8 ms·

Bike blog: Experiments in Speed [video]

105 points by wyclif 13y ago

losethos 13y ago
God's official temple, whether you despariage it wrongly or not. Suck it. God says... 32:27 And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. 32:28 Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword. 32:29 There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit. 32:30 There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit. 32:31 Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD. 32:32 For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.
justinator 13y ago
The title of this is a little disingenuous, as there's an entire system to get to those speeds. You could have probably taken any track bike, put that large of a front ring, and do what he did. He talks about the frame construction made using the same materials and techniques he uses for all of his bikes. The whole system includes a car that is used to draft behind - very close behind, much like what was done over 100 years ago, with a train[1] [1] http://www.bikereader.com/contributors/woodland/murphy.html http://www.bikereader.com/contributors/woodland/murphy.html
- davidw 13y ago
  The speed records for bikes being paced by vehicles are pretty crazy: > Fred Rompelberg, using a dragster with a large shield as pacer, achieved 268.831 km/h (167.044 mph) on the Bonneville Salt Flats on 15 October 1995. From the wikipedia link posted elsewhere here.
  - pge 13y ago
    Rompelberg was towed up to speed by the vehicle (physically attached) and then unhooked and maintained the speed. That is different than pedaling the bike up to speed yourself.
- redthrowaway 13y ago
  The point, though, is not the novelty of the engineering. It's more about the builder mentality than the results. It's about a couple of guys doing something cool in their garage with limited resources.
  - JungleGymSam 13y ago
    The way the title is worded indicates there's something special, novel, or innovative about the bike when, in fact, there's not. The 80mph was achieved by drafting behind a vehicle.
    - wyclif 13y ago
      The title actually implies no such thing; I didn't even use any adjectives wrt the bike. So in your opinion, I should have written "Englishman builds bike capable of 80mph on flat surfaces with the help of a drafting vehicle, a machine shop, and a landing strip." Right?
      - honzzz 13y ago
        I have to agree with JungleGymSam - the title does imply that there is something special about the bike because people assume that it's a 'bike capable of 80mph' under normal conditions. I guess people do not expect that it was achieved with the help of a drafting vehicle because than there would be absolutely nothing newsworthy about it, at least to people who know something about cycling. Anyone who has the experience of riding in peloton at 50 km/h without even pedaling knows that aerodynamic drag is everything - any racing bike is capable of 80mph with the help of a drafting vehicle.
      - anigbrowl 13y ago
        'Drafting allows bike to travel at mph' would have been more accurate and just as interesting. I liked the project and the people involved, but I was expecting a bike that could do 80mph by itself thanks to some bizarre engineering insight.
        13y ago
- wyclif 13y ago
  Hi, OP here. I try not to take liberties with story titles (and those get edited by the mods anyway), but I thought it was more descriptive than "Experiments in Speed."
  - ak39 13y ago
    I didn't think there was anything wrong with the title but had you chosen to title it: "Reaching the Fuck It point: Experiments in Speed" perhaps folks would have realised that the message was not really about attempting to break records on a bicycle but to answer to the audacity of whim on projects you're passionate about ... to "see it to completion". That's the lesson here ... for me.
frozenport 13y ago
This is a common gimmick called "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor-paced_cycling" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor-paced_cycling".
- bobbydavid 13y ago
  looks like that page was deleted
  - aqme28 13y ago
    Just a trailing quote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor-paced_cycling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor-paced_cycling
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
- davidw 13y ago
  Why "gimmick"? Obviously you can't compare paced and non paced speeds, but there's nothing wrong with motor pacing. Lots of pros pace behind a scooter to train for high speed racing.
  - mapt 13y ago
    The logical extension is a bicycle attached to a suction cup, with five microns of airspace between the suction cup and a van moving at 100mph. Drafting in a record attempt is a test of the ability to draft; It doesn't have much to do with designing a vehicle, only with designing half of a vehicle.
    - davidw 13y ago
      > It doesn't have much to do with designing a vehicle Err... most bicycles are not meant to reach anything at all like those speeds, so it's very much about designing a bicycle that's fit for the job.
    - notjosh 13y ago
FigBug 13y ago
I thought this was go to be bat Graeme Obree, who is Scottish not Eglish, who is attempting to break the human powered vehicle speed record which is currently 82.4 mph on a bike he is building himself.
- popopje 13y ago
  this is imo a much more interesting endevour - here's a video https://vimeo.com/69901706 https://vimeo.com/69901706 really does not look at all promising right now and personally i think there's a good chance it could come to nothing.. but he has a pretty decent past record having developed a couple of bikes and riding positions that proved superior http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graeme_Obree http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graeme_Obree
