Cycling UK Forum

Ben Lovejoy wrote:Good idea - rollcage and harnesses. I'll check the ICE options list now ...

Borealis?

It's very pretty, but I think there are only a handful of winter days when I would want to be inside that thing!

Wouldn't want to haul the weight of it uphill!

My lardy buttock is bad enough

WOW thats impressive

is it really needed though??
wots its purpose???

Cuts wind air resistance and therfore faster (theorectically!).

My main criticism is cycling uphill with one of these on the trike. Its already hard enough on a naked trike without the extra weight! Does anybody know how much the fairing and gubbins weighs?

Perhaps an argument could be that you're so fast down one side of a hill that there is no hauling on the other side. Wouldn't have worked when I was in the Alps. Ouch!

Don't know about full enclosure, but I do ride with a Streamer fairing. Weight = 2.2Kgs.

Way I look at it is I have a lot more than 2.2Kgs of weight to lose of me, so would rather have the advantage of a fairing at 2.2Kgs, than nothing given the extra work involved going uphill will help get my weight down

I use my Streamer fairing in winter, for warmth and rain protection, but it comes off in the Spring - in warm weather, I'd rather have the cooling!

Wildduck wrote:Perhaps an argument could be that you're so fast down one side of a hill that there is no hauling on the other side.

I was extremely lucky to have a change to ride the fully-faired Windcheetah that Andy Wilkinson used for his LEJoG record (http://www.windcheetah.co.uk/record.htm) several years ago. This me, having fun:



Main impressions:
1) It's very hot and very noisy.
2) If you pedal harder, you go faster, whatever speed you're doing!

On a road with a significant dip i was able to cruise down one side, and crested the other hill with hardly any effort at all. On an unfaired 'cheetah I only managed two-thirds of the way up the other side before having to put effort in.

On the flat, the fairing allowed me to overtake everyone else on the road (all recumbents) with little effort, and the feeling of being able to accelerate even with top gear engaged is fantastic!

It probably was harder work up hills without a suitable run-up, but even if it was I don't remember that part of the ride

A velomobile user said as much to me when I asked about hills. He is very quick on any cycle bent or otherwise but the distances he routinely covers in it and the speeds he reaches prove to me the benefits.

I already use a Streamer and will fit a tail sock when I find one.

AND

I'm already saving for a Borealis shell for my QNT!

byegad wrote:A velomobile user said as much to me when I asked about hills. He is very quick on any cycle bent or otherwise but the distances he routinely covers in it and the speeds he reaches prove to me the benefits.

I'm not so convinced. I mean, I can travel ever further and faster in my car, but that's not really the point ...

For me, an integral part of the cycling experience is the feeling of being part of the outdoors, and to be enclosed in a shell like that wouldn't work for me. But maybe that's just me - I mean, I always insist on my cars being open-top too.

Ben

I see your point to some extent. I just think the opprotunity to travel further and faster without fossil fuel propulson would be fun.

Ben Lovejoy wrote:For me, an integral part of the cycling experience is the feeling of being part of the outdoors, and to be enclosed in a shell like that wouldn't work for me.

I agree, I wouldn't call riding the fully-faired Windcheetah "cycling" really, it's more human-powered-vehicling or go-karting. In fact I'd pretty-much say the same of the Windcheetah too: it's a fun, bumpy, fast go-kart, not a flowing-round-the-bends bicycle. Some of the more relaxed trikes get closer to cycling, but I think you really need to up high on two wheels to get the best "floating" effect.

The TRICE is also a human-powered go-kart, but I would say flows round bends even more smoothly than one of those odd two-wheel bikes.

Ben

What do you mean Ben? Sometimes going round a bend on Quackers I am on a two wheel bike!

Just don't mention me becoming a non-wheeled bike ...