Bluish Green

Good thread, I have enjoyed reading all of the posts.

Aerodynamics and speed are lower priorities for most days on my commute, when compared to seeing traffic as well as possible, being visible, carrying all of my stuff in waterproof panniers, etc. There are a few days when I am riding studded tires into a nasty headwind that it is grueling enough that I might consider some of the ideas discussed here to reduce my drag if possible. Thanks for all the great discussion, I have learned from this thread.

GeoKrpan

I bungee a large but light basket to the top of my rack. It's big enough to hold two backpacks. The basket and contents would not be visable from the front, being hidden by my body. Another benefit is that I'm not going to be hitting anything like I might if I were using panniers.

tjspiel

This is bullhorns:





This is aerobars:

chaadster

But this is the 'full aero tuck' Heine was talking about:

tjspiel

That's a practical position for coasting down a hill but I'm not sure it's good for much else.

Oh and as long as we're talking about aerodynamics, I think MIT figured that the rider above would be better off with the water bottle in the holder on the seat tube. Could be wrong on that one but that's what I seem to remember.

fietsbob

Yawn, like I cant form my own opinion, it's a commute , maybe you didn't find the road race
section they obsess over that poo.

RubeRad

Compare that to these then-vs-now pics of descending pros:


This from Dave Moulton's fantastic blog, which I discovered last week...

tjspiel

Just had a vasectomy a few weeks ago, Old Skool looks uncomfortable. New Skool is just asking for trouble. I'm guessing you position yourself off center a bit but even a small bump and... -ouch.

We may have strayed off the path of "everyday" aerodynamics a little.

spare_wheel

My carbon (EC90 XC) flat bar weighs ~90 gms after being cut to 420.


Who the heck runs campy these days? ().

CommuteCommando

I'm a clyde, but not so bad that It keeps me out of the drops. I actually spend a lot of time down there, sometimes as much as 40% or so. I have lately started ditching the back pack since it was starting to give me back issues. I use it to take in a weeks worth of work clothes on Monday, and bring it all back Friday, with the help of a seat post rack.

Another factor, besides aerodynamics, is rolling resistance. I'm not talking about that whole fat/skinny tires thing. That is a whole nother issue. Regardless of whether 23c are better than 36c, the weight you put on them affect rolling resistance. Reducing weight reduces rolling resistance. There is a very simple experiment you can do to confirm this. Push a wheelbarrow loaded and unloaded.

I lighten up as much as I can, and in my case this includes lightening up the engine (me). Weight is also a huge issue if you live in hill country.

wphamilton

More than you'd expect. The trailing air is turbulent but if you can smooth it out it's significant. For example, conventional wisdom among 'bent riders is that the tail box yields the biggest single gain you can get off the bat.

Darth Lefty 

That's a good idea. The tradeoffs are comfort, utility, cost, and style.

Comfort and utility go up together and generally detract from aerodynamic efficiency. Comfort is important since the temperature is likely to be different from you morning to your evening ride, and variable throughout the year. You need some way to keep warm, stay cool, and possibly waterproof depending on your climate. You need layers. It might help if some of the layers are poofy. If you want to carry your layers home, you need somewhere to put them, and also the stuff you buy when you stop by the store, and so on. You do need luggage space. Do you need so much room that it makes you draggy? As an alternative you can accumulate sweaters at work until one day you bring the car and take it all home. This winter I was riding in my snowboard jacket, which is terribly non-aero, but it is an excellent windbreaker without much insulation and with vents, perfect for maintaining comfort in a range of conditions. Next winter I'll go shopping for something more apropos.

Cost and style also go up together and generally add efficiency, but maybe not in proportion to what you spend. You probably have a peer group you have chosen to join and they have expectations of you. You can find litanies of rules for road bike riders, about what to wear and what to ride and how to wear and ride it. Wire baskets are pretty inexpensive - and milk crates are "free" (not really). Those kitty litter panniers are cheap too. They have zero style. Bags can cost hundreds of dollars, more so if stylish. Those Brooks roll-up panniers are north of $200. A good old mountain bike is inexpensive. A good old road bike with friction shifters is not too bad. A new Pashley Princess costs over a grand. So does an average new road bike. Not everyone feels like they can look good enough in Lycra, or that it sends a message they don't want to send.

SurlyLaika

If you're really concerned about getting there 10% faster or if wind is a serious menace, try a recumbent. AFAIC, I'll ride what I like and deal with drag when and if it becomes a true inconvenience. I'm not racing anyone but myself.

hyhuu

How long is your commute and what do you consider marginal benefits? Being home on time to pick up the younger one from day care or take the older one to soccer practice; or not getting so tired from the relentless headwind, especially in the winter, so that I can still have some energy to play with my sons aren important to me. BTW, my commute is 30 miles each way.

