The guys I listen to are the Nero show. And they get some free kit from brands etc but they always test their builds and modifications and also talk about results for watts/ speed on the stable loop with no cars smooth flat surface.
They are quality domestic riders so do their test as like an hour no drafting at 40km/h. it’s not 4 hours at 30kmh or 4 minutes at 50kmh. It’s something that relates to their specific events.
Yeah loved the episode they did on testing wheels and actually also tested the aero impacts of wider tyres!! They are the first to have actually done this as far as I’m aware.
Every one was always skinny tyres are faster… Scyence… until the science changed (tin foil hat on) and wider tyres were faster… But zero mention of any aero impacts of say a 30mm tyre versus a 23mm…
The thing one host says is that the brands will hold out that it’s the frame with the wheels that is the aero holy grail. To keep selling product. Jesse was an old rim brake narrower tyres until maybe a year ago before changing his set up
I’m personally at the point with aero claims I can sit at 40kmh for 45 watts with various claims and trinkets.
The reality is bike companies probably realise people can easily test this now and they’re slowly backing away from the claims as they know the claim is at a particular yaw for a particular rider in a particular scenario and not real life.
As I’ve said else where any aero gain I have over 180km is negated by me lifting my head and wondering how much the house I just passed cost or any other random thought I have at the moment.
Link please
I just watched the video-a good example of what I was saying, that aero isn’t black and white. The dimpled aero bottles actually tested slower than the normal round bottles… Interesting!
But the guys above wanted to rip me apart for suggesting anything of the sort…
The testing you reference, wind tunnel or real world?
That’s not the main conclusion you should draw from that video. The dimpled bottles were smaller than the standard bottles (500 vs 750 ml). To put it black and white, the standard bottles were faster than these particular bottles. However, it’s not a pure comparison between the same sized (and shaped) bottles with and without dimples.
Can you talk more about the real world testing protocol, how it was measured, and how you know that that verified the tunnel? I think part of my hang up is that I dont believe that tunnel results translate to real world. But I’d love to learn that they do (or even that they sorta do, sometimes, lol).
Yeah… I talked to a Ventum insider who said the Tempus tested faster than the One, and that is one of the reasons why I think they don’t publish relative aero data.
I suppose this discussion underscores my point.
These claims need to be re-tested by others to see if they’re real, or what circumstances are required in order to make them real. Or, claims without numbers are made and were left to wonder how they came to those conclusions.
This was exactly what I’m talking about. It is a black box of unprovable mysteries and no one really talks about this. At least not enough, in my opinion.