Where is the door?

The left side swings open, with velcro fasteners at the back. Thanks for bringing that up - I should have said somewhere since that's what most people are curious about.

I haven't ridden this one enough to fully know yet but my impression is it may be more twitchy in cross winds than earlier versions. Mainly I think due to the front being 5 or 6" further forward and greater overall length. That could get worse when I add the leg shields. I'll have to reduce the front somehow. Generally speaking though if I can keep the center of lateral pressure behind the vertical center of gravity the crosswinds are mitigated. It will naturally turn into the wind which counters the wind pressure.

I don't think it's negativity, but rather confusion.

Why make something so much more complicated than it needs to be?

As many people stated, the OP lives in Georgia--curious about the climate in his location, I googled Alpharetta and found that the average low through winter is right at, or just below 32ºF. That kind of weather barely even necessitates long bib tights, I wouldn't even consider thicker "winter bibs" until 15ºF or so. 32ºF doesn't even require winter gloves, just a thin pair of windproof gloves. At first I thought the rear box was to stop road slop from flinging all over the place (even though side spray has never been an issue in my experience), but it doesn't even snow where he lives.

He said he doesn't want to hassle with "extra layers," and wants to reap the "aero benefits" of his fairings--I'm no aerospace engineer, but from the looks of his project, he's actually managed to make the bicycle significantly less aerodynamic than it was at the onset of this project. There are huge gaps everywhere, relatively flat faces at near 90 degree angles, and pockets to cause drag. He's probably spent more time conceptualizing and building this contraption than he would ever (even after several years) spend removing "extra layers."

For 32ºF weather, I can't even imagine wearing more than a pair of full length bib tights, and a thin baselayer under some sort and a jacket. If he was really sensitive to the cold and wind, perhaps a windproof shell over the jacket. I wear those things regularly in the winter and it takes me maybe 5 minutes to change, and I'm no clothing removal wizard (like this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNnQx8AoveE).

It's a very confusing endeavor. I remember someone on here in Seattle created a "cockpit" of sorts because he hated the constant rain/mist--that was a much more logical endeavor. I don't mind wearing jackets, and I don't like adding junk to my bike, so it's not anything I'd ever mess around with.

This just seems unnecessary. You're right though, it's his bike and he can do whatever he wants. More power to him.

I'm sure this is fun for him or he wouldn't do it. So the fact that he's spending more time on this than he would dressing in additional layers doesn't matter. He likes doing this and he can work on it at his convenience. Dressing in additional layers is a daily task that he doesn't like.

If I were to be honest, the additional time it takes to get dressed is one of the more annoying aspects of riding in the winter. It probably takes anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes out of my day. This is in addition to the extra time it takes to get where I'm going in cold weather. Now for me, it's cold enough here in the winter that fairings aren't going to allow me to get rid of any layers, but for him, it sounds like they can.

As far as the temps go, the average low is also just that, an average. It means that a on a fair number of mornings it gets colder than that while on other mornings, it's warmer.

omg that thing rules!

The bottom line on that is test data. I spend more time testing and refining from test data than actually conceptualizing and building. I don't have any quantified data on this one yet (I need a clear day and a new digital recorder for that) but I am confident that there is a significant aerodynamic improvement. It's at least one gear better for a given perceived effort.

There are no 90 degree angle surfaces - the front is elliptical and then a slight convex shape on the sides. If you could slice a plane from the handlebars to the tail light it would look a slightly fat airfoil, about 6 to 1 length to width ratio. It is true that covering the gaps improves performance. That's a difficult compromise. At one extreme, I can't imagine trying to actually ride around in one of the fully enclosed low profile HPV. But the gaps do not eliminate aerodynamic gains; look at how street racer motorcycles are designed for example with an eye to aerodynamics. Turbulent air in the gaps can pull the air flow in so that the boundary reattaches to the surface further to the rear. It depends more on shape and angles than on the visual impact.

My decision on the compromise is to retain all of the utility and handling characteristics of a road bike as much as possible, and improve aerodynamics within those parameters. If coast-down tests don't show appreciable performance improvements I'll shift the compromise back towards the more full style.

Darn straight. What's the point of it all unless you have fun? When I've tried out enough different ideas maybe I can synthesize a more optimal design from them.

It was 57 degrees this morning which is what I like about Georgia; just a little cooler and I won't even need to change at work. It does get bitter cold in the winter mornings though and it will be only me and a couple of die-hards on the roads.

15 below zero last winter was 2 pair of socks, one layer of long johns under jeans, a baselayer and a wool sweater under my jacket, a pair of chopper son my hands and a balaclava on my head. I was toasty warm.

I just don't think we should use the same word for what happens in Alpharetta Georgia in January and what happens in Edmonton, Alberta. In both cases we say "winter" but they are two entirely different animals.

Late to the thread here, but congratulations for getting past two pages of nay-sayers. I'm all in favor of the project. It totally makes sense to me.

On winter commutes I wear knit under layers. Why? To trap warm air next to my body.
I also wear a shell outer layer. Why? To keep cold dry outer air from whisking away that warm humid air.

Sounds like wp is doing the same thing- he's just putting the "clothing" on his bike instead.
And, unlike lobster claw gloves, wool tights and puffy booties, the blue faring is crazy cool looking.
Onward good man- with more pics.

The flex side panels at the sides of the handlebars were just too annoying, and since they also added area (drag) to the front I just cut them off and pulled the fairing in to the head tube. Moving the whole thing up and forward also let me narrow down the front fairing. And finally I chopped some off the back since it didn't really seem to gain anything.

The difference may not be very apparent but the steering is freed up and there is better coverage with a more normal riding position. I still need to add the leg shields.

gretterbrown, Sounds like wp is doing the same thing- he's just putting the "clothing" on his bike instead. is exactly right and trying to make it more aero and less restrictive than bulky clothing and other coverings.

what, nothing to keep your feet dry???

Last step that I'll be finishing up this week: I have a curving shield on the down tube in front of the legs which pulls up to the side panels. I have to cut it off though at the top of the water bottle bracket or else I'll be scraping my toes on it. That works pretty well to keep the lower legs dry and deflects most of the spray below.

Well, there's one other thing that I might add. I can bend a rectangular piece of acrylic to make a swept-back extension above the wind screen which seemed to be effective last year.

Looks like it will keep you warm, but without fenders, you'll get a lot of road spray in the rain. Would love to see a video of the rig in action.

I still have this one I made from fiberglass but I didn't really like it. You're right and I should probably just buy a fender for the front.

I'll see if I can get a short video clip one of these evenings.

how do you get in and out of that thing?

I think you should go all in on this one and really dude it up.

I'd go for flames maybe.

boring

Well unless I can find someone with artistic talent to paint a mural or wings or something I'll have to make do with gadgets. Reflective tape on the sides and lights to start with - I have a tail light/brake light now but I've been mulling over turn signals front and back. I've also had another idea in the back of my mind for a while: a sort of visual horn that would be diffused multi-colored (non-official colors) strobe lights coming from a broad area on the sides and back possibly.

With the leg shields the overall shape is more or less complete. I'll be adding some vinyl to cover the gaps but that's not a priority until it gets cold. On my last couple of commutes I've been holding 21-22 mph with moderate effort so I'm on the right track here. Luckily the leg shields stiffened up the structure enough that I'm not getting the twitchy feeling I had earlier at around 35mph.

Does it get a hat?

It's tempting but I'll probably put half a dome on front and stop there. I experimented once last fall with stretching a plastic sheet over the top with a little extra room to move around but that was a fail. I was cramped and with almost no air flow it got hot right away - no fun at all. You can't help but think there must be a way around that though.