I never cease to be surprised by the wind tunnel results, and Cobb's article today is no exception. The biggest surprise was that the lowest drag came from the front mounted Profile water bottle, presumably including the straw. The second lowest drag came from the downtube mounted water bottle. Cobb didn't test combining these two together, but since they are on different lines presumable they would not interact and this might be the fastest combination.
On the other hand, the results out of the wind tunnel prove repeatedly that well reasoned assumptions are typically wrong.
Someone please explain why a high water bottle in the rear would be better than a low one. While you are at, explain to me why a water bottle on the downtube would speed things up. If it were that simple to speed up the frame by a change in design, why wouldn't the manufacturers take advantage of that fact?
I do love to see this though. I am planning on using a Profile front water bottle and a downtube bottle at Lake Placid this month. Looks like that should save a minute or two. If I can figure how to mount 60 of them, I might be competitive on the bike this year after all.
On the other hand, the results out of the wind tunnel prove repeatedly that well reasoned assumptions are typically wrong.
Someone please explain why a high water bottle in the rear would be better than a low one. While you are at, explain to me why a water bottle on the downtube would speed things up. If it were that simple to speed up the frame by a change in design, why wouldn't the manufacturers take advantage of that fact?
I do love to see this though. I am planning on using a Profile front water bottle and a downtube bottle at Lake Placid this month. Looks like that should save a minute or two. If I can figure how to mount 60 of them, I might be competitive on the bike this year after all.