I should also add that I don't have legs like most other riders so I'll take any benefits I can get.

alan s 

52 miles RT, 22 of which are in the car and 30 on the bike.

A marginal benefit would be something that reduces safety or comfort for a small gain in efficiency. Fenders are a good example. I ride with them every day, and they are not aerodynamically efficient at all, but they add great comfort to my commute. Case in point, yesterday there was a late day thunderstorm. The MUP was still wet after the storm passed. I was able to ride without getting wet or dirty and was very comfortable. While fenders slow me down, the benefit of staying dry and clean far outweighs any small gain in efficiency.

tjspiel

Actually if you follow the link in one of the earlier posts to the Jan Heine wind tunnel tests it looks like properly mounted fenders are pretty much a wash. There's a small penalty for the front fender but if you have a full fender on the rear it smooths the air flow around the wheel.

hyhuu

So we don't have the same commute. At I used to do a 33 miles RT commute with just my MTB with slick tires and that was fine with the upright position and all. But 60 miles RT was getting a bit much with with the MTB. I also have fenders (crud racer) on my current road bike commuter and it has no effect on the aerodynamic.

calyth

I live in a fairly windy place, and when that head wind bites, it does get hard for me, especially I'm just restarting this biking thing.

I'm not exactly concerned about the aerodynamics of the pannier, but at least at the psychological level, when I tuck in on the drops on the bike paths with a head wind, it does get easier. I don't think I'd do that on the roads though, the visibility matters. Often I see people with aero bars on the bike paths, but then I don't put down enough power to really make good use of it anyways.

As to whether commuters should really be concerned about going fast, that's honestly up to them. I'm pretty lucky that my commute in is mostly a pathway, so if I want to slow down (like today when I haven't really processed my breakfast and went a little faster than I should), I can. I do it mostly to bring up my fitness and be outdoors to boot, and to stay the heck away from the overstuffed buses.

alan s 

I said we have "similar" commutes, in that we live in the same geographic area and both ride a significant distance, although yours is substantially longer than mine. I think you are missing my point, which is you can spend a great deal of time and effort to improve aerodynamics, but there are tradeoffs and diminishing returns. Other factors, such as safety, comfort and expense need to be considered.

Steely Dan

riding directly on the shore of lake michigan makes wind a serious issue for my daily commuting. i care about getting reasonably aero, but i'm not OCD about it like a time trial rider, ie. i'm never gonna commute in a skin suit or with an aero helmet.

i do prefer a back pack over other luggage systems because it seems like the most aero way to carry stuff. and i can get into a decent tuck on the drops on my road bike. i put aero bars on my hybrid for about a year, but i ultimately couldn't accept how stupid aero bars look on a hybrid, so they came off. my hybrid has a couple inches of saddle to bar drop anyway, and i chopped the flat bar down to 20", and i have some ergon GP5 bar ends (the really long version), so when i'm all the way out on the ends, i'm somewhat down and out of the wind, though still a tad wide. but it's been working decently enough, and when the wind is truly stupidly obnoxious (like a morning marine forecast of NNE gales @ 35 knots gusting to 45 knots), i take the inland route where i get some wind protection from the buildings of the city.

hyhuu

I understand your points just fine. What's important to you and your commute is your business. I only said that being aero is important for MY commute but you made it a point to answer specifically to my post.

Darth Lefty 

I admit I didn't think about including safety. Are you thinking specifically of visibility or of controlling the bike?

tjspiel

Wear a neon skin suit with matching aero helmet and you'll be plenty visible and aero at the same time.

Oh and a disc wheel. They make noise.

bbeasley

I like speed for my short 5 to 8 mile one way commute. I use a messenger bag to hide my lunch and laptop from the wind and love the bull horns on my fixed gear commuter.

Andy_K 

This actually had me thinking the whole point of this was going to be safety (before I read the remaining paragraphs in the OP). Several times in recent years there have been incidents around here where a bicyclist on a rural road was killed by a passing 18-wheeler and witness accounts said something like, "He was just riding along and then for no apparent reason he turned into side of the passing truck." Whereupon the police responded by scratching their heads and saying something like, "That's weird. I wonder why he did that." I don't think they cover aerodynamics at the police academy. They also seem not to cover the part of Oregon law that requires a minimum passing distance such that if the cyclist fell over he wouldn't fall into the passing vehicle. Not that choice of panniers is likely a big factor in cases like that.