It's not about the Bike

[Jakob]

..but the skin suits and broken collar bones!!
         Cycling: The suits worn by British cyclists at the Beijing Olympics have been destroyed to keep the technology secret |
            Sport |
            guardian.co.uk
   

Colour me puzzled....

[Adrian]

So did the person who put them together in Japan fail to read the words "Great Britain"?

And as for the other part, what is that about? Did someone reason that the team might suffer one collar bone, or maybe even two, but it would be extremely unlikely to suffer three, so if they were to break both of Ed Clancy's on purpose that would be a good protection?

[Wobbly John]

And as for the other part, what is that about? Did someone reason that the team might suffer one collar bone, or maybe even two, but it would be extremely unlikely to suffer three, so if they were to break both of Ed Clancy's on purpose that would be a good protection?

I think a bone that has healed is stronger, so might be less liable to break again.

When I broke my collar bone, it mended so that the bones overlapped - I therefore had a narrower shoulder that side. Was it a sneaky idea to get our riders more aero by having narrower shoulders? 

[Noodley]

A special BMX track, near the Manchester Velodrome, was built for medal hopeful Shanaze Reade to practise on.

But Mr Brailsford recalled: "The challenge was that when it was left at night all the local kids were there with their boards and using it. It was a challenge to keep them off it."

Pesky kids, eh?  having fun and all that...

[woollypigs]

Well we better as Frenchie about this, he designed a suit for swimmers, could be the same technology

[TheLurker]

But Mr Brailsford recalled: "The challenge was that when it was left at night all the local kids were there with their boards and using it. It was a challenge to keep them off it."

Odd that.  Especially as he wants more people to ride bikes....

         Cycling: Brailsford backs bid to get nation to saddle up |
            Sport |
            guardian.co.uk
   

[clarion]

Surely that should have been embargoed till 1 April.

[gonzo]

Was it a sneaky idea to get our riders more aero by having narrower shoulders? 

That's what I assumed!

Well we better as Frenchie about this, he designed a suit for swimmers, could be the same technology

Different Reynolds numbers I'm afraid. The properties of air and water are very different so the material used for one isn't translatable.

Oh and PS - from what I hear, they took a fabric printing machine to the Olympics so that they could print the riders numbers directly onto the fabric so presumably they printed the GB pattern on at the same time.

[Frenchie]

Well Re ~ 4M for a swimmer and about 12-16M for a racing cyclist, so not miles apart.

Speedo didn't destroy their suits though.

Scientists and engineers propose; then designers and end users test and comment. But it is the scientists and engineers' job to examine all possibilities. This is why it is sometimes good to have specialists who may not be totally familiar with the end use, so that they can think out of the box.

Bring on 2012!