nikster 13y ago
"We'll make you watch a 10 minute video before you find out what this is all about". Meh, no thanks.
- awjr 13y ago
  I would say your loss. The film is about a guy who had an idea, used the resources around him to make that idea a reality while relying on his friends and people in the industry he works in to come to together and make it a reality. The only reason this happened is pretty much expressed in the film. He had immense respect of his peers and they supported him. Yes he ended up, head down, doing 80mph right up against the bumper of a car inside a shed, but what an amazing journey to get there. You have to respect somebody who achieves the crazy using the limited resources available to him with the help of his peers and friends. I saw the bike at the Bristol Bespoke Cycle show earlier this year. I have to say until I saw this film I had no idea what had gone into it.
huhtenberg 13y ago
Does anyone remember a (French?) guy who did exactly the same in the late 80s? Except that he was wearing a simpler helmet and his bike used simple 3-gear fixed transmission, with extra gear mounted under the seat. His bike rolled 30 m with a single pedal rotation and he too was riding after the bus to piggyback on a slipstream. His ride was highly publicized and I think he made it into a Guinness book.
- enqk 13y ago
  Maybe you're talking about José Meiffret: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Meiffret http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Meiffret He rode to 130mph / 200km/h back in 1962
  - huhtenberg 13y ago
    Nope, not him. Googled a bit and I was thinking of John Howard in 1985. Apparently, it wasn't a bus, but a custom dragster and his helmet was a match too :) And here's his bike - http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=8bqd1t1 http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=8bqd1t1
    - enqk 13y ago
      Indeed, I could not remember the gearing you were talking about. This looks super cool :)
buro9 13y ago
Anyone who watches this and thinks "But why?" and "People have done this before with a bigger budget and gone faster!" are not looking at it right. Tom is a one-man frame builder, and he took the resources he had available to him: His old car, his existing skills, his local area. And he's pulled them together to recreate the kind of pioneering that took place 50/60 years ago for setting these records. He knew from the outset that he wasn't going to get the record, he didn't even get an athlete to ride the bike as he rode it himself. What he did do was go on this incredible journey of exploring the limits of his own skills as a frame builder, of looking at what it takes to go so fast on a bike, and he did it with virtually nothing. And he's not the only one. A lot of people I know in the cycling world, in the design world, and in the tech world seem to be shaking off their cynicism and pessimism, and throwing themselves into projects that help them push their own individual talents. It's the hacker culture of taking something apart, and putting it back together, and sometimes the entire point is "Why the hell not?". It doesn't have corporate backing, or government nods, it's just a few guys doing something they love and letting no obstacle stand in their way. It's easy to say "Why bother, it's not going to be the record", it can be harder just to recognise and applaud them for their individual effort. But that's what should be done.
- ak39 13y ago
  This is the single most inspiring comment on HN is a looooong time! I just love those moments in life when the absurdist in you, the one thinking of taking runs at windmills, convinces your otherwise cynical and pessimist self to STFU and "fuck it!". Do it. :-) If nothing, it's the stories at the pub with your mates afterwards that it's all about.
- democracy 13y ago
  Great video! Very inspirational!
- marknutter 13y ago
  Your comment is the perfect antidote to the pathetically pessimistic comments elsewhere on this thread. Thank you!
- teddyh 13y ago
thatBilly 13y ago
This guys is a wannabe Graeme Obree - obree.com http://obree.com/obree-news/297-ihpva-world-land-speed-record.html http://obree.com/obree-news/297-ihpva-world-land-speed-recor...
claudius 13y ago
While this is certainly a fantastic feat, it’s not always practical to have a car ride in front of you – which is why I’m still thinking of getting one of those ‘Velomobiles’[0], apparently with regular cruising speeds of ~45 km/h[1]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velomobile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velomobile [1]: http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/09/the-velomobile-high-tech-bike-or-low-tech-car.html http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/09/the-velomobile-high-t...
- buro9 13y ago
  My favourite velomobile is the Quest: http://en.velomobiel.nl/quest/ http://en.velomobiel.nl/quest/ I really want to try one for a long ride, perhaps the Dunwich Dynamo. The only issue I have is that I live in a flat and have no garage, I have no way to store one of these otherwise I'd have made the jump a while ago.
pge 13y ago
If you're interested in the topic, check out ihpva.org (international human powered vehicle association). They have a regular speed test in battle mountain, nevada where the fastest speedbikes do time trials (without drafting). It's inspiring on both a physical and engineering level. Current record is around 80mph.
jacquesm 13y ago
That's an incredibly inspiring video, well worth watching. Tinkering, finding and exceeding your own limits and then in the end succeeding at your goal. What else is there to wish for?

