3 ms·

Holy shit. At around 2:45 either she speeds up quickly, or the car slowed down for a moment, and she was apparently millimeters from colliding with that little

Holy shit. At around 2:45 either she speeds up quickly, or the car slowed down for a moment, and she was apparently millimeters from colliding with that little bar. Five seconds later, she's nearly pitched out the left side of the car (right side of the video). From the perspective of the video it looks like shockingly small margins for error. The raw courage is remarkable, I'd never do anything like this!

jlebar 8y ago
The bike appears to have a device on it which allows it to collide with the bar of the car safely. It appears to me that she collides with it a bunch of times, both while accelerating and decelerating. This appears to be by design? Definitely the risk of hitting the side of the fairing seems nontrivial though.
- LanceH 8y ago
  it's probably not just a bar, but a roller that spins.
- jazzyjackson 8y ago
  Looks to me like a lever hooked to the brake lines, so if she hits the bar the wheels brake. That's how I would hook it up anyway :)
  - ufmace 8y ago
    Dunno what they did to the brakes vs standard bicycle brakes, but I'd be very worried about activating them automatically at ~170mph. With those speeds and the winds, it wouldn't take much to set you tumbling across the ground. I would expect they only brake very carefully and gently until they get the speeds back down some.
    - AstralStorm 8y ago
      At those speeds, even maximum braking is gentle - the blocks near instantly heat up and lose material. There's a reason why car and motorcycle use heavily cooled and much stiffer as well as more abrasive materials for brakes. You have to be really careful to engage both front and back brakes at the same time though.
- takk309 8y ago
  Here is a video that Wired released a few days ago that discusses the details of the tow hook and the little bar: https://youtu.be/cZhrqKrljig https://youtu.be/cZhrqKrljig
TrainedMonkey 8y ago
The front of the bicycle has a special interface for colliding with the bar. She uses it several times during breaking.
bmj 8y ago
Yeah, that bar is similar to the bar on a derny (scooter used as a pace vehicle for keirin racing). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derny https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derny

jlebar 8y ago

The bike appears to have a device on it which allows it to collide with the bar of the car safely. It appears to me that she collides with it a bunch of times, both while accelerating and decelerating. This appears to be by design? Definitely the risk of hitting the side of the fairing seems nontrivial though.

LanceH 8y ago
it's probably not just a bar, but a roller that spins.
jazzyjackson 8y ago
Looks to me like a lever hooked to the brake lines, so if she hits the bar the wheels brake. That's how I would hook it up anyway :)
- ufmace 8y ago
  Dunno what they did to the brakes vs standard bicycle brakes, but I'd be very worried about activating them automatically at ~170mph. With those speeds and the winds, it wouldn't take much to set you tumbling across the ground. I would expect they only brake very carefully and gently until they get the speeds back down some.
  - AstralStorm 8y ago
    At those speeds, even maximum braking is gentle - the blocks near instantly heat up and lose material. There's a reason why car and motorcycle use heavily cooled and much stiffer as well as more abrasive materials for brakes. You have to be really careful to engage both front and back brakes at the same time though.
takk309 8y ago
Here is a video that Wired released a few days ago that discusses the details of the tow hook and the little bar: https://youtu.be/cZhrqKrljig https://youtu.be/cZhrqKrljig

TrainedMonkey 8y ago

The front of the bicycle has a special interface for colliding with the bar. She uses it several times during breaking.

bmj 8y ago

Yeah, that bar is similar to the bar on a derny (scooter used as a pace vehicle for keirin racing). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derny https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derny