20 pounds with front fairing?
 

Are there any bents around 20 pounds with a front fairing?

Seems like such a bike would be pretty ideal as a ride everywhere bike. The low weight would be good for hill climbing and the fairing would be good for high speed descents and weather protection.

No doubt such a bike would be priced through the roof, making titanium preferable to carbon fiber to guarantee that I'd only ever have to buy one.

So, what do you guys think? Titanium Rotator Tiger? Titanium Easyracers Javelin? Velocraft VK2? Any others?

One thing to bear in mind, front fairings work best with bikes that have a more upright seat. For a really laid-back bike, front fairings don't do much more than increase the frontal area and produce a bigger speed-sucking draft at the rear.

Well, maybe so, but they're still good for all weather use.

I'm leaning towards the Easyracer Titanium Javelin. It's supposedly only 19 pounds with pedals and seat. A rollup removable carbon fairing should do the trick in bad weather and if I find that it makes me faster then I can upgrade to a lighter double bubble for permanent use. Either way it should remain in the 20 pound range with room for further weight weenieism.

I'm not sure what the price would be, but due to the simple monotube frame the steel Javelins are going for half the price of the popular steel Easyracers Gold Rush model. I think a test ride is in order. Although monotubes can be a bit flexy, at 130lbs with rocks in my pockets it could work for me.

The Velocraft VK2 makes me drool, but I hate to say that an Easyracer would probably be more appropriate for my utilitarian usage. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

I find recumbents are really the most comfortable when you're very laid back. The problem with this position is that it's not conducive to a fairing: in order to ride, you'll be looking through the fairing which can distort your vision. Plus, they're unwieldy if you ever have to carry your bike around and can scratch easily.

The VK2 doesn't come with a fairing, I'm sure, but more importantly, there's a thread on 'BROL about a guy whose fork catastrophically failed.

One of the most comfortable looking 'bents I've seen around is the Street Machine (you can also attach a fairing), but it is heavier than you want.

Ehh, I find that front fairings are muchly overrated comparied to wheelfairings.

+1

Also the fact that wheel fairings look good and front fairings are ****ing ugly :o

Yeah, but wheelcovers don't keep you dry.

Neither do front fairings

I second that. full enclosed fairings don't even keep you dry in wet weather.

Not everyone shares this opinion. Quite a few people in this thread along with number of fairing manufacturers seem to think that a front fairing plus sock keeps you pretty darn dry.

You look like your avatar is keeping dry, even out on a lake!

gotta say my front fairing on the catrike speed keeps me much dryer in seattle than before I put it on. Actually unless I stop alot at lights I often get to work and am only wet from the shoulders up.

My front fairing does a great job of keeping my feet and ankles dry. Getting your feet wet is the worst (IMO), so having that problem eliminated is nice. I mostly use mine to keep the cold air off my body when I'm commuting in the winter.

You might be able to pull off a 25 lb faired bike, but not 20.

In my experience they don't keep out anything other than the breeze. The dirtiest person I've seen on a bike (cross excluded) was watching Frank Geyer get out of the Frank-n-Liner at Casa Grande.

They're no fun in crosswind!

I don't find a Ti Javelin on cursory search, but find it difficult to believe
they can take 9 # off the 28# steel Javelin, even using the highest zoot
components. I would expect a weight in the 21-23# range. I also find
it strange they still use a 456+ size fork and a 406 wheel. Form factor
resembles the Rotator Pursuit, which's Ti version is 7-8# lighter than the
steel version. Fairings, in my experience add about 3# to the bike weight.
Full frontal fairings require fenders to deflect road spray as those 406 wheels
throw impressive rooster tails. When I had a fairing on mine, there was some restriction
in turning radius as the fairing would hit the foot in low speed turns such as 180D
turns in the road. That is highly likely with the Javelin as well.

Rotators' Tiger and Pursuit bikes are 31 lb - steel. Not near 20 pounds. Steve Delaire AKA Rotator runs around town with a faired bike. Ask him about fairings. I met him in Denver once when he had ridden a fully metal (:eek:)faired recumbent from Santa Rosa. He almost got to Indy before the machine had a final break-down. I've also followed a fully faired Easy Racer from SF to LA in the officials' car. I have a pix of that thing doing 62 MPH down the south side of the Grapevine into LA. Oh, just over 21 hours to do the 400 miles.

First post here...

I just wanted to chime in that I have a Rans Tailwind with a Zzipper Fairing and a Mueller mount I got used. Keeps me MUCH drier and cleaner than riding without it or riding my upright.

