Transporting a Bike min Aero drag
 

Not sure if this has been addressed. For discussion we are talking a normal adult bike, outside a normal sedan, at highway speeds, for a multi thousand mile road trip, and hoping to minimize any added drag. For now, best to ignore road dirt concerns, its not a high cost/value bike, I will be riding it daily, so ease of mount/dismount would be helpful, I'd prefer no bike disassembly, and I'm willing to push the envelope.

Seems like the typical solution is bike standing up crossways behind the trunk on a typical receiver hitch mount. That IMO leaves a lot of bike disrupting air flow exposed.

One idea is, lay/lean it down or even flat. Legally, as long as its with 48" of car's tailights, its no problem. I could make the bike run same direction of car again standing up, which might make for parking hassles, and at least a tail/stop light is added. I could build a transport fairing, but for time/hassle, I'm not inclined to expend any effort beyond a 1/3? fairing, and not sure if it that gives enough bang for buck/effort. I could also maybe make that solution a lay flat alternative. I don't care what it looks like, form follows function and all.

Anybody solved this type of problem, how, and get good results?

Brompton.

Normal riding position:

https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws....eforcities.jpg

Folded:

https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/9...1-1200x783.jpg

Drag penalty: zero.

But they're not cheap, unfortunately.

But many folding bikes are fairly cheap, and if you get a good one, it can transform how you think of bikes.

(Julian: owner of a Brompton, and restoring a Moulton.)

Yes, but you've disallowed the solution so I won't post the pic from my album. For around town where you're taking the bike on and off it's best.

The thread would work best it you provided some context, like.... the vehicle. Get a Golf GTI and take off the front wheel and throw it all in the back. Get the diesel. :)

Guess I'm breaking new ground, again. I covered all the pertinent personal parameters in my opening comment. I did not however mention, I am not willing to ride a bike that is likely somewhat inadequate on trails and miles long rides, and likely less stable, to solve this issue, and I am not willing to travel with a high dollar bike that is effectively "break in bait" when I'm finished riding and I store it, and decide to take an out of view long hike.

Thanks.

Once again define 'a normal adult bike, outside a normal sedan'. What is normal to you?

Is the 'normal sedan' a notchback? Does the 'normal adult bike' have a removable front wheel?

Your not breaking new ground except for posting in Aerodynamics instead of Ecomodding Central or General Efficiency. Central has the most traffic. You want to attract comment from someone like Bicycle Bob or Toecutter.

The picture I wasn't willing to post has a ~$120 bike. The cable lock locks it to the back bumper. The front wheel comes off, but I don't bother. I haven't tested the mileage penalty, but it's within the wake of a 'dirty' car, a [normal] VW Beetle.

No a folder wouldn't be good on really rough trails (ie trails requiring a mountain bike) but it would certainly be fine for normal trails and long rides. And I don't quite see how it is 'break-in bait' - inside a car it wouldn't be visible.

As for stability / practicality / etc, I am a fan of small wheel bikes and other pedal machines. In fact I wrote a whole book on their advantages (a book that few people are buying!).

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....1fGF93w-tL.jpg

Certainly in your position I'd take a good quality folding bike. In fact, the last long driving holiday I went on, I took my Brompton.

removing the front wheel is probably the easiest aeromod available.
My beetle and mountain bike combo I took to commute every day for a year, but not at freeway speeds ever.
I could see bike wheel in either mirror. If you took off the front wheel, and used a disc brake block if necessary, you could shift it sideways to get the bike into the wake more properly.
I made my own hitch mount bike rack to get it as close to the back of the beetle as possible. That's the other thing, tucking it in tight to the rear of the car.

The "theft bait" comment I thought was self explanatory, being the more expensive eye candy an item is ( since taking it out and riding is its main function), the greater attention it gets and the payoff is greater for stealing it.

I've owned several folding bikes. I would not own one again.

I like the idea of turning the bike horizontally. My vote is hitch mounted, horizontal, with as much removed as is convenient. E.g. seat, front wheel.

Off topic, I know.

But don't get me started on small wheeled bikes. So many cheap ones are crap, and so people assume that they're all crap. In fact small wheeled bikes have major advantages over traditional bikes. (But, if only because of scale economies, price isn't one.)

In terms of folders, Bromptons are a class act. Apart from the fact it's much more nimble than a large wheel bike, a blindfolded rider would be hard put to tell the difference between a Brompton and a traditional bike. And yet it fits in a normal suitcase, with nothing removed from the bike. (I bought mine in London and it flew home to Australia in my luggage at no extra charge.)

But then, if you want me to really get excited, start to talk about recumbent trikes...

Probably should start a new topic then. :)

I had a full fairing recumbent trike with a 6000w motor, around 1kwh of lithium, turn signals, running lights, 3 wheel braking, etc. etc. and had a lot of fun with it, but my life was not set up in such a way as to put it to good use.

The last folding bike I owned I found got really squirrelly above around 12mph, and ran out of gearing around there too. My preferred cruising speed is around 20mph. I'll have to take your word on Bromptons, I've never owned one.

I mean, you don't like small wheel bikes, I've got it. But you can get just about anything now bike-wise that will fold and fit in the trunk of a Civic or whatever no problem. And they're nice, too! Montague makes some very nice ones.

Front suspension MTB with 27.5" wheels?
https://www.montaguebikes.com/produc...oper-highline/
https://www.montaguebikes.com/wp-con...ect-Folded.jpg

Hybrid bike with 700c wheels?
https://www.bikecraze.com/Montague-U...urban-dc21.htm
https://www.bikecraze.com/v/vspfiles...che=1551982860

"[B]ridge too far" is an odd way to denigrate the question. So I am to assume you will not identify the year, make and model of the car and bike in question. Perhaps you don't have a car and bike?
Same again. 'Could be' is non-responsive.
The suggestion was to put it in front of more eyes.
The forum is as much about ROI as minimizing wake. Rule of thumbs get push-back.
If the bike is stored on the outside, no-one needs to break in. ???? Buying a [diesel] GTI was a joke.

It's had to respond when you use color to separate quote and response. This response was a lot more trouble than the questions deserve.

samwichse — Good response.

Moulton, 16 inch wheels, 1962.

261km (162mi) distance ridden in 6 hours, 43 minutes and 23 seconds – an average of nearly 39km/h (24mph).

https://i.postimg.cc/pTL3CTYH/2-7.jpg

It wasn't long after that small wheeled bikes were banned from 99 per cent of cycle competitions. The one area where they weren't banned - outright speed records - have been dominated by small wheeled bikes.

bike
 

As mentioned by others, consider yanking the front wheel, then hiding as much of the bike in the wake.
A receiver hitch-mounted cargo box,the shape of a truncated aerodynamic boat-tail would be the ultimate ( bike loaded in diagonally ).It would secure the bike, provide additional storage volume,plus knock down the drag coefficient.
AeroStealth ran the Brett Herndon AeroLid and Herndon boat- tail, reducing his 2014 F-150 from Cd 0.408, down to Cd 0.31. Cybertruck territory!:)

How was that measured?

how?
 

It was measured in the same place as the Tesla Model S reported in your book. And if you don't like the numbers, then please send a retraction out to everyone who bought your book, discounting all the drag coefficients you published.