30 or 35.....

Fellow at work has a velomobile, and it's amazingly fast.

 

[mjr]

[QUOTE 5239578, member: 9609"]I guess it will be best to pee at the bottom of a hill.[/QUOTE]
No because then you're carrying no momentum into the next uphill. You want to pee just before the steepest part of the descent, as immortalised in the hymn "go do it on the mountain". They knew a thing about cycling, those country vicars!

 

[midlife]

Bring back drillium, not sure if it helps but looks damn sexy

 

[Ian H]

...Presumably things like frame clearances can make a big difference to how air travels over the bike and body, which is why TT bikes have the rear wheel tucked in so tight to the seat tube, for example.

Here's Wilko's record-breaking TT machine.

 

[Mugshot]

What if you pedal really really hard, does that help you go faster?

 

[Smokin Joe]

Bring back drillium, not sure if it helps but looks damn sexy

Ah, them were t'days.

I wouldn't like to brake hard with that front tyre clearence -

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Now there's a set of thigh muscles to dream of.