tight top v loose top in the wind tunnel

maloner

http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/video-loose-vs-tighter-jerseys-tested-in-a-wind-tunnel-energy-saved-time-gained-is-huge/

Tight top was 90 seconds faster than loose top over a 40km tt according to their tests. That's a chunky saving!

fat bloke

Lotta lads even in the club leagues now wearing skin suits the whole time.

Saving between already pretty snug two piece lycra and a one-piece skinsuit's gotta be small though.

maloner

fat bloke wrote: »

Saving between already pretty snug two piece lycra and a one-piece skinsuit's gotta be small though.

I'd have thought so. Our club got new gear this year and the new top has a much tighter fit to last years gear and I'd say the two (this years v last years) wouldn't be far off the above comparison.

Harrybelafonte

Specialized release data that helps them sell product... surprise, surprise.

seany15

They've also tested beards, which i don't think they supply.

cjt156

seany15 wrote: »

They've also tested beards, which i don't think they supply.

I want an S-works beard; take my money dammit!

Harrybelafonte

seany15 wrote: »

They've also tested beards, which i don't think they supply.

Yeah, cos the marginal gains aren't enough.

lennymc

seany15 wrote: »

They've also tested beards, which i don't think they supply.

beards rock!

doozerie

No doubt Sky put a lot of research into greater aerodynamics on the bike and Rapha presumably make kit to meet their very specialised requirements. Then you get the likes of Froome, who moves about on the bike as if he is afflicted with fleas, no doubt undoing the potential benefits of a lot of scientific effort but he still produces world-class time trial performances.

So it’s not about the bike, it’s not even about science, you can keep your high-performance skinsuit, next time I do a TT I’m smuggling fleas.

daragh_

We are putting in an order for skin suits at the moment. I think it might be step too far for me

Unless the sight of me bet into a purple skin suit makes the competition puke and fall off their bikes.

Beasty

Here's that Biggest Bang for your Buck article that's been linked to a few time in the forum. The skinsuit is the thing that provides the biggest single time benefit from all the TT equipment tested, although the aerobars were a bit cheaper and offered the biggest bang for a buck, just ahead of aero overshoes ...

nak

Beasty wrote: »

Here's that Biggest Bang for your Buck article that's been linked to a few time in the forum. The skinsuit is the thing that provides the biggest single time benefit from all the TT equipment tested, although the aerobars were a bit cheaper and offered the biggest bang for a buck, just ahead of aero overshoes ...

Another reason why skinsuits are getting popular is because they are more comfortable (with the exception of some of the pro TT/track ones that take help to get on). That's the main reason I wear my club one, sadly the aero advantages are probably cancelled out by the poor fit.

doozerie

I’m confused by some of the content of that article, such as this:

And if you are riding in a group, while the time saving is irrelevant because you will clock the time of the group; you save the energy that it would take you to ride the same course 5½ minutes faster.

…if you are in a group then you benefit from draughting from it, it seems to me that to claim you’d save the energy that they claim in this statement is simply wrong since wind resistance plays such a little part in your ride anyway (unless you spend a lot of time at the front, obviously) so any energy savings for someone within the group are reduced by a lot compared to someone at the front of the group.

More generally, I also wonder about the reliability of going from these test results to a broad statement that any rider will shave X time off over 40km by wearing a better fitting jersey. Surely there are too many other variables that apply to be able to casually generalise like that - presumably if the rider changes position during the ride that will change things, what if the rider wears a jersey but loads the pockets with stuff, what happens if the tighter jersey warms you up more so you unzip the jersey even just a little, etc. So while I find the test results interesting, I find the conclusions and suggestions far too casual and potentially misleading.

couerdelion

Been trying a new design of skin suit on ready for the next club TT



Seriously though - I've been offered a skin suit and reckon I will look something like this. The pictures of me in my normal kit doing a TT look bad enough.

NeedMoreGears

^ what Doozerie said.

Some further potential conclusions based on the "logic" employed in the article.

Hence you include plenty of pork pies and beer in your nutrition regime to make sure your jersey is nice and snug.

This does mean of course that you must always blast past the hipsters in their aerodynamically wasteful clothing.

Madness got it all wrong in extolling the virtue of baggy trousers even if it is a great tune/video.