We are back!

So after a rather long "summer vacation" the team is back at work. :-) We have finally moved the molds to a wherehouse in Santa Clara which is a good long term spot for them.  So our short term goals are the following:

1) Build a training bike for Meghan. We plan to build a "clone" of the Bacchetta Strada. We took vavious measurements and photos of the Bacchetta that we rented back in May. Meghan liked the ride and feel of this recumbent. It seems a straightforward frame to duplicate. But when building anything there will be problems that will arise.

2) Build a test faring to give the team some practical hands-on experience performing a vacuum bag wet layup.

3) Build a test frame based on this sketch.

This is just a preliminary first design. I'm sure it will change quite a bit as we do subsequent frame design iterations.

More to follow!... 

Hellyer Velodrome 5/19/2012

We had a blast at Hellyer Velodrome. Meghan got some good experience riding the Bacchetta Strada and I got to be silly.

Dialing in the Riding Position

We had a good ream meeting tonight and we worked on Meghan's riding position. I think this looks good so far.

"And so it begins"-- Kosh Naranek

So the real nitty gritty design work begins. Were now working on getting the frame configuration nailed down. Using the measurements of Meghan's limbs we created "stick girl"! And we added a 20" front wheel and a 650C real wheel. It looks like we can possibly move Meghan forward and lower he a bit as well. We'll try out many rider configurations for sure.

Initial Rider Measurements

Now it was time to take measurements of Meghan to to get an initial view as to how she would fit in the fairing. Full  scale side and top profiles were printed out and taped to large flat pieces of cardboard.  There is plenty of room for Meghan so hat is great news. We also took body measurements as well. The next step is to create a 3D mannequin CAD model of Megan to see how laid out she can in the fairing.  

So It Begins

Using a 48" x 96" piece of cardboard, Jose and I put together these two full scale profile outlines so we can start fitting our rider Meghan and designing the prototype recumbent bike frames. This is a classic example of high tech, cutting edge engineering CAD (Cardboard Aided Design). Hahahahahahaha! (I got that joke from a poster over at www.recumbents,com). These profiles are of the two sets of fairing molds we acquired from the Cal Poly, SLO HPV team (the Atlas and Artemis HPV's). We intend to modify the profiles and the molds to get shorter fairings by placing the Meghan in a more laid out recumbent position. We are even considering getting rid of the canopies all together if possible. We haven't decided which one to to focus on but the Artemis is the front runner since Meghan is our lead rider and she likely fits better in the Artemis fairing. We are also considering recessing the wheels deeper into the fairing body to lover the overall fairing height even further. This will necessitate that the rider straddle the front wheel (something that the riders of the Artemis riders didn't do because of their frame design). This seems to be a common design attribute with many of the fastest bike that race at Battle Mountain. But that has yet to be conclusively determined. We plan to measure Meghan's key body dimensions to get a better idea how she may best fit in the Artemis fairing. 

Artemis Fairing Profile

Atlas fairing profile

Materials Update

So we now have the lumber for the mold boxes and a 10' piece of muffler tubing to use for our first prototype frames. So we can really get down to business and start designing the two prototype frames.

All Time Women's 200 Meter Flying Start

Here is a list of the All Time Ladies 200 meter flying start. Something for Meghan to shoot for in the future. :-)

Speed (mph)	Pilot	Bike	Location	Year
75.69	Barbara Buatois	Varna Tempest	Battle Mountain	2010
75.458	Barbara Buatois	Varna Diablo 3	Battle Mountain	2009
73.294	Barbara Buatois	Varna Tempest	