johnfoss said:*81 mph sounds like the record for *non-paced* cycling. I think speeds
up to 150+ have been managed with motorpacing. Mile-a-minute Murphy
did a one-minute mile about 100 years ago (paced). Surely bikes have
gone a lot faster since then?
Why use a fairing? I can think of three major reasons:
1. Improved speed
2. To look cool
3. Possibly to keep the rain off
1. Improving speed only works if you're going pretty fast in the first
place. Before messing around with fairings, a geared recumbent
unicycle design should be worked out. Got to get the frontal area down
first, before a fairing is going to help at all.
2. Yup, there's always looking cool. Only if you're fully enclosed,
you'd better have a lot of help starting and stopping! Not to mention
riding with any kind of wind. More about this below.
3. The purpose of a fairing, per-se, is not to protect you from the
weather. A weather-proof unicycle sounds pretty ridiculous. You can
use an umbrella to keep the rain off, but you still need something
major to keep the backs of your legs from getting soaked and dirty
because of all the water you're picking up and "wobbling" all over
yourself. So I'd recommend a rain suit and goggles.
Fairings make bike handling unwieldly. That's on a bike. Take away one
of the wheels, and a little bit of wind will keep you from being able
to ride in the direction of your choosing. Even a large wheel unicycle
is susceptable to wind. I remember once riding across a giant parking
lot at Jones Beach, Long Island, with Ken Fuchs. We were on 40" and
45" wheels, trying to cross this parking lot with a very strong
headwind, hitting us at kind of a 45 degree angle. We literally had to
tack, like sailboats, to avoid flailing our arms all over the place! *
What's this non-paced and paced cycling deal?
--
Bob22b - MCL Tearer :d
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