evans@mhuxt.UUCP (crandall) (07/02/85)
The 10/85 issue of Bicycling has a picture of the $149 Huffy "Olympia" funny bike look-alike for 13 yr olds. The bike looks pretty grim, but the comment is made that the rear wheel covers are bolt-ons and that, although noisy, they are very efficient aerodynamically. It would be interesting to try them in a crosswind. Steve Crandall ihnp4!mhuxt!evans
fred@varian.UUCP (Fred Klink) (07/08/85)
The aero wheels used in competition have discs *instead of* spokes, not discs fastened over conventional wheels. This is a clever way of skirting the UCI rule that a competition bike can have no component that is solely to improve aerodynamics of the bike or rider. Point is, you probably won't find "bolt-on" discs for serious cycling in the near future. The improvement from disks is only seen on reasonably flat courses without serious crosswinds. Phil Anderson used a conventional bike for the first half of Saturday's Tour de France time trial (which was uphill), because he felt the extra weight of the disc wheels would be a disadvantage on the climb. He switched to a disc-wheel bike for the flat portion. Unless you plan to have a follow car, I question if discs would give an overall advantage for sport/touring rides.
jhs@druri.UUCP (ShoreJ) (07/08/85)
Does anyone know if there are production-model wheel disks available?
I'd like to give them a try if they're "bolt-on" and would fit
Rigida (narrow clincher) 700C wheels.
Also, re fairings: (1) What are the negatives to using a fairing such
as the Zzipper? I know (most of) the advantages.
(2) Has anyone had any experience with the (new?)
"Aero" fairing advertised in last month's
Bicycling magazine?
If fairings were previously discussed on this net, could someone
send a summary (if one exists) of the feedback?
Thanx in advance for any info.
-- Jeff Shore
..!ihnp4!druri!jhs
(303) 538-4195 or 457-4420keesan@bbnccv.UUCP (Morris M. Keesan) (07/09/85)
In article <1119@druri.UUCP> jhs@druri.UUCP (Jeff Shore) writes: >If fairings were previously discussed on this net, could someone >send a summary (if one exists) of the feedback? About a year ago (shortly after the Scientific American article came out), I posted a request for people's experiences with fairings. I only got one response, which was from someone who said that he wasn't a good enough cyclist to notice any aerodynamic advantage, but that his Zzipper fairing was a great help by shielding him from cold winds when cycling in the winter. I haven't seen anything at all on the net about fairings since then. -- Morris M. Keesan keesan@bbn-unix.ARPA {decvax,ihnp4,etc.}!bbncca!keesan