Homemade fairings

Quoted message said:

As I was cycling home today I passed someone riding a bike fitted with
a large home-made fairing. I could see there might be some benefits to
this on a recumbent but I'm not sure I see one adding anything (other
than weight) to a conventional bike.

It'd give a much higher top speed. Somewhere there's a pic of a chap with
a faired upright bicycle - someone'll prolly be along with a link soon.

Quoted message said:

Would protection from wind and rain be a great benefit?

Well, the fairing would keep the rain off, but any crosswind would prolly
see you veering into the path of overtaking buses.

Mark Thompson said:

Quoted message said:

As I was cycling home today I passed someone riding a bike fitted with
a large home-made fairing. I could see there might be some benefits to
this on a recumbent but I'm not sure I see one adding anything (other
than weight) to a conventional bike.

It'd give a much higher top speed. Somewhere there's a pic of a chap with
a faired upright bicycle - someone'll prolly be along with a link soon.

You rang sir?
http://www.zzipper.com/Products/prod_upright.html

Mike

Mike Causer said:

Mark Thompson said:

Quoted message said:

As I was cycling home today I passed someone riding a bike fitted with
a large home-made fairing. I could see there might be some benefits to
this on a recumbent but I'm not sure I see one adding anything (other
than weight) to a conventional bike.

It'd give a much higher top speed. Somewhere there's a pic of a chap
with a faired upright bicycle - someone'll prolly be along with a link
soon.

You rang sir?
http://www.zzipper.com/Products/prod_upright.html

Fantastic way to keep bar bags dry! Still can't see the extra 1.5lb.
being dramatically offset by improved aerodynamics.
--
Cheers,

Steve

The reply-to email address is a spam trap.
Email steve 'at' shodgson 'dot' org 'dot' uk

Steve Hodgson said:

As I was cycling home today I passed someone riding a bike fitted with a
large home-made fairing. I could see there might be some benefits to this on
a recumbent but I'm not sure I see one adding anything (other than weight) to
a conventional bike.

Would protection from wind and rain be a great benefit?

Depends on the amount of wind and rain (and cold). Wind from other
directions than the direct front might actually cause problems with a
fairing. I've seen bar fairings on m/bikes (that is individual bar
covers, not a handlebar mounted half-fairing) that might have a cycle
application for the real cold by giving you a hard shell around and away
from gloves/hands.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

In article <[email hidden]>, Peter Clinch
[email hidden] says...
<snip>

Quoted message said:

I've seen bar fairings on m/bikes (that is individual bar
covers, not a handlebar mounted half-fairing)

On dirt bikes those are hand guards intended for crash protection, on
road bikes thay are bar muffs for keeping the weather off - I used to
use the latter but found that at high speeds they tended to press
against the levers.

Steve Hodgson said:

Fantastic way to keep bar bags dry! Still can't see the extra 1.5lb.
being dramatically offset by improved aerodynamics.

As usual the answer is "it depends". If you're riding in traffic, doing
a lot of stop-start, or riding uphill the weight will be significant.
For cruising at speed on the flat, a few pounds extra weight would be
insignificant compared with even a moderate aerodynamic advantage.

--
Dave...

In article said:

On 2007-01-21 17:54:46 +0000, Mike Causer

Quoted message said:

Mark Thompson said:

> As I was cycling home today I passed someone riding a bike fitted with
> a large home-made fairing. I could see there might be some benefits to
> this on a recumbent but I'm not sure I see one adding anything (other
> than weight) to a conventional bike.

It'd give a much higher top speed. Somewhere there's a pic of a chap
with a faired upright bicycle - someone'll prolly be along with a link
soon.

You rang sir?
http://www.zzipper.com/Products/prod_upright.html

Fantastic way to keep bar bags dry! Still can't see the extra 1.5lb.
being dramatically offset by improved aerodynamics.

Depends where you cycle. I go through Mike's home village on my commute,
then up the largest hill on the route to the next village, climbing
twelve meters in a kilometer and a half. There are two windmills on top
of the hill. So round here, sacrificing a little weight for improved
aerodynamics might be more worthwhile than somewhere hillier.
On the other hand, anything that encourages a gusty sidewind to push you
across the road in front of a sugar beet lorry is a bad idea.

Fairings on an upright bike need to be attached to the frame to avoid steering input from cross winds. Lightweight materials make for a very effective improvement in speed and protection.