Aerodynamics of real-world bicycles

[California98Civic]

Researching fairings for my electric bike, I ran into this article and learned that fairings might be worse than useless. Who knew? Also, the tuck is the best. That's free! I can do more of that!

https://janheine.wordpress.com/2012/...orld-bicycles/

[Sven7]

Awesome! I'm going to go home and lower my stem tonight.

Who knows what they used for "fairings" though?

[kach22i]

Good article, but I'm going to treat this like any other topic focused on competition.

I ride my bike for exercise, extra drag means more work, means a better work out.

Just like swimming, I've just started swimming this summer and my bathing suit acts like a parachute compared to the speedos the other guys are wearing. More work (more drag) means I'll be stronger.

In boxing the training gloves weigh more than the fight day gloves for a reason.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by Sven7

Awesome! I'm going to go home and lower my stem tonight.

Who knows what they used for "fairings" though?

I think I'll place an interlibrary loan request for the article. I'll post what I learn into this thread. I plan to lower my stem, shave the ends of my MTB style handlebars so my hands-distance matches my shoulders-distance, wear non-loose ( but not tight) clothes, and tuck more often. Lots more often for the tuck! 38% and it's free?! Every ecomodder knows what that means.

[Sven7]

I always forget that libraries share stuff like that. Good luck, and I look forward to seeing it! I'm sure the IHPVA has some stats somewhere too, but I don't feel like rooting through forty years of PDF's to find it.

As for tucks... for me it's a comfort issue. I'm much happier on flat bars than in drops. But by all means, if you're comfortable in a tuck, go for it. It's also nice that bicycle "fuel" is much cheaper than gasoline.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Good article, but I'm going to treat this like any other topic focused on competition.

I ride my bike for exercise, extra drag means more work, means a better work out. ...

Yeah, I like that attitude here too. But my bike is not *just* for exercise. It also needs range for the practical purposes of 20-30 mile days climbing sometimes 4% grades for long stretches. So certain aero improvements that help me save muscle energy and battery energy for when I most need it are welcome.

[Vman455]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Good article, but I'm going to treat this like any other topic focused on competition.

I ride my bike for exercise, extra drag means more work, means a better work out.

Just like swimming, I've just started swimming this summer and my bathing suit acts like a parachute compared to the speedos the other guys are wearing. More work (more drag) means I'll be stronger.

In boxing the training gloves weigh more than the fight day gloves for a reason.

Unless you're deliberately holding back during a workout, lower drag won't make you not as strong. You'll just go faster on the same wattage during training.

[California98Civic]

Just did an aero experiment (not scientific). Today the wind is blowing steady at 6mph straight up a river bike path near my home on my commute. The path is flat, straight, and in great shape. I decided to informally ABABAB test my aero tuck. In calm conditions I get a little over 22 mph (approx) electric only, full throttle. I wound the throttle out and got to 20.3 MPH (approx). Then I tucked in close the the handle bar, pulled hands, elbows, and knees in, and got to 21.8 (approx). I did this over and over for probably a mile or more.

Result: I kept seeing approximately a 1.5 mph difference between upright and fully tucked position. That almost a 7% difference,

This is noticeable but not as significant as the article suggests. Reasons for that might be the wind gusts of up to 10 mph somehow messing with the results or especially the loaded pannier behind me on one side. A loaded pannier would make whatever I do up front less significant, I would bet.

[Grant-53]

A good fairing system starts with a bike that fits the rider comfortably. The lower the shoulders, the less frontal area you have. The fairing guides the air around you smoothly. Just a front fairing doesn't do that well enough. My big touring style winter fairing is 1 mph slower in a coast down test (16 mph) without a matching tail box. ALWAYS mount the fairing to the frame, NOT the handlebars. That way the wind will hardly affect steering.

For safety use a rear view mirror and lights. Check the local auto parts store for light weight dual racing mirrors.

[UFO]

Tucking for any length of time is very taxing. I prefer riding a recumbent, you get better aero and better endurance too.