Aero Road Frames

BAZINGA213 said:

With all of these new, aero road frames being released, I was wondering, how do you know if a road frame is more aero than another frame? For example, how do we know that the Specialized Venge is not as aero as an S5 or vice versa. Without us having a whole lot of access to a wind tunnel or a lot of money just to test all of these frames, how can we decide which frame is more aero? Just a thought

Go to a wind tunnel, that's how you know.

Yeah, but it would just waste time and money for testing bikes. Let's say you want an S5, Foil, or Madone 7. Your budget only fits one bike. How would you test all 3 bikes in the wind tunnel if you could only afford one of those bikes?

We like to split hairs, don't we?

BAZINGA213 said:

Yeah, but it would just waste time and money for testing bikes. Let's say you want an S5, Foil, or Madone 7. Your budget only fits one bike. How would you test all 3 bikes in the wind tunnel if you could only afford one of those bikes?

You aren't going to know which is better aerodynamically without that test or some other test that holds all conditions constant, except for the bike frame. It doesn't really matter much anyway. Those frames are road frames, not full-on TT frames, so your body position--which will change over the course of the ride will have a much bigger impact than the frame aerodynamics. The aero qualities are also dependent on components: some frames are faster with Brand X wheels, while others might be faster with Brand Y. As oldbobcat alluded, the difference between the three will likely be pretty damned small. Instead of focusing on aerodynamics, I 'd suggest focusing on which frame fits better, rides better, best tickles your aesthetic sensibilities, and best fits your budget.

I was wondering, how do you know if a road frame is more aero than another frame? For example, how do we know that the Specialized Venge is not as aero as an S5 or vice versa. Without us having a whole lot of access to a wind tunnel or a lot of money just to test all of these frames, how can we decide which frame is more aero? Just a thought

dfgjedgrd said:

 I was wondering, how do you know if a road frame is more aero than another frame? For example, how do we know that the Specialized Venge is not as aero as an S5 or vice versa. Without us having a whole lot of access to a wind tunnel or a lot of money just to test all of these frames, how can we decide which frame is more aero? Just a thought

In the strictest sense, you don't know. You have to rely on studies done by either third parties (preferable) or the manufacturers, and relying on the manufacturers' data can be dodgy. They're unlikely to lie about data, but they can set up test parameters to provide optimal conditions for their frames (wheels.....helmets......etc......). Unless magazines take frames to the wind tunnel, their view of what is most aero isn't worth anything, not even the cost of the photons exiting your screen and incident on your retina.

You could be all fancy pants or you could buy a Cervelo P1 and push the saddle back a bit and put on a set of road bars and for less than a cost of a bare framed S-Works Venge frame you could have an extremely aero bike AND a set of HED Jet6 wheels.

My option is aero and has wheels and doesn't force you into the fetal position wondering about castration when you tell the wife that your hobby that involves shaving your legs and wearing lycra just cost $9,000 when uncle numpty falls off infront of you on a Tuesday night ride and kills your McLaren Venge 500 yards up the road from the bike shop where the ride started from.

Another way of looking at it - if you spent as much time stretching as you did working for the money that you'll spend on an aero frame you'd be able to have the bike/rider combo more aero than Mr Situp and Beg on a fancy frame. [IMG]/img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif[/IMG]

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by alienator [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

You aren't going to know which is better aerodynamically without that test or some other test that holds all conditions constant, except for the bike frame. It doesn't really matter much anyway. Those frames are road frames, not full-on TT frames, so your body position--which will change over the course of the ride will have a much bigger impact than the frame aerodynamics. The aero qualities are also dependent on components: some frames are faster with Brand X wheels, while others might be faster with Brand Y. As oldbobcat alluded, the difference between the three will likely be pretty damned small.
Instead of focusing on aerodynamics, I 'd suggest focusing on which frame fits better, rides better, best tickles your aesthetic sensibilities, and best fits your budget.

seems proffesional, [IMG]/img/vbsmilies/smilies/icon14.gif[/IMG],