I have only recently come a breast 🙈 to this subject. I feel that anyone who needs to be that aero 🛩️ are only asking for support 👙 in their f(L)airing 🛩️desire for speed 🚴.
In so many videos Ollie strikes a nice balance of being frank and honest but not trying to be 'edgy' or controvesial. Great tone, not just for a cycling channel but as a content creator as a whole.
@@gcntech What is even nicer is that he was actually 64 and that he caught me and our group on the downhills! A legend, riding a very nice Colnago (carbon tubes, aluminum lugs)
As a rider who weighs 97 kilos, I have my own built-in aerodynamic features. There's never an issue with filling the gap between my chest and thighs. Big guys for the aero win!
Haha well the advantages you demonstrated are huge so I’d probably consider it now. A camelback full of ice down the front would also help keep core temp down too which equals more power. I’m a 51-52min 25 mile (40km) on a zero traffic out and back course so am picking at the margins now as it is. 🙂
Thanks Ollie, a good one. I'm beginning to think hat having a chemist such as yourself explain aero is a good idea. Your good at it. As a scientist, you easily grasp the principles and can translate them into viewer speak without getting into the sort of minutia, like Reynolds number effects (why it might not be so aero at higher speeds for instance), that us aeros might fall into. Keep up the good work. About 18 years ago, I modified a cyclist's high vis tabard by adding a second skin front and rear to make pockets. The original idea was to put a wind proof (plastic) shield in it for the bitter cold mornings. The convenient plastic I found was bladders from an empty wine box (emptying them was enjoyable too!) and one day I inflated them on the front. My regular commute which to a certain point always took about 90 minis suddenly took 75(!) and saved me from a frozen chest too. I was not riding in a TT position but a more normal upright hands on the hoods. The cheapest speed upgrade I ever did. Chest fairings work by adding a forebody to your torso, which is effectively an oval body placed across the flow to nearer the cylinder and so improves local Cd. An after body (such as a conventional "cammel back' (which I'm convinced Lance Armstrong had under his skin suiy) does the same adding an after body. A ruck sack is not a faired shape so will not be so effective. If you use a "cammel bac" like this remember to blow into it after you drink to maintian it's shape. Incidentally, adopting the TT position (or riding on the drops) does more than reduce frontal area. It changes the aspect ratio of your body to a better (less bad) shape thus lower Cd also. The fairings behind the legs are similar to world record downhill skiers and were perfected in tunnels decades ago. So competitors are in an arms race with the UCI staying one step ahead of the ban!
Can't wait for when in a couple years, riders will look Star Scream or Megatron with leg fairings on the front and back, chest fairing, arm and back ailerons as well as a giant helmet that covers the shoulders. At that point, we'll know we're in the future!
Why is GCN ignoring the biggest news in the bike world? Shimano's recall of 2.8 million potentially faulty cranks causing crashes and mayhem for years.
it's 640,000, and parts of it have been going on for years. & it's a voluntary, not mandatory recall, dependant on the condition of individual units. Keep your wig on.
I have always wanted to see a test about sunglasses. Wearing them, having them on the back of the jersey, on the front of the helmet, upside down and right side up, and no glasses at all
Does the UCI just exist to ban things? The bicycle speed record guys have been wearing these calf fairings for a while. It would make sense for the upper arm too, since they are perpendicular to airflow and they don't move.
Do it like a FPV drone setup. Put a camera on the helmet and have the rider wear some glasses. Just don't lift your head, ever, or you'll be looking at the clouds lol.
I'd also like to see if you can aero-up panniers because they are much more covenient to use to transport shopping or a small rucksack for work. Wearing the rucksack might currently be more aero but cycling more plesent when back can breathe and the bike does the lifting
So you are saying my body is aero now, right? :-) Joking aside, here is a serious question - why then shave your legs and arms? Would wearing shorts sleeves while unshaved have a similar effect disrupting the laminar airflow as those chevrons printed on an aero jersey?
I put a drink bottle down the front of my trisuit, really not expecting anything. But the difference was massive, I'm talking 15mins on an ironman. I didn't believe it, not did anyone else I told, so I tried it again, and again, and again; with the same result. Full disclosure, I'm a 62 year old, not particularly fast triathlete. So I'm testing at approx 30kph. I had one person tell me that aerodynamics have little impact below 40kph As I said at the time, this is what I did, these are the results I got. I don't believe them either, but I keep repeating the tests and keep expecting a different result, and it doesn't happen :)
Remember that there is both how fast you pedal and also wind speed that both contribute to air resistance. So, you cycling at 30kph into a 10kph headwind is you doing 40kph as far as air resistance is concerned. Add on top of that, assuming you are not able to hold as aerodynamic a position as someone significantly younger, having the bottle may actually mark a more significant aerodynamic improvement to your position than someone who was able to get into and hold a better position. So, summed up, I'd believe you.
@coreyhipps7483 a number of plus and minis points. I'm old and not very flexible, but I'm quite small with narrow shoulders. I have biceps and triceps, so my arms aren't cylinders, although my calves might be 😀 myWindsock gives me a CdA of 0.22-0.23 in TT position, which isn't top level, but isn't bad for an ironman. Probably can't keep that position for the final 20 miles, but we will see on Sunday in Barcelona 😀
#AskGCNTech One thing the tech crew has never measured for science is the correlation between power output, riding position, and saddle pressure. While the correlation is known, I've always wondered if Ollie and Cuthbert could put the strain gauges from a digital bathroom scale into a saddle to measure what percentage of a rider's body weight is pushing down on the saddle at 200 vs. 300 watts and when the rider is upright on the tops versus forward in the drops. You know you want to chop apart a scale and run this test in the interest of science, right?
