[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference noted::bicycle

Title: Bicycling
Notice:Bicycling for Fun
Moderator:JAMIN::WASSER
Created:Mon Apr 14 1986
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:3214
Total number of notes:31946

507.0. "Land Speed Records" by CIMNET::MJOHNSON (Matt Johnson) Mon Dec 28 1987 15:23

    On my bathroom door I have a framed copy of the cover of an old
    Schwinn bicycling mag.  It has a bold red and yellow graphic of
    a guy pumping away on a fixed-gear bike, with one of these Batman-style
    [i.e. Kapow! Blamo!] caption balloons that says "108.xx MPH on a Bike!"
    
    The picture alone is great, but it also made me curious: how does
    anyone go that fast on a bicycle, even with motor pacing?  I looked 
    up the Guiness Book of World Records a while back and saw that the 
    fastest recorded speed is now in the range of 150 MPH.  If I remember
    right, that's for a "flying mile."  I assume the guy got towed up
    to some incredible speed, and then let go to ride behind a motorcycle
    for a mile.
    
    Now, considering the motor assist and wind break provided by the
    motorcycle, this record may be measuring nothing more than the 
    motorcycle's top speed (and the bike rider's insanity).  Still,
    does anybody have more details about this type of riding? [No,
    I don't plan to start doing it myself...just curious.]

    MATT
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
507.1They use big gears or high cadencesAQUA::OCONNORThe law dont want no gear-gammerMon Dec 28 1987 15:559
    They use humungous gears 250 inches plus.  However, I remember reading
    a few years that Jose Meifert (sp!) spun his gears at something
    like 3 revs per second.  Alan Abbot and John Howard used large gears
    and only had to reach about 2 revs per second.  2 revs per second
    is usually about the cadence that is reached by racers at the start
    of an attack.
    
    Hope that helps to explain
    Joe
507.2I think they use a four-wheeled vehicleJOKUR::MITCHELLMon Dec 28 1987 16:284
    I seem to remember seeing a photo of a speed record attempt.  The
    rig I remember was a car of some sort with a large shroud hanging
    off the back protecting the rider from wind on three sides and from
    above.
507.3MENTOR::REGTue Dec 29 1987 10:3616
    
    	The "rules" for this have never been very clear.  The record
    that .0 was referring to was probably when they were limited to
    what was basically a board that went behind the motorcycle, it couldn't
    be any wider than the handlebars of the bike or any higher than
    the highest part of the bike (usually the seat).  The "spirit" of
    the rule was to prohibit riders from merely getting sucked along,
    but to provide reasonable (well, some) shelter from whatever the
    motorcycle's wheels might kick up.  Oh, I think cars weren't allowed
    under those rules either, too wide.
    
    	108.?? sounds *SO* familiar, I think it may still stand as the
    "unsheltered" record (Chris, come in ?)
    
	Reg
    
507.4fster you foolSVCRUS::CRANEtrust me, I know what I'm doingTue Dec 29 1987 16:0520
    
       John Howard does hold the bicycle land speed record at 152.***
    MPH.  He road behind a a car that was something like a dragster
    but modified with large shroud on the back that acted as a very
    complete windbreak for Howard.
       He used a double reduction gear. Wich consisted of a large chainring
    (something like 90 teeth) going to an 11 tooth small cog that was
    attached to another big chainring via an axle and that large chainring
    went onece more to another 11 tooth cog.
       He did not use regular wheels, they were alot smaller than normal
    wheels. and it seems that in one of his early runs he had a problem
    with the valves on the tires. The g-force of the rotating wheels
    at 120 miles an hour open the valves and deflated his tires at very
    high speed causing him to pop out of a draft at over 100 miles an
    hour. I have had to pop out of a draft at 40 miles an hour before
    and its like hitting a wall, I can't imagine 100.
       He ended up using special motorcycle valves on the tires.
    
    
                                                    John C