Aerodynamics / Aerodynamic Cost / Aero parts

Having said all that about the control system, I can see a control panel next to the door. Motor power goes up to 250kW and draws 500A, so not as powerful as I thought! Got to say, it would be ****ing awesome to fire one of these up.

As long as it’s tested and still in date

Or new 🙂

"The fan became damaged during one experiment"

If that's what happened to solid wooden fan blades, I hope whatever fell off the test stand wasn't a cyclist 😮

aero testing (...) urban layouts.

I didn't even know that was a thing.

Thanks for sharing btw!

I didn't even know that was a thing

It didn't used to be. Your structural engineer would include a fairly crude wind load factor in his calculations to make sure your house didn't blow down (hint: use bricks rather than sticks or straw) but nobody cared that the flow field around the base of a tower block was a mortal hazard to cyclists in anything more than a light breeze (see Euston Tower)

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See also the story of 601 Lexington

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/04/17/the_citicorp_tower_design_flaw_that_could_have_wiped_out_the_skyscraper.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citigroup_Center

It was featured on one of those engineering tv shows. Basically at the time they calculated wind loads side on and years later a student redid the calcs if the wind hit the corners. Because of the weird design to hover the bulk of the building over a church, the corner loading in a storm could've collapse the building.

flow field

Nasa is working on that apparently, you know, for drones and jetpacks.

for drones and jetpacks

Well, there's that too, but it would be a start if they could just make towns more comfortable for pedestrians and cyclists at ground level.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe8YSVzxx14

What helmet is this (on Jessica Rhodes-Jones (going really fast))?

att: @xavierdisley

Wasp

Thanks. Appropriate name!

I am sure its aero an all... BUT....
https://capovelo.com/speeco-flaunts-radical-aero-abb-aero-breakaway-bar-handlebar/

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I like the thinking behind the bars, it’s more about longer term comfort and control in the aero hoods position, rather than increased aero as such?

Doesn’t look any worse than some track specific bars.

having long reach bars is ofc something jan heine has talked about, albeit for more hand positions/geometry reasons rather than aerodynamics. the idea doesn't seem bad generally

As long as you don't climb out of the saddle.

Hoods (and drops) are in the same place so wouldn't make a difference

But the tops will be closer to your knees.

lol, closer to your arse too

It does when you smack your knees on the tops...

I really can't see that being a problem even for small sprinters

I mean people use some very short stems on their pursuit bikes and no one smashes their knees during a starting effort

You keep your mass within the wheelbase while out of the saddle, so track riders won't go so far over the front given they're on a flat surface.

track riders won't go so far over the front given they're on a flat surface.

But they are accelerating along the track and can't tell the difference between acceleration and gravity, so they actually get further forward than somebody doing a constant speed on a slope less than the resultant vector of the gravitational and forward accelerations.

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I can easily hit the drops with my knees on a 140mm stem. Can't say about short people but for lanky mutants that climb out of the saddle it's definitely a problem

They look interesting. But do they come in a range of different sizes, like stems, or is just one size fits some?