#askgcntech When will competitive cyclists start using surgery’s to modify their body’s for aero gains? Like butt implants or breast augmentation, will serious athletes add body modifications for competitive advantage? Since cyclists naturally modify their body’s to have a large powerful lower body, thin arms, and a skinny torso, are their any athletes already surgically modified???
Was gonna ask this question haha. Soon you'll see professional women cyclists taking over their male counterparts with some "creativity" in the brest surgery department.
I would not go to this extreme on my group rides. I ride with a very active cycling club. We have a group of pro racers that are members and a lot of serious amateurs. Along with a number of not so serious but active amateurs. I spend a lot of time down in the drops on our longer weekend rides and can definitely notice the benefit, but I'm one of the few in our group that does that. Its a basic and easy aero benefit that more riders should take advantage of before they resort to "aero bras".
Okey so it’s time to grow a belly now!!! 😂 i have just lost my extra kilos… shame on you Ollie!! For bringing this subject up hahaha love the show, lots of love// mr T
So as you mentioned that cylinders are horrible aero options, and you looked down at your “massive” cylinders, called arms, it made me think…. How would any skinny cyclist compare to a larger cyclist like your bodybuilder friend Brad? His cylinders are a different shape. We all come in different shapes and sizes. Could be a cool video.
What is actually the relationship of frontal pressure force vs trailing sucking force in a cylinder ? I think the suck is surprisingly strong, it's what makes airplanes fly. Dylan Johnson found a bidon under the shirt *in the back* makes a difference similar to aero helmets. Also how much is the drag ratio of bike vs body in different setups? I believe bike aerodynamics itself is vastly overrated vs body position and shape.
Surley silicon printing manufacturing tech is far more accessible now than it was 6(?) years ago? If so, why not just revert the rules to allow them again rather than having teams / companies sidestep the regulations when it's clearly where the sport is trying to go? Permanently banning tech due to the cost of access just seems to slow down innovation imo, and seems pointless when the loopholes get found and everyone starts doing it anyway.
Its a funny world concerning what is and isn't legal! For some more tech innovation, why not check out our 'Godfather of power' film on GCN+ 👉 gcn.eu/gop
I used to be a speed skier and we'd spend some time in a wind tunnel. We tried all sorts of aero features but the biggest single factor was to shove a wedge of closed-cell foam into our suits to basically give us a "pointy arse"! In the tunnel, this reduced drag by 20%! It was super low tech but a massive impact!
Enjoyed this-thanks. on turbulent airflow-I’m assuming this means everyone will stop shaving their legs? Or in some circumstances does vanity outweighs aerodynamics?
So how about the female fairings??? Do us girls benefit from our shapes or suffer increased drag? I would love to see some wind tunnel testing (seriously).
Helmet with camera on top (or some kind of perescope thing) so the cylist can face down and reduce eyeball drag? Id like to see a cycling top where the body is attached to the helmet and encompases the arms down to the elbows and wraps around an aero monobuttock at the other end.
I have always believed that those riders with a large nose and big chins have a significant advantage over the more gamine rider. I believe that if the chisel chinned Forsyth had cycled, no bugger would have touched him.
I am so glad to hear that my big belly actually means I'm faster than without it. That settles it my belly is a performance enhancing accessory I will make sure to let the wife and my doctor know...
I find that the drag coefficient of my love handles decreases with weight loss. Thanks to Ollie's research, I'm going stuff some socks through my jersey on top of my love handles, and keep on eating ice cream!
I know from a few Pros who tested it in wind tunnels that it is very individual, some tested slower others gained 5-10 watts from a simple empty bike bottle in the front jersey so impossible to make a general statement
hmm, maybe that would be something for my commute.. sleep 30 Seconds longer and be at home 30 seconds sooner as well... An now its dark no one will see it ;-)
This begs a question, I did the same race this year and last year and lost 25 lbs for this year. My max speed on the down hill was 62 mph last year and only 54 this year. Was the slower speed due to less weight, or less of an aerodynamic beer belly?? 😅
I have a belly, so using the physics evolved in wing design. I create more down force. Air is slower over my back and faster over my belly..... So I create downforce. That's why I'm so slow.
No I wouldn't wear a bra, but I would carry a bottle in the rear jersey pocket for aero gains and I need to carry extra bottles on long rides anyway. Wearing a camelback or a bottle in the front seems like it would just create extra weight on my arms and shoulders when down in the aero position and I'm not keen on that.
Sorry to ruin the bit with an excessive pedantry🤓, non-cycling french people do not use the word bidon, they use gourde (a eau). Le bidon is a bigger plastic container (e.g. used for motor oil). I know, confusing.
@@GCNuser123 but in most languages in Europe, bidon is used for a sport-adjacent plastic vessel for hydration. Thus singling out French is a little unfair. Not defending French, because they said "phoque oeuf we'll cal it gourde".
Or you could just ride a velomobile and wear anything you want (or if you never climb out in public, nothing at all.) I mean, if we’re already doing things that aren’t UCI legal, why not take advantage of the the most stable aerodynamic bike there is? How many upright bicycles can cruise at 30mph on the flat for 120 watts without the aid of a tailwind?
Nice, now I don't have to be ashamed of my aero tummy, I can even be proud of it. It totally closes the area between body and legs and it's natural, so UCI has no jurisdiction there.
@@gcntechThank you GCN. Here I was getting depressed, thinking my shape would make me slower😅 AND you've also told us aero is more important than weight. I think I'll go pro 😂
