A racing machine in the BHPC has to last for 2 hours on a very smooth surface at a fairly constant speed before it can be lovingly checked over and any worn parts examined and replaced.

 

If a racing maching (2, 3 or 4 wheeled) falls apart because it is too lightly constructed then, fair enough, it was worth a try and that is the only way inovation happens - next time beef it up a little and chances are all that you have suffered is a poor result in a very amateur racing series.

 

A velomobile has to not break at all because if it did you might find yourself in the middle of a big accident on an open road.

 

Its the same reason a racing car is lighter than its road going equivalent.

 

What might be fun would be to take a velomobile and adapt it for racing but I am sure someone must have already done that.

Like, if you took a mould off the fairing, surely you could make a race version for a fraction of that weight?

If you make lots, the price is low per unit.

If you send the work out to be done, then it costs more. 

I speak from experience here of running my own small manufacturing company and having worked in mainstream automotive suppliers. It makes a huge difference.

Also if you make lots you can invest in different manufacturing techniques and tooling.

Cars are the best and worst analogy at the same time. People look at cars and say, look what I can buy for £6000 and how good the quality is and spare parts supply and, and, and...

The Ford Mondeo when the production plant was at full flow spat out 1 car every 45 seconds from the end of the line. That was 22 1/2 hours a day, 5 days a week. On a production run of probably 6 years. 1800 cars per day, 450,000 per year.

Barney

 

So come on - what is wrong and what would you change? This type of innovation is what this club is about, and if you have workable ideas for a cheaper/lighter/workable velo, get a prototype together and you'll have several of us lined up ready to part with cash.

If it hasn't become obvious, most of the Euro-velos are based on the same original Aldeweder configuration and are sharing primary steering/front suspension parts. The main variations between them are then drivetrain and body.
The Aussie offerings seem more adventurous but are harder to get hold of here in europe.

From experience trying different combinations on the race track, lighter is no particular challenge, but robust AND looking half way decent (ie. sufficientlyl commercial) is.

Originally posted by hazzah Carrying around 15-20 kg of glass fibre (or something similar), and the consequent beefing up the of chassis (monocoque or otherwise) does not seem like an ideal choice, especially when you have a semi-efficient production process budget of say EUR 5000.

I'm repeatedly surprised by folk who are weight obsessed. I've encountered people who will pay significant amounts to save less weight (eg. buying titanium bolt sets) than if they relieved themselves before going out for a ride. Sure lighter is nice if you can get it but many of the faster machines we see on the race trace are not the lightest.

And in the overall scheme of things, with 70-100kg riders, that 20kg 'extra' really isn't that significant. When I've commuted my 6 mile ride to work on an unfaired trike then a 15mph average is a good run. On the '20kg' heavier Quest 22mph average was the norm. That 20kg extra is more than outweighed by the aero (and possibly suspension) benefits.

 

How about the standard of engineering on high end Taiwanese bikes?  E.g. Hydroformed tubing.

 

I am sure they must make the odd CF bike as well.

 

 

If one takes the approach that the cycling components such as the wheels, transmission etc. are already currently available and the problem is to construct a lightweight aerodynamic vehicle around them then the current velomobile is a rather obvious solution.  It may be possible to build very lightweight fabric covered structures that are given strength through tensioned wires or something similar.

 

Rather than looking at boat technology what is the state of the art in e.g. microlight aircraft?