AeroVelo aims to build world's fastest bike - Gizmag

AeroVelo aims to build world's fastest bike
Gizmag
Following its Sikorsky Prize-winning Atlas helicopter, Canada's AeroVelo now aims to set a new human-powered speed record during September World Human-Powered Speed Challenge in Battle Mountain, Nevada, with a high speed bicycle named Eta. The ...

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Building a 100-MPH Human-Powered Bike - Popular Mechanics

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Popular Mechanics

Building a 100-MPH Human-Powered Bike
Popular Mechanics
Like the VeloX3, Eta looks more like the front of a high-speed bullet train than a bike: It's a recumbent-bicycle drivetrain tucked into a protective fairing. In that sense, designing Eta has been quite different from the ornithopter and helicopter projects, Reichert says. Those aircraft had practically limitless sizes and shapes to work with, but Eta has tight limitations.

"Your toe is 1 millimeter from touching the shell, and the chain is a couple of millimeters from touching your leg," Reichert says. "Everything is so, so tight-fitting."

The team is using computer models to build an aerodynamic shell and efficient drivetrain. A similar bike project from last year reached 78 mph, but Reichert thinks it's theoretically possible to hit 100 mph. At those speeds, control is also a major problem; the tiniest muscle twinges can cause a wipeout. Reichert has crashed at high speeds because of control issues.

"Your knuckles are turning white trying to hold on to this thing," he says. "There's definitely some nerves going."

While working on designs, he's also been...



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The Human-Powered 'Rocket' Bike Is Set to Smash Speed Records - Motherboard

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Motherboard

The Human-Powered Rocket Bike Is Set to Smash Speed Records
Motherboard
The bike looks a lot more like a rocket than a normal bike, said Cameron Robertson, one of the team co-founders. The pilot is recumbent, so quite laid back This new bike, just like our research vehicle from last year, actually doesn't even have a ...

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The Quest to Build the World's Fastest Bike - Businessweek


Businessweek

The Quest to Build the World's Fastest Bike
Businessweek
Now the Canadian founders of AeroVelo are taking their work to ground level by designing a bicycle that could set a new world record for human-powered vehicles, which is currently 133.8 kilometers per hour (83.1 mph). Robertson and Reichert plan to show off their Eta bike—the name is inspired by the Greek letter that in engineering circles stands for efficiency—at the World Human-Powered Speed Challenge in Battle Mountain, Nev., in September.

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From the outside, the Eta resembles a more streamlined version of Clark Kent’s spaceship in Smallville but with wheels. The frame is enveloped in an oval-shaped pod made of carbon fiber, a lightweight but durable material that’s been used by aircraft manufacturers. The inner frame, which is also fashioned from carbon fiber composite, bears some resemblance to a recumbent bike. The top of the rear wheel attaches to the frame, and the frame then slopes down to grab the front wheel at its center. From there the frame declines from the center of the wheel toward the rear wheel to create a close-to-the-ground seat for the rider.

The combination of aerodynamic shell and minimalist frame helps deliver the speed Robertson and Reichert are after. The shape gives the bike one-10th the drag of the most streamlined cars, according to the duo. The wheels are roughly 26 inches, which is comparable to the size on bikes used at events such as the Olympics but with smaller spokes to reduce air resistance. “Normally on a bike you have the rider’s body through the air contributing the most to drag and the wheels are almost negligible, but for us the spinning wheels and enclosure take up about 15 percent of drag, so we are working to reduce that as much as possible,” Robertson says. The pair is also working to pare down the Eta’s weight to...




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The Quest to Push a Human-Powered Bike to 90 MPH - Wired


Wired

The Quest to Push a Human-Powered Bike to 90 MPH
Wired
Aerovelo Engineer Todd Reichert and his team are on a mission to prove that human strength alone can propel helicopters, planes---and maybe their 145 kph (90 mph) bicycle.

If Todd Reichert cannot regain control of his ultrafast bike, he will be cast at 75 mph into the unforgiving rock and scrub that lies beside the highway in the Nevada desert.

Reichert is familiar with extreme situations: the 32-year-old aerospace engineer and athlete was co-designer and pilot of the first human-powered ornithopter—a craft that flies by flapping its wings—to soar continuously, and the first ever human-powered helicopter to become airborne. These remarkable feats have earned him hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money and the backing of Google. But today’s attempt to break the world speed record for a human-powered vehicle is going seriously awry.

Reichert wouldn’t be...




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