TdF and recumbents

wrote:

Of course, if you can add a full fairing to a recumbent, you can add a
partial fairing to an upright and ride around just fine.

Despite what's been said in this thread, motorcycles do it all the
time.

Different game: you have more speed, so there's more benefit to the
rider from comfort of keeping the airstream and accompanying bugs and
rain off them, you don't have any weight issues to speak of, and there
is no need to make room for pedalling action.

But no one bothers to add fairings to uprights, since most people
interested enough in such speed tricks are also interested in racing,
where fairings are forbidden.

The most common partial fairings on motorbikes are for comfort, not
speed. i.e., all motor scooters.

In IHPVA competition they're not forbidden, so if there was mileage to
be had from faired uprights over faired 'bents you'd see a lot more of
them than you do.

And in the real world outside racing, with no rules and no notion that
racing defines what's best, uprights outnumber recumbents more than a
thousand to one, even after about a century of recumbent evolution.

But given the history that just doesn't prove anything. Windows
desktops outnumber Linux desktops by orders of magnitude, so Windows
must be miles better, or a de-facto monopoly actually does a lot for
market position?

But there's no law against starting a no-holds-barred anything-goes
bicycle-race organization to find out what's "best".

That'll be the IHPVA. Their record sheet is dominated by recumbents.

Just a lack of interest. A few armchair enthusiasts can't produce the
Tour de France.

But they can produce 81 mph undrafted.

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 http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

wrote:

Do you know if any recumbents climb those European grades?

If you make a trike with low enough gearing your climbing limit is tyre
traction.

Trikes aren't necessarily slow: I perhaps have to remind you /again/
that the 800+ mile End to End record in the UK is held on a recumbent
trike.

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 http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch wrote:
wrote:

Do you know if any recumbents climb those European grades?

If you make a trike with low enough gearing your climbing limit is tyre
traction.

Trikes aren't necessarily slow: I perhaps have to remind you /again/
that the 800+ mile End to End record in the UK is held on a recumbent
trike.

It would be interresting to see how well a 2 wheeler recumbent
compared to the trike, given that it should have 2/3's the rolling
resistance.


JonB

Jon Bendtsen wrote:

It would be interresting to see how well a 2 wheeler recumbent
compared to the trike, given that it should have 2/3's the rolling
resistance.

I am mindful or the words "if all else is equal"... All else tends not
to be, especially if you're on the go for over 40 hours. Another point
is the trike is probably better for mounting a fairing in a /practical/
vehicle (i.e., one that doesn't spend its life in velodromes or on
[almost] straight highways. Nobody's forcing the velomobile industry to
use trikes, but they're far and away the most popular basis,
particularly including in windy places.

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 http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch wrote:
wrote:

Do you know if any recumbents climb those European grades?

If you make a trike with low enough gearing your climbing limit is tyre
traction.

Trikes aren't necessarily slow: I perhaps have to remind you /again/
that the 800+ mile End to End record in the UK is held on a recumbent
trike.

Yeah but the highest point in the UK is Ben Nevis, right? And that's
less than 5000 ft. Not disputing the validity of recumbent trikes, but
there's a significant difference between Ben Nevis and L'Alpe Huez....
YMMV....

Pete.


--
Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.

~General Omar N. Bradley

In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.

~George Orwell

JCrowe wrote:

Yeah but the highest point in the UK is Ben Nevis, right? And that's
less than 5000 ft. Not disputing the validity of recumbent trikes, but
there's a significant difference between Ben Nevis and L'Alpe Huez....
YMMV....

Mileage certainly does vary... how much climbing on L'Alpe Huez?

Now how much climbing in the 800+ mile route of the End to End? I would
suggest the answer to the latter is /rather more/ than 5000 feet, and
rather more than you need to do on L'Alpe Huez, even if it isn't all in
one go...

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 http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"JCrowe" wrote in message
...
Peter Clinch wrote:
wrote:

Do you know if any recumbents climb those European grades?

If you make a trike with low enough gearing your climbing limit is tyre
traction.

Trikes aren't necessarily slow: I perhaps have to remind you /again/
that the 800+ mile End to End record in the UK is held on a recumbent
trike.

Yeah but the highest point in the UK is Ben Nevis, right? And that's
less than 5000 ft. Not disputing the validity of recumbent trikes, but
there's a significant difference between Ben Nevis and L'Alpe Huez....
YMMV....

I've not seen pros getting off and walking in the Alps or Pyrenees - I've
seen it on climbs in the UK though...

Clive George wrote:
I've not seen pros getting off and walking in the Alps or Pyrenees - I've
seen it on climbs in the UK though...

Out of academic interest, where? I've cycled fully loaded in the UK
and though I wanted to a few times in Wales, I never got off and walked.
There are a few very steep, relatively short climbs I remember as being
effective at getting the heartrate up, but they only lasted a short
time. I also remember some bodacious headwinds.

JCrowe wrote:

Out of academic interest, where? I've cycled fully loaded in the UK
and though I wanted to a few times in Wales, I never got off and walked.
There are a few very steep, relatively short climbs I remember as being
effective at getting the heartrate up, but they only lasted a short
time. I also remember some bodacious headwinds.

The Lake District has some real corkers, as do the Yorkshire Dales, and
some coastal villages at the base of cliffs have very gnarly climbs from
them.

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 http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"JCrowe" wrote in message
...
Clive George wrote:
I've not seen pros getting off and walking in the Alps or Pyrenees - I've
seen it on climbs in the UK though...

Out of academic interest, where? I've cycled fully loaded in the UK
and though I wanted to a few times in Wales, I never got off and walked.
There are a few very steep, relatively short climbs I remember as being
effective at getting the heartrate up, but they only lasted a short
time. I also remember some bodacious headwinds.

Rosedale chimney (North Yorks moors) was the one I most remember. Can't
remember if it's the steepest hill you're allowed to ride up in the UK - but
it's certainly close. At a guess, you're not touring with a double chainring
and corncob cassette :-)

(Harlech in Wales has one which is marked at 40%. That's pretty darned
steep. It's no entry at the bottom, but since it's a very quiet road you can
just give it a go. We couldn't make it in one go - stopped for breath half
way up, and that's on the tandem with some pretty low gears).

cheers,
clive