I have a slow time here in bunnyland, as I only have to work at my primary place of employment at the moment. I decided to work a bit more on the project one.
I have decided to work on something for a bit of fun, as this question was recently broached to me by a customer. I am doing a “legal” brake fairing, which involves a “remanufacturing” operation of the brake. Power will not be increased, nor is the actual brake arm touched, but it (theoretically) makes the brake a bit more slippery. It also has the potential to make the brake a bit stiffer. This R&D will result in a brake “remanufacturing” operation that is significantly lower in price than the original price I had quoted to this customer, though significant work still has to be done in order to make the brake legal and not an “aerodynamic enhancement”. Critics please note: I am not going to make any real claims on aerodynamics, and I am doing this merely because of customer demand; I also am going to make sure that it’s not some cheesy add-on. More will come later.
Also, a different take on the rear water bottle holder will be done. This is going to be quite interesting, as I have a trick up my sleeve for this one.
I have lettered the bike, and it turned out a bit better than I had expected. I was expecting to put on the letters, then hastily remove them in disgust and have my sign guy do it. I may still do that, but the hand-cut bunnyman institute logos will stay on.
Functionally speaking, the bike is not all that safe for anything but a timed race on a windless day (double disc). I would not race it in a tri if I were anything other than a front of the pack racer, as if you’re stuck in the middle or back, you have considerable safety issues (like one brake lever on the aerobars, a “nub” of a pursuit bar, etc., etc.), and the gearing is kinda weird (not for hills). I may change the single chainring to something a bit more track-like (a 49 or 50 tooth in a 130mm BCD pattern), as a 52-11 would be a bit difficult to keep on top of, having only three more gears to choose from (a 11-14 cassette). I know the perfect guy for this bike to be prepped for, and if he weren’t racing UCI-sanctioned races, then he would love this bike.
Why did I build this bike? Only to showcase some examples of my concepts of enhancing aerodynamics and mechanical simplicity. The most mechanically complicated part is the one-lever braking system, and that can be easily remedied by taking away the tandem brake cable doubler and adding another brake lever. I also did an “old-meets-new” with such details like the SRP bolt kit (except chainring bolts- another story), jockey pulley plate made of carbon fibre, as well as the Campy Delta brake cover made of carbon fibre.
Hid says “pics, please”. I will maybe tease y’all with a very ambiguous pic of the graphics. But Hid has to ask me himself off of the board. He knows my real e mail address.