Quote:
Originally Posted by cvetter
It is horsepower that consumes your fuel.
A vehicle with more horsepower consumes more fuel.
A vehicle with less horsepower consumes less fuel.
Streamlining allows less horsepower to do the job
Therefore, streamlining and horsepower go together.
In American road conditions, 70 mph, into headwinds, etc. we are learning that somewhere around 18 HP* will do the job.
Most 18 HP bikes will not go 70 mph, into a 30 mph headwind, over mountain passes...etc etc. Streamlined, they will. You can see from 5 years of experimenting on my web page that 100mpg can be achieved in normal driving with no change in driving habits. 100 mpg driving the way we really drive is pretty good.
With less than 18 hp and you cannot go typical American speeds.
More than 18 hp would allow you to be able to go faster. You would not notice much in the way of reduced fuel consumption since you have too much horsepower.
Strong demand for streamlined kits? It appears that there is no demand at all. Even among Ecomodders, only one thinks he might buy a nose kit. Read this thread.
If I finish the tooling, I will be happy to sell him or you a nose kit.
By the way... for pricing, I simply double the cost from my fiberglass supplier.
*18 hp is approximate. We are still homing in on the right number |
Thanks Craig, I'm in Australia and buying even parts of your kit would be silly with the freight , so not for me but I want to thank you for all the info and photos you have posted on your site. I will have to make my own but it will be inspired by your work. I hope you don't mind this, it's unfair to you .... were I on the continent US you'd get my money for the cone at least.
A general question , using our calculator
Aerodynamic & rolling resistance, power & MPG calculator - EcoModder.com and pasting in 400 lb weight
8 square foot frontal area
and a cd of .55 I get close to the 18hp at 70mph, perhaps a little more but with a 30 mph headwind as well, an effective 100 mph. I have to paste in a cd of .35 for 18hp.
This seems unlikely with the open sides on Craig's fairing, it's more like Allert territory.
Has anyone calculated what Craig's cd is approximately?
.55 sounds about right to me and a good number too and one I personally would be happy with but it doesn't work on the calculator.