Coming to a Velodrome Near You: Left Side Drive Bikes!

[spartanKid]

http://usacycling.org/usa-cycling-partners-present-project-2016.htm

:bike::bike::bike::bike:

Apparently having the chainring on the inside is more aero for left turning tracks. I guess it makes sense, but it makes me wonder why British Cycling hasn't done it first....

[Elefantino]

This was a major R&D project by USA Cycling. It took the F1 approach to development.

I was at the launch tonight. Impressive. -3.5 seconds for the team pursuit over the bikes the USA team used to win the worlds this year.

[spartanKid]

-3.5 seconds for the team pursuit over the bikes the USA team used to win the worlds this year.

-3.5 seconds off their Worlds ride gets them a WR by .5. Not too shabby!

[pavel]

oh thank god. I was *just* thinking how much the track was missing that special feeling of amazing innovation like we have on the road with through axles and discs.

[pavel]

hahahah oh man, A MAJOR R+D EFFORT, to switch which side the crankset is on.

[rustychisel]

Is it 1st April?

Actually, good for them, but it really doesn't matter because any technical innovation will be banned faster than you can say 'do you dress to the left or right." Maybe.

Also, spotted a Mavic logo at the bottom of the page as 'partner', but wheel development by HED. Curious. Not to mention the fact that much more space is taken with BJs for the sponsors than the actual story.

[Black Dog]

So, when everyone makes the switch the advantage is? :rolleyes:

[oldpotatoe]

http://usacycling.org/usa-cycling-partners-present-project-2016.htm

:bike::bike::bike::bike:

Apparently having the chainring on the inside is more aero for left turning tracks. I guess it makes sense, but it makes me wonder why British Cycling hasn't done it first....

GT SuperBike anyone? That didn't turn out so well..

[11.4]

The issue of air interference posed by the banking has been knocked around for years. The article doesn't really explain it very well, but the point is that air on the left side of the bike, once displaced, has plenty of room to go. That reduces the back pressure on that air disturbance. On the banking side, the air hits the banking but has to redirect, partly back at the bike. This creates a perceptibly greater pressure, which means a greater air resistance, on that side. Anything that disturbs that side of the bike and increases air displacement will increase issue on the banking side. I've never seen a 3.5 second improvement touted before, but I think that number comes primarily from the much narrower profile of the bike. Profile width is something that a number of high end track bike designers have come up with in the past and such bikes are regularly found in high end track competition. There have been front hubs with spacings as narrow as 50 mm and rear hubs with spacings as narrow as 75 mm. The drawback to these designs is that riders with strong starts encounter a very unstable bike that flexes and limits the rider's ability to apply maximum force. The bikes also have a characteristic sway when they go into a banking (turns 1 and 3) which can be a bit unnerving until you are really used to it.

Racing flat out, riders on the track are often limited more by bike stability than by their actual power -- one of the reasons why Look track frames are so popular and so widely copied is that they are optimized for high speeds. They ride like crap at low speeds but come into their own at higher speeds. This project sounds like it might have developed without enough realization of that issue, and these bikes may not actually do as well as expected in competition. Track bike design is not a static analysis, despite what many designers would hope for.

[Clydesdale]

Why don't they just ride the other way :rolleyes:

[benb]

For a symmetric frame with a normal BB shell what extensive R&D do they even need to do?

It's a track frame, if it's symmetric, has no derailleurs, etc.. is it just a question of reversing the pedal threads on the cranks arms flipping the crank around, flipping the wheel around, etc.. ?

I thought someone here had even posted pictures of a homebuilt/framebuilder built left hand drive bike.

If the extensive R&D was optimization of the aerodynamics that part I get.

Why hasn't anyone denigrated the upward angle of the stem yet? :p

[MattTuck]

Wiggo's Hour Record is in jeopardy. lol.

[54ny77]

Gee, this sounds like fun... :rolleyes:

"Off the bike, IBM has developed a groundbreaking analytics solution that automatically links rider and environment data to the IBM Cloud through the IBM Watson Internet of Things Platform, allowing coaches and staff to track athlete power watts, lap timing, new muscle oxygenation and match burned results in real time. The data is then transferred instantly back through the cloud to Solos high-performance smart eyewear, which integrates innovative, heads-up lens display and audio technologies. MuscleSound supplements IBM’s data gathering with nearly instantaneous glycogen level monitoring post-effort or post-workout."

http://img.tfd.com/cde/_TRS80.GIF

[hokoman]

It's funny because bmx bikes have had left hand side drivetrains for several years... so that the rider could choose what side they want to put the pegs on to grind without chainring interference.