Doesn't help speed much (but did seem to give some... hard to quantify as I'm still getting used to riding bent), but gives an enormous help with the weather though, leaving me much more comfortable and faster on long rides by breaking the cold and wet... keeps pretty much everything below my shoulders dry as long as I'm moving.

Tacoma area... so without it I'm generally soaked to the bone in a matter of minutes without it, I've done 20+ mile rides in a downpour with it and stayed relatively dry... only issue becomes seeing since I wear glasses and the water/fog ruins my vision. Combined with an AeroTrunk from Anglelake Cyclery and I saw a significant speed increase. Haven't run with the trunk and without the fairing so don't know if it's additive.

Also as far as sidewinds... I did my daily commute with it a couple of weeks ago in 30mph winds with 50mph gusts. Bike was more controllable than I think my upright would have been... heck, I think I'd have called my wife to come get me if I had to suffer that wind hitting me from head on to directly from the side on that bike. I could feel it on my face pounding me at freezing temperatures as hard as I've ever felt going all out down a hill... but I was climbing an approximately 8-10% grade at about 4-5mph with it trying to blow me back down the hill. Behind the fairing I could concentrate on pedaling with most of my body in relative comfort. Then I got to continue riding directly into the wind at about 12-15mph... I suspect I'd have been down to about 8mph on my upright and wearing myself out.

I don't think I'd still be riding in January (I've done about 250 miles this month, all on my bent) without it. I lost about 100 miles this week because I blew a rim out Friday before last coming home and had to build a new wheel which I got done with this last Friday and put 33 miles on yesterday... about 8 in the rain that was attempting to be snow... Hey it's Western Washington. :)

STEEL would be the Tour Easy model. Gold Rush is aluminum. Ti Rush is ... ;)

Come on DOWN! :D

If you were planning a test ride at the factory, that is. I'm about 20 minutes from Fast Freddie & the gang. I have a Tour Easy with the full front fairing and a couple of other interesting bents, in case you want to compare/contrast a few while you're in town.

front fairing for VK2
 

I am about to build a front fairing for my VK2. I will be using a stealth like design with angles and a wedge shape. The whole thing will not weigh more than 3 pounds. It will swivel up and down on the front post and the rear of the fairing will anchor to the handle bars. I have the telescope handle bars and so just merely twisting the bars will give me enough clearance for turning. I will be using lexan sheets and coroplast. If I need the bike to be lighter, I will simply lose weight. I am also going to look for a bolt on electric motor to mount on the idler pulley assembly so I can convert the bike into an e-bike and compete in this new class in the Human Power Challenge 2009 in Portland, Oregon. I constructed a large tailbox for my VK2 last year. It put about 10 to 15 mph increase on my performance. Each year, I slowly put more fairing on this bike. I don't want to crash it. It is a beautiful bike. If I were in better shape, I would not need any fairing at all. I just don't like all the wind blast in my face when I cruise above 30 mph. Tried a full face motorcycle helmet and that was cumbersome. I found that an old aluminum bike rack works well to mount your tailbox assembly to the VK2. You can use one set of those rear bolts that hold the rear wheels on the bike to fasten the rack and then drill a hole through your back seat or through the head rest post to mount the upper part. Then you can use tie ties to fasten your tailbox to the bike rack. It works quite well. I can mount and dismount my tailbox in 30 seconds. I built a nose cone like a three sided pyramid and used some aluminum straps and hose clamps to attach it to the front of the VK2. It look like a jet fighter. Had minor improvement with this nose cone assembly. This time, I will make a full dam like construction like the indy 500 cars. If I need side panels, I will use coroplast sheets for each side and velcro that on. All this may put 8 pounds on the bike. It may be worth it since racing in Portland, Oregon each year is like racing out in the ocean in a rainstorm. It always rains in Portland, Oregon.

you are a brave brave sole.

Oops, hang on; I have to reset my BS alarm.

(don't feed the troll)

I am quite impressed. You must be a professional alarm maker. You seem to know a lot about BS. Is this your strength? When your alarm goes off, I am curious on how you reset it. Does the BS you make increase the speed on your bike? Do you use a partial BS system or full BS system? I would venture to say you make a lot of these BS system and your garage is full of BS. Wow!

What is a troll? How does effect the dynamics of your bike? Do you go biking with trolls or is this how your system operates? Does feeding your troll make you go faster in a race? I am not sure about your post. Maybe you are on the wrong website. You might want to ask your parents to put you on the right website or just read a good Doctor Seuss book little boy. This website is for men who ride bicycles. We talk about bikes, not trolls...okay little boy. Have a good day.