On Mon Jan 20 09:17:37 2025 AMuzi wrote:
On 1/19/2025 9:49 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 1/19/2025 8:41 PM, Mark J cleary wrote:
Well in Central Illinois is now 3 degrees a bit warmer
than my north neighbor Andrew but still too cold to ride
anywhere. Hell it is too cold to go anywhere too unless
emergency. I see Minot ND is going to -55 windchill
tomorrow night.
Do you you think the bike manufactures can build a bike
that you can ride and stay warm in that environment? They
keep going for fast a light and want warm and usable daily.
Let see......a generator heater that works off the hub and
keeps the now enclosed cockpit warm. Then you have some
wires leading to the feet for heat. A glove that plugs
into the hub to keep the hands warm.
Someone here for sure this is Rec.bicyles.tec after all.
Let's see: A bike to stay warm below zero? The first step
is, as you say, an enclosed cockpit. I don't have any
experience riding such a thing, but I wonder if that plus
warm clothing might be all you need. For a while, many
decades ago, I had a Zzipper fairing on my bike when
commuting in cold weather, and it seemed to help. And IIRC,
the fully enclosed and streamlined bikes used for speed
record attempts have some problem with riders overheating.
Human muscles, metabolism etc. are only about 25% efficient
at producing power. That means for every 100 Watts you
output in pedaling, you're delivering 300 Watts heating to
your body. If you're inside an enclosed fairing and you use
enough insulated clothing to keep that heat from being lost,
I think you'd be fine. I'm including feet and hands, which
would not have the wind chill if they were inside a fairing
enclosure.
But I can envision other problems. When it's intensely cold,
seeing where you're going through a windshield could be a
challenge. Enclosing an upright bicyclist would probably
lead to big problems from crosswinds due to the huge lateral
area, and you'd have some problem with that even if you
reduced lateral area with a recumbent posture. So to prevent
wind toppling you, you might need a trike instead of a bike.
That leads to further complications, like finding three
clear paths instead of one through snow, ice or whatever.
Sorry, I can think of no practical way to ride very far when
it's very cold. My record was -4 Fahrenheit, but it was just
a brief and uncomfortable utility ride. I don't plan on
trying it again.
I commuted as low as -25F more than once. It can be done.
For example, snowmobile suits are used at equal or lower
temperatures than most cycling, with more relative wind
speed, commonly:
https://snowmobiles.org/carhartt-snowmobile-suit/
IMHO fairings or enclosures are not the best approach,
especially where wind is significant. (maybe for tricycles
but not two wheelers).
Luckily living in California, it never gets so cold that heavy bike cloths don't work along with hard riding.
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