M5 Attempting Hour Record on M5 Carbon High Racer

[Low Racer]

Hi guys,
Have a look at this. I, naturally, is excited as a recent M5 CHR convert.

http://www.bentrideronline.com/?p=197

Thanks

Chong

[toolonglegs]

I would have thought that as I keep hearing that bents are so quick that the hour record would be close to 60...not a lot less than the "Athlete's" Hour Record..maybee he is aiming to beat it by a wee bit

[nimm]

Taking a look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hour_record I would expect the non-faired recumbents to be doing better than the UCI governed bike category but that's not the case. However, faired recumbents are way out in front of both!

[Low Racer]

Gert averaged 50.4km/hr in his record breaking ride.



Look at the rear wheel.

Regards

Chong

[toolonglegs]

nice setup...and well done.
wonder what the high banking is like on a bent?.

[Kalgrm]

FUN!

Actually, at 50km/h, I reckon I'd be scared if the walls weren't banked.

Cheers,
Graeme

[Kalgrm]

Look at the rear wheel.

That rear gear is tiny. Any idea how many teeth? It looks like a point of inefficiency to me - I'd have thought a larger one with a correspondingly larger chainring would have been more efficient.

Cheers,
Graeme

[Storm]

Yes Graeme I think your right and it has been proven that larger gears are more efficient, how much tho.....probably wouldn't have made that much of a difference to his time, who knows now eh.

[Crankitup]

Taking a look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hour_record I would expect the non-faired recumbents to be doing better than the UCI governed bike category but that's not the case. However, faired recumbents are way out in front of both!

From that site it appears the official "UCI Hour Record" is only 49.7 km by Ondřej Sosenka in 2005.

That official record "restricts competitors to roughly the same equipment as Merckx, disallowing time trial helmets, disc or tri-spoke wheels, aerodynamic bars and monocoque frames".

Chris Boardman's 1996 effort (56 kms) is 'officially' an "unofficial" UCI record - labeled 'Best Human Effort'.



As you can see from the pic he even had 'wings'. Can't see the UCI ever officially sanctioning that.

Why hasn't a recumbent rider gone further than Broadman's unofficial effort? Maybe it's just a numbers game. The number and calibre of recumbent riders attempting assaults on 'the hour' would be much less than the number and calibre of DF riders, but ever increasing. In time I would expect them to bridge & then surpass the gap. As far as I know, this was Gert's first attempt and the first thing he said after doing his 50 km's was that further could be ridden.

A DF cyclist in extreme tuck on a bike similar to Boardman's would be fairly similar in frontal profile area to many recumbents. It's in ultra races, where it's too tiresome to hold such an extreme position on a DF that unfaired recumbents really come into their own.

[toolonglegs]

scratch Ondřej Sosenka's record from the list unless they have doper included in the title...

[nimm]

oh woops re: official/un-official. But yeah I was just pointing out a curiosity with regards to the DF unofficial record and un-faired recumbent record. You're probably right about the calibre of recumbent riders in this situation not being quite on the same level as the DF riders.