Possible aero mods for conventional frame bicycle

[sendler]

One of the fastest bikes in the world is a "Mirror design".
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You lie on your back, head first, and look out through a mirror

[AndrzejM]

Interesting topic. Subscribed!

[Sven7]

I would suggest visiting EcoModder's "Alternative Transportation" forum for more in-depth coverage. Here is a thread we were discussing just this week!

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ike-31669.html

You might want to peruse these as well, as they're more focused:

IHPVA - International Human Powered Vehicle Association

It's mostly recumbent-oriented but you do see a few articles about streamlining diamond frame bikes. The first issue has a lot of DF pictures.

Another great resource is Recumbents.com, and although it is dedicated to bents, you will be able to adapt many of the design and construction techniques to a diamond frame.

Much like ecomodders, the HPV crowd loves coroplast and boat tails, so you'll probably fit right in.

PS- It should be noted that there is a lot of money-grabbing club-racing nonsense in the Bicycle Industry, but I've found the grassroots HPV racers to be much more honest about what actually works. If you look up the UCI ban on recumbents in 1934, you'll see why the conventional bike industry mostly avoids the "low hanging fruit" aeromods. This makes it more difficult for the average Joe to optimize his non-racing performance.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by freebeard

So... reverse-recumbent is prone; but I'm having trouble picturing a 'camera' design.

It's weird to me: the rider is recumbent,but head first inside the shell and must rely on mirrors or camera/monitor to see the track which is 'behind' him.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by freebeard

So... reverse-recumbent is prone; but I'm having trouble picturing a 'camera' design.

The camera bikes have no windshield and rely entirely on synthetic vision via monitor(s).
The Delft University (world's fastest bike) is set up this way.
Here is a badly focused shot of Delft's upper body with dual camera pod

Here is the bikes lower half.The rider would have no forward vision because of the mechanicals if not for the camera system.The loss of the canopy perturbation allows for a laminar boundary layer over more than 66% body length on a calm day.
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[freebeard]

Sounds like a job for Occulus Rift, Magic Leap or HoloLens, for the 3D vision.

...or like sendler says, a mirror.

[BLSTIC]

I'm curious, building on that (failed) kickstarter campaign (which I believe had nothing to do with the product, their videos were technically fulfilling but *really* boring to listen to), why does he not cover the tyre as well?

[Grant-53]

As fascinating as the high speed recumbents and Shell mileage vehicles are they have limitations in urban traffic situations. The cost of such vehicles is considerable as well. For us po' folk who commute we are dealing with bikes in the $300-400 USD range. In traffic a rear camera might be worthwhile.

[aerohead]

I wanted to follow up on Eric Barone's 'speedsuit',which helped set the speed record.
Here's the shot Cd shared with us

Here's Eric off the bike

Here's a downhill skier with the lower leg fairings,but not the arm fairings.

If you consider these elements as a raw gun barrel,you can see how the apparel modifications can lead to lower drag.

[BLSTIC]

Originally Posted by Grant-53

As fascinating as the high speed recumbents and Shell mileage vehicles are they have limitations in urban traffic situations. The cost of such vehicles is considerable as well. For us po' folk who commute we are dealing with bikes in the $300-400 USD range. In traffic a rear camera might be worthwhile.

It's an interesting thing which I got to thinking about recently (making an upright aero bike commercially) but I can't see a way of producing an aero bike in that price range that uses quality components. Bikes are only that cheap due to mass production, and aero-bikes aren't going to be a mass consumption thing unless the UCI lets them in.

Hell, you can't even mass produce an aero kit because of the huge variations in current bike designs (any universal fit thing can't be optimal for everything it goes on).

But if you're willing to coroplast your way to aero (as all of us nut jobs here are) you could.

I wonder if a faired upright with side access (fixed fairings) could be made as aero as licra-clad-aero-bar-man?