[eippo1]

Gee, this sounds like fun... :rolleyes:

"Off the bike, IBM has developed a groundbreaking analytics solution that automatically links rider and environment data to the IBM Cloud through the IBM Watson Internet of Things Platform, allowing coaches and staff to track athlete power watts, lap timing, new muscle oxygenation and match burned results in real time. The data is then transferred instantly back through the cloud to Solos high-performance smart eyewear, which integrates innovative, heads-up lens display and audio technologies. MuscleSound supplements IBM’s data gathering with nearly instantaneous glycogen level monitoring post-effort or post-workout."

http://img.tfd.com/cde/_TRS80.GIF

I would only hope the kids in the background are eating Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs. That pic also makes me kind of wish that we could go back to the simplicity of that computer as I sit surrounded by 2 huge flat panels hooked up to a desktop toaster and adjacent to another laptop.

[cmbicycles]

I would only hope the kids in the background are eating Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs. That pic also makes me kind of wish that we could go back to the simplicity of that computer as I sit surrounded by 2 huge flat panels hooked up to a desktop toaster and adjacent to another laptop.

Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs are pretty bland until you scoop sugar on them.

[54ny77]

Reminds me of a story of a family friend who's young kid (maybe 10 or so) hates fish. For quite a few years his mom would cook up tuna slabs and call it tuna steak. He devoured it, knowing that it was called tuna steak. One day he asked where tuna steak came from, and she accidentally said fish. He wouldn't touch it thereafter. Kids and their dietary likes/dislikes....:bike:

Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs are pretty bland until you scoop sugar on them.

[bicycletricycle]

is it NJS?

ha, ha, I know, I'm an idiot


bike looks great, hope it works out well.

[ptourkin]

http://usacycling.org/usa-cycling-partners-present-project-2016.htm

:bike::bike::bike::bike:

Apparently having the chainring on the inside is more aero for left turning tracks. I guess it makes sense, but it makes me wonder why British Cycling hasn't done it first....

I know a British olympic medal winner who did it in the '80s.

[smontanaro]

Apparently having the chainring on the inside is more aero for left turning tracks.

I guess they didn't know how to use Google to see if it had been done before (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/org/gunnar/).

(I have no idea why the forum won't let me view the image of Sheldon's Gunnar, but it won't, so I won't attempt to insert it.)

RIP Sheldon Brown.

[AllanVarcoe]

Are people just switching the crankset and wheel over or have the arms been threaded so you can run your pedals the right way?

Of switch the cleat aroung the other way? Ha!

[nooneline]

I think some of you folks are missing the forest for the trees, here.

It has some weird stuff about it - pursuit-only, the left-side drive, and the super-narrow profile that requires proprietary wheels. Weird! I wonder if trickledown tech will come to a production model - new bayonnet system, LHD, but for conventional wheels.

Okay, they make bold claims - 3.5 seconds over 4km is a TON. Who knows.

But regardless of the specifics, the bottom line is that USAC partnered with Felt, HED, Stages, and Vision to produce a superbike for the women's Olympic team pursuit team. That is cool as hell!

I mean I wish there was a more comprehensive development pipeline, but maybe this is a sign of more good things to come.

[ultraman6970]

Hmm at the other side??? That bike has to be a real PITA to get in the banks (you have to put more weight now to get up the banks) unless you are going really really fast.

There's videos of this 3.5 secs bicycle?? would love to see how it behaves at the start.

[ptourkin]

I think some of you folks are missing the forest for the trees, here.

It has some weird stuff about it - pursuit-only, the left-side drive, and the super-narrow profile that requires proprietary wheels. Weird! I wonder if trickledown tech will come to a production model - new bayonnet system, LHD, but for conventional wheels.

Okay, they make bold claims - 3.5 seconds over 4km is a TON. Who knows.

But regardless of the specifics, the bottom line is that USAC partnered with Felt, HED, Stages, and Vision to produce a superbike for the women's Olympic team pursuit team. That is cool as hell!

I mean I wish there was a more comprehensive development pipeline, but maybe this is a sign of more good things to come.

Yes. And three of those women are young - the U.S. women's dev has been pretty good of late. This is the bike the gold medal is coming on.

[DFABob]

Why don't they just ride the other way :rolleyes:

This is some world class problem solving.

[54ny77]

Stop making sense!

http://s.mlkshk.com/r/280X

Why don't they just ride the other way :rolleyes: