Yet Another Cycling Forum

General Category => Freewheeling => The Dark Side => Topic started by: McWheels on 15 February, 2021, 08:28:19 pm

Title: GCN
Post by: McWheels on 15 February, 2021, 08:28:19 pm

This made me happy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT_tpJlKkJs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT_tpJlKkJs)

During summer (daylight saving) time one can go round on a Tuesday evening until you get tired. My time isn't as good as either of those, but I'm not a racing snake, and nor do I have an epic fast bike.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Kim on 15 February, 2021, 08:45:33 pm

Yes, I was pleased they avoided the "difficult to ride" trope this time, and did a more meaningful comparison.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 16 February, 2021, 11:26:00 am

Somewhat Hammond and Clarkson (up to you who's who) but with cheezier acting. Anyway, reminds me there will presumably be no Castle Combe memorial this year.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: ElyDave on 16 February, 2021, 11:52:58 am

Quote from: Kim on 15 February, 2021, 08:45:33 pm

Yes, I was pleased they avoided the "difficult to ride" trope this time, and did a more meaningful comparison.

I'd have been more impressed if they did DF, unfaired 'bent, velomobile, but it was very telling with the numbers at the end, 100W lower on average for a ten second gain

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Kim on 16 February, 2021, 12:02:38 pm

Quote from: ElyDave on 16 February, 2021, 11:52:58 am

Quote from: Kim on 15 February, 2021, 08:45:33 pm

Yes, I was pleased they avoided the "difficult to ride" trope this time, and did a more meaningful comparison.

I'd have been more impressed if they did DF, unfaired 'bent, velomobile, but it was very telling with the numbers at the end, 100W lower on average for a ten second gain

That's more or less what they tried to do in their previous recumbent videos, but got bogged down in their inability to ride one.  As I said at the time, it's like expecting someone who learned to ride a bicycle in the morning trying to do a nuanced comparison between a road bike and a time trial bike in the afternoon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIsa0L5UNgs  (Contains Barney or traces of Barney, and numerous technical inaccuracies.  Bonus points for spotting me.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD53YiygVhA (Contains apples and oranges.)


I reckon this latest one was a step in the right direction - keep things simple, and actually compare the power required.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: ElyDave on 16 February, 2021, 01:46:17 pm

the hills one made me larf  :thumbsup:

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Tigerbiten on 16 February, 2021, 06:15:21 pm

The one I'd love to see would be one rider do a full body workup on five different types of bike.
Road, sit up, crank forward, gentle reclined, extreme reclined.
Do a 5-10 mins test on each type and find out exactly how altering your position alters thing like power out, oxygen in, lactic acid and heart rate.

Luck ..........  ;D

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Lightning Phil on 16 February, 2021, 07:02:40 pm

Quote from: ElyDave on 16 February, 2021, 11:52:58 am

Quote from: Kim on 15 February, 2021, 08:45:33 pm

Yes, I was pleased they avoided the "difficult to ride" trope this time, and did a more meaningful comparison.

I'd have been more impressed if they did DF, unfaired 'bent, velomobile, but it was very telling with the numbers at the end, 100W lower on average for a ten second gain

You give her less credit. She was 14 seconds faster.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: fd3 on 17 February, 2021, 12:18:04 am

Quote from: Kim on 16 February, 2021, 12:02:38 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIsa0L5UNgs  (Contains Barney or traces of Barney, and numerous technical inaccuracies.  Bonus points for spotting me.)

Whenever he got on the trike I worried that he wasn't clipped in.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Kim on 17 February, 2021, 12:43:55 am

Quote from: fd3 on 17 February, 2021, 12:18:04 am

Quote from: Kim on 16 February, 2021, 12:02:38 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIsa0L5UNgs  (Contains Barney or traces of Barney, and numerous technical inaccuracies.  Bonus points for spotting me.)

Whenever he got on the trike I worried that he wasn't clipped in.

Yeah, that always makes me nervous, though I've done it myself from time to time for a few hundred metres to test a recent fettle or whatever.

Pains me to see the junior pedal car riders (who are mostly using inappropriately long 170mm cranks, for added leg-flappiness) have neither foot retention nor a floor, even though they're not really going fast enough to do anything nasty.  (This was demonstrated at Darley Moor last year, where one of them managed to bring the car to an abrupt stop due to foot entanglement, was completely uninjured, and then suffered a nasty grazed elbow doing a CrinklyLion on the edge of the track.)  Might ask around to see if any BHPC regulars have some old pedals with toeclips and straps that could be donated by way of a performance / safety upgrade...

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: fd3 on 17 February, 2021, 12:36:06 pm

I'll check my spares box.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: MattH on 18 February, 2021, 05:04:33 pm

Apparently this Saturday will be a rerun, but against a TT bike with a fast(ish) rider.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: LittleWheelsandBig on 18 February, 2021, 05:37:34 pm

I hope she learns to take a wider line in corners to keep three wheels on the blacktop this time.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: McWheels on 19 February, 2021, 09:01:27 pm

If Something's Going On at Caslte Coombe, I might even head over with my recumbent, it's within range after all. But I probably need better intel (twitter? FB? ...?) on timing and openness to gawpers.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: MattH on 19 February, 2021, 11:30:47 pm

It'll already have been filmed; they are releasing it on YouTube on Saturday.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Mr Larrington on 20 February, 2021, 02:02:08 am

In other news, Gary Solomon's outfit are doing a feature on the hist. of the BHPC* in next month’s Laidback Bike Report.  I might be involved in my capacity as Surviving Founder Member Who Does SCIENCE.  This may be a bit of a slur against long-time Treasurer Dennis Adcock, but the only other one of us who’s still a member is Mike Burrows, who still writes his cheques with a goose quill.

* which hav a very interesting history if you are interested in hist. which few boys are

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: fd3 on 20 February, 2021, 10:50:55 am

^ link when it’s up?

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Kim on 20 February, 2021, 11:28:21 am

Presumably it'll appear here: https://www.youtube.com/garysolo1/videos

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: quixoticgeek on 21 February, 2021, 10:13:27 am

The Velo vs Aero bike video is up.

Just had a watch.

(click to show/hide)

Aero bike wins, by 4 seconds. I wonder if Manon rode the velo for a few more weeks, then they did it again, if she would spank Si completely.

An interesting video

J

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: fd3 on 21 February, 2021, 10:22:39 am

(click to show/hide)

What you said, but expecting instead of wondering

Now, when will they race their TT bike against a ratracer?

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: quixoticgeek on 21 February, 2021, 10:24:58 am

Quote from: fd3 on 21 February, 2021, 10:22:39 am

(click to show/hide)

What you said, but expecting instead of wondering

Now, when will they race their TT bike against a ratracer?

Ooh, I'd love to see Si on the aero bike take part in an ally cat...

Ok that's making me giggle just thinking of it...

J

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: MattH on 21 February, 2021, 12:27:09 pm

Good video, they are upping their game in the cinematography too. Very Top Gear style (in a good way). GCN are getting better at this kind of thing, or the bigger challenges, some of their "top tips for..." shorter efforts are still cringeworthy.

(click to show/hide)

Shame they didn't compare measured power outputs too - whilst he won, she probably put an awful lot less power in.
I suspect Manon does need to adjust position a bit; she was bouncing around a lot, and had trouble holding a straight line.

Would be interesting to have him ride the velomobile, or have someone in it giving an equivalent power output.

Or, as they do on some comparisons, have him then ride the velomobile, and her a TT bike.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Kim on 21 February, 2021, 12:34:33 pm

Quote from: quixoticgeek on 21 February, 2021, 10:13:27 am

The Velo vs Aero bike video is up.

Just had a watch.

(click to show/hide)

Aero bike wins, by 4 seconds. I wonder if Manon rode the velo for a few more weeks, then they did it again, if she would spank Si completely.

She was bobbing up and down in a way that suggests her crank adjustment, crank length or pedalling technique could do with some work.  (Possibly the classic upwrong-rider error of pulling on the handlebars rather than pushing into the seat, which really doesn't work with a tiller.  It's what you tend to slip into when the cranks are too far away.)  And of course there's no substitute for practice when it comes to corners.  The Milan is surprisingly good at cornering, but multi-track is still a completely different animal to a bicycle in this department.

I note that unlike the others she was correctly referring to it as a velomobile, and appeared to have evidence of the recumbent grin.  Do we have a convert?

Film-wise, they did a decent effort of making the velomobile look like it was going fast, which is surprisingly hard to do as they don't lean into corners and you can't see much of the rider.   :thumbsup:

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: fd3 on 21 February, 2021, 01:03:06 pm

Easiest would be for them to bring a range of df rides to a bhpc race and see how they do.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Lightning Phil on 21 February, 2021, 08:55:37 pm

She was 3 seconds faster than previous video. Give it another week and she’ll be level with him 😀

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: fd3 on 21 February, 2021, 09:50:20 pm

^ hope you've left this comment on their video

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 22 February, 2021, 10:50:25 am

Quote from: Kim on 21 February, 2021, 12:34:33 pm

I note that unlike the others she was correctly referring to it as a velomobile,

What else was it being called? It was a "velomobiel" in one of the other vids, don't know if that was a typo or just Dutch.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Kim on 22 February, 2021, 12:23:22 pm

Quote from: Cudzoziemiec on 22 February, 2021, 10:50:25 am

Quote from: Kim on 21 February, 2021, 12:34:33 pm

I note that unlike the others she was correctly referring to it as a velomobile,

What else was it being called?

They kept calling it a recumbent bike.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: quixoticgeek on 22 February, 2021, 02:39:14 pm

Quote from: Kim on 22 February, 2021, 12:23:22 pm

They kept calling it a recumbent bike.

In one of the recent two videos, they called it the carbon coffin too...

J

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 23 February, 2021, 02:21:36 pm

So they did. I wonder if that (recumbent, not carbon coffin!) was partly in order not to overload viewers with lots of new terminology at the same time as funny bikes, all at once? I mean, it's not even a bike! In fact, didn't he (think it was Hank) refer to one of the recumbents he was trying as a "three-wheeled bike"?  :facepalm:

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: MattH on 07 March, 2021, 01:59:49 pm

Another Castle Coombe velomobile video, which seems out of sequence. I suspect they hired the place for the day and just made the most of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLC3uGnPVs8

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Auntie Helen on 15 March, 2021, 08:59:58 pm

I thought she was obviously jiggling too much up and down so must have been wasting energy. The Milan should go faster than she managed as she is a fit rider. Also i wasn’t sure what the problem with corners was as they corner like they are on rails.

I am a slow rider but even in my 100 kg days I could pedal my Milan up to 45 km/h over a couple of hundred metres and I have no acceleration and very little power.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Kim on 15 March, 2021, 09:28:38 pm

Quote from: Auntie Helen on 15 March, 2021, 08:59:58 pm

I thought she was obviously jiggling too much up and down so must have been wasting energy. The Milan should go faster than she managed as she is a fit rider. Also i wasn’t sure what the problem with corners was as they corner like they are on rails.

By multitrack standards.  I was impressed when I took Lee's round the rather twisty track at Gravesend.  But if you're only used to bicycles, any trike is going to be scarily different on corners.  Especially an easily-scratched borrowed one.

Quote

I am a slow rider but even in my 100 kg days I could pedal my Milan up to 45 km/h over a couple of hundred metres and I have no acceleration and very little power.

She was going a bit faster than I can manage on the Baron under similar conditions, albeit at more sensible temperatures.  I've yet to establish my V_max in a Milan, as Covid-19 happened before I had an opportunity to try on a more suitable track.

Title: Re: GCN
Post by: Mr Larrington on 15 March, 2021, 10:21:45 pm

Given suitable conditions a Milan SL will crack 60 mph on nominally level ground :). OK, the race lid with a very tiny 'ole for the seeing out of is probably not something you’d want to use on the way to the shops but Wild Bill Thornton didn’t strike me as being a particularly oversized engine either.