105 points by wyclif 13y ago

God's official temple, whether you despariage it wrongly or not. Suck it. God says... 32:27 And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. 32:28 Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword. 32:29 There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit. 32:30 There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit. 32:31 Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD. 32:32 For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

justinator 13y ago

The title of this is a little disingenuous, as there's an entire system to get to those speeds. You could have probably taken any track bike, put that large of a front ring, and do what he did. He talks about the frame construction made using the same materials and techniques he uses for all of his bikes. The whole system includes a car that is used to draft behind - very close behind, much like what was done over 100 years ago, with a train[1] [1] http://www.bikereader.com/contributors/woodland/murphy.html http://www.bikereader.com/contributors/woodland/murphy.html

davidw 13y ago
The speed records for bikes being paced by vehicles are pretty crazy: > Fred Rompelberg, using a dragster with a large shield as pacer, achieved 268.831 km/h (167.044 mph) on the Bonneville Salt Flats on 15 October 1995. From the wikipedia link posted elsewhere here.
- pge 13y ago
  Rompelberg was towed up to speed by the vehicle (physically attached) and then unhooked and maintained the speed. That is different than pedaling the bike up to speed yourself.
redthrowaway 13y ago
The point, though, is not the novelty of the engineering. It's more about the builder mentality than the results. It's about a couple of guys doing something cool in their garage with limited resources.
- JungleGymSam 13y ago
  The way the title is worded indicates there's something special, novel, or innovative about the bike when, in fact, there's not. The 80mph was achieved by drafting behind a vehicle.
  - wyclif 13y ago
    The title actually implies no such thing; I didn't even use any adjectives wrt the bike. So in your opinion, I should have written "Englishman builds bike capable of 80mph on flat surfaces with the help of a drafting vehicle, a machine shop, and a landing strip." Right?
    - honzzz 13y ago
      I have to agree with JungleGymSam - the title does imply that there is something special about the bike because people assume that it's a 'bike capable of 80mph' under normal conditions. I guess people do not expect that it was achieved with the help of a drafting vehicle because than there would be absolutely nothing newsworthy about it, at least to people who know something about cycling. Anyone who has the experience of riding in peloton at 50 km/h without even pedaling knows that aerodynamic drag is everything - any racing bike is capable of 80mph with the help of a drafting vehicle.
    - anigbrowl 13y ago
      'Drafting allows bike to travel at mph' would have been more accurate and just as interesting. I liked the project and the people involved, but I was expecting a bike that could do 80mph by itself thanks to some bizarre engineering insight.
      - 13y ago
wyclif 13y ago
Hi, OP here. I try not to take liberties with story titles (and those get edited by the mods anyway), but I thought it was more descriptive than "Experiments in Speed."
- ak39 13y ago
  I didn't think there was anything wrong with the title but had you chosen to title it: "Reaching the Fuck It point: Experiments in Speed" perhaps folks would have realised that the message was not really about attempting to break records on a bicycle but to answer to the audacity of whim on projects you're passionate about ... to "see it to completion". That's the lesson here ... for me.

frozenport 13y ago

This is a common gimmick called "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor-paced_cycling" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor-paced_cycling".

bobbydavid 13y ago
looks like that page was deleted
- aqme28 13y ago
  Just a trailing quote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor-paced_cycling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor-paced_cycling
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
davidw 13y ago
Why "gimmick"? Obviously you can't compare paced and non paced speeds, but there's nothing wrong with motor pacing. Lots of pros pace behind a scooter to train for high speed racing.
- mapt 13y ago
  The logical extension is a bicycle attached to a suction cup, with five microns of airspace between the suction cup and a van moving at 100mph. Drafting in a record attempt is a test of the ability to draft; It doesn't have much to do with designing a vehicle, only with designing half of a vehicle.
  - davidw 13y ago
    > It doesn't have much to do with designing a vehicle Err... most bicycles are not meant to reach anything at all like those speeds, so it's very much about designing a bicycle that's fit for the job.
  - notjosh 13y ago

FigBug 13y ago

I thought this was go to be bat Graeme Obree, who is Scottish not Eglish, who is attempting to break the human powered vehicle speed record which is currently 82.4 mph on a bike he is building himself.

popopje 13y ago
this is imo a much more interesting endevour - here's a video https://vimeo.com/69901706 https://vimeo.com/69901706 really does not look at all promising right now and personally i think there's a good chance it could come to nothing.. but he has a pretty decent past record having developed a couple of bikes and riding positions that proved superior http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graeme_Obree http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graeme_Obree

nikster 13y ago

"We'll make you watch a 10 minute video before you find out what this is all about". Meh, no thanks.

