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Pointy helmets . . .

Do they really make much of a time difference for the average AG'rouper, or do you just look a twat (all the gear, no idea)?

Comments

  • apana790apana790 Posts: 76
    Lets you produce up to 4% more power over conventional helmet when goin at 25mph, not much but thats 2 minutes in a 25 mile tt. NO point getting one unless you're planning to ride at those speeds. I would get one if i had enough money
  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    What is the rest of your kit like? As in how aero is your bike & position on that bike...most gain from a low & aero postion that you can hold for a vast majority of the bike leg.
  • Aside from positional benefits from aero bars, aero hats are probably the biggest energy saving per £ spent:

    http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/h ... aero-19273

    That said I still don't have one.
  • FlavadaveFlavadave Posts: 749
    Just make sure you wear it properly...
  • ...hahahahahahahhahahahahhahahaha noob
  • apana790apana790 Posts: 76
    did the guy actually think that that' how it meant to be done??
  • ZacniciZacnici Posts: 1,385
    Aero stuff whether its pointy hats, aero bars etc. actually benefit the lower echelons of the sport more than the higher echelons.

    If you increase your speed the increase in air restistance encountered is not linear but equates to the square of the velocity, i.e. the faster you go the greater the air restistance and the more energy required to overcome it.

    For example - and just plucking figures out of the air here to illustrate - if Hugh Jarce, an average age grouper achieves 30Km hr with drops and normal helmet, the resistance he encounters requires 900 yobbles of energy to overcome, his time for the 40K is 80 mins. By getting a pointy hat and aero bars if he then saves 5% he either only needs 855 yobbles of energy to maintain 30km hr and so wil arrive fresher for the run or by putting out 900 yobbles the aero saving of 45 yobbles means that Hugh has the equivalent output of 945 yobbles which means he can travel at 30.7 Km hr which is about 78 min - 2 mins faster. Not to be sniffed at.

    Now say Richard Thrust, the elite pumps out 1600 yobbles and achieves 40km hr with a normal helmet and drops, i.e. a time of 60mins. The 5% saving in energy for him is 80 yobbles, so his equivalent output of 1680 yobbles means that he can achieve a speed of 41 km hr so that his time for the 40Km is 58.5 mins.

    So Hugh with his pointy hat and aero bars has saved 2 mins and Richard the elite saves 1.5 mins. Effectively Hugh has closed the gap on Richard by 30 seconds.

    Now form an orderly queue for pointy hats please.
  • okennyokenny Posts: 231
    apana790 wrote:
    Lets you produce up to 4% more power over conventional helmet when goin at 25mph
    Since when do helmets produce power??
  • TRIumphantTRIumphant Posts: 850
    I think I understand. It's not power they produce, but a reduction in resistance and therefore more power is used in forward propusion rather than overcoming resistance.

    I do like the photos of the muppet in the hat though, which clearly answers the second part of the question. Yeah, you look a twat, espceially of you wear it back to front. Does he have a wetsuit with a zip up the front?
  • apana790apana790 Posts: 76
    to okenny, i did say "lets YOU produce"
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