aero

Is The Science Wrong? Which Bike Actually Climbs Faster?

ightweight vs aero is one of cycling’s biggest debates, and after all the love we’ve seen for the new lightweight Orbea Orca, it’s time to open it up again! Science says aero bikes are faster, even up climbs, but is that actually true? We’ve called on our resident hill climber, Andrew “The Twig” Feather, to find out which really is the fastest bike for climbing.

Lightweight Vs Aero – What’s The Fastest All-Round Bike?

When it comes to road bikes, there are two main types: lightweight and aero. Lightweight bikes are designed to go faster up the climbs, whereas aero bikes are faster on the flat. But if you’re doing a ride that combines the two, such as a gran fondo, which bike is best for you? Ollie & Alex compare the two bikes over varied terrain to find out which is faster overall!

What’s Faster Than Aero?! | New Zipp 404 Firecrest First Look

Zipp have lead the charge when it comes to aero bike wheels in recent years, but their latest release isn’t all about aerodynamic gains. We’ve all heard it said that ‘aero is everything’, but the latest research is trending in a new direction – aero is still a big part of the picture, but it’s not the ultimate player in the search for speed! Si Richardson has taken a first look at the brand new Zipp 404 Firecrest wheels to find out what they’re all about.

Why Rotating Weight Doesn’t Matter On Your Road Bike | GCN Tech Debunk A Common Cycling Myth

Rotating weight, does it actually matter? Lots of fellow cyclists will tell you that you need lighter wheels because rotating weight is worth more than the static weight of the rest of your road bike, but is it actually true? To find out Ollie spoke to Jean-Paul Ballard of Swiss Side, an engineer with a background in Formula 1 aerodynamics.

Why riders like you need to get more aero and wheel weight doesn’t matter

From Road.cc

By David Atkinson

I went to a wind tunnel and learnt a few things. The first thing I learned is that a wind tunnel isn’t necessarily a tunnel.

I had an image in my mind of a fully enclosed and pristine tube like you see in the car ads. Octagonal, probably. Maybe with smoke trails, and definitely with a big fan at one end. The reality was a bit different.

The GST wind tunnel at the Airbus Defence and Space facility on the outskirts of Friedrichshafen scores on the fan front. But basically it’s just a room. There’s a table in it, with a bunch of tools on, and a stepladder propped up in the corner. There’s some feather flags filling some space, and a projector hanging from the ceiling. Pristine it ain’t.

It’s an old facility; it used to be the Dornier wind tunnel when Dornier were making planes, and there’s still a goodly number of switches and filament bulbs in the control room. Now it mostly splits its time between bike parts and scale models of drones. But it’s a good tunnel, says Jean-Paul Ballard of Swiss Side(link is external) wheels, who’s invited me to spend an hour or two looking at the process. He’s got a bit of experience with aerodynamics, having worked for 14 years in Formula 1 as the lead engineer on a number of teams. Between them, the team behind Swiss Side have over 50 years of F1 experience, which obviously includes a whole stack of wind tunnel time.

“It doesn’t look like much but it’s incredibly consistent”, he says of the GST tunnel. “One of the problems with an enclosed tunnel is the blockage effects. This is important when testing with a rider as results can be significantly influenced. Here the flow isn’t constrained”. And, for the record, the fan sucks. “We laugh when we see pictures of wind tunnels in adverts with the bike pointing the wrong way”. It’s obvious once you think about it: if you want a clean flow of air you don’t want a massive fan chopping it up a few feet from your test rig.

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