awjr 13y ago
I would say your loss. The film is about a guy who had an idea, used the resources around him to make that idea a reality while relying on his friends and people in the industry he works in to come to together and make it a reality. The only reason this happened is pretty much expressed in the film. He had immense respect of his peers and they supported him. Yes he ended up, head down, doing 80mph right up against the bumper of a car inside a shed, but what an amazing journey to get there. You have to respect somebody who achieves the crazy using the limited resources available to him with the help of his peers and friends. I saw the bike at the Bristol Bespoke Cycle show earlier this year. I have to say until I saw this film I had no idea what had gone into it.

huhtenberg 13y ago

Does anyone remember a (French?) guy who did exactly the same in the late 80s? Except that he was wearing a simpler helmet and his bike used simple 3-gear fixed transmission, with extra gear mounted under the seat. His bike rolled 30 m with a single pedal rotation and he too was riding after the bus to piggyback on a slipstream. His ride was highly publicized and I think he made it into a Guinness book.

enqk 13y ago
Maybe you're talking about José Meiffret: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Meiffret http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Meiffret He rode to 130mph / 200km/h back in 1962
- huhtenberg 13y ago
  Nope, not him. Googled a bit and I was thinking of John Howard in 1985. Apparently, it wasn't a bus, but a custom dragster and his helmet was a match too :) And here's his bike - http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=8bqd1t1 http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=8bqd1t1
  - enqk 13y ago
    Indeed, I could not remember the gearing you were talking about. This looks super cool :)

buro9 13y ago

Anyone who watches this and thinks "But why?" and "People have done this before with a bigger budget and gone faster!" are not looking at it right. Tom is a one-man frame builder, and he took the resources he had available to him: His old car, his existing skills, his local area. And he's pulled them together to recreate the kind of pioneering that took place 50/60 years ago for setting these records. He knew from the outset that he wasn't going to get the record, he didn't even get an athlete to ride the bike as he rode it himself. What he did do was go on this incredible journey of exploring the limits of his own skills as a frame builder, of looking at what it takes to go so fast on a bike, and he did it with virtually nothing. And he's not the only one. A lot of people I know in the cycling world, in the design world, and in the tech world seem to be shaking off their cynicism and pessimism, and throwing themselves into projects that help them push their own individual talents. It's the hacker culture of taking something apart, and putting it back together, and sometimes the entire point is "Why the hell not?". It doesn't have corporate backing, or government nods, it's just a few guys doing something they love and letting no obstacle stand in their way. It's easy to say "Why bother, it's not going to be the record", it can be harder just to recognise and applaud them for their individual effort. But that's what should be done.

ak39 13y ago
This is the single most inspiring comment on HN is a looooong time! I just love those moments in life when the absurdist in you, the one thinking of taking runs at windmills, convinces your otherwise cynical and pessimist self to STFU and "fuck it!". Do it. :-) If nothing, it's the stories at the pub with your mates afterwards that it's all about.
democracy 13y ago
Great video! Very inspirational!
marknutter 13y ago
Your comment is the perfect antidote to the pathetically pessimistic comments elsewhere on this thread. Thank you!
teddyh 13y ago

thatBilly 13y ago

This guys is a wannabe Graeme Obree - obree.com http://obree.com/obree-news/297-ihpva-world-land-speed-record.html http://obree.com/obree-news/297-ihpva-world-land-speed-recor...

claudius 13y ago

While this is certainly a fantastic feat, it’s not always practical to have a car ride in front of you – which is why I’m still thinking of getting one of those ‘Velomobiles’[0], apparently with regular cruising speeds of ~45 km/h[1]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velomobile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velomobile [1]: http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/09/the-velomobile-high-tech-bike-or-low-tech-car.html http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/09/the-velomobile-high-t...

buro9 13y ago
My favourite velomobile is the Quest: http://en.velomobiel.nl/quest/ http://en.velomobiel.nl/quest/ I really want to try one for a long ride, perhaps the Dunwich Dynamo. The only issue I have is that I live in a flat and have no garage, I have no way to store one of these otherwise I'd have made the jump a while ago.

pge 13y ago

If you're interested in the topic, check out ihpva.org (international human powered vehicle association). They have a regular speed test in battle mountain, nevada where the fastest speedbikes do time trials (without drafting). It's inspiring on both a physical and engineering level. Current record is around 80mph.

jacquesm 13y ago

That's an incredibly inspiring video, well worth watching. Tinkering, finding and exceeding your own limits and then in the end succeeding at your goal. What else is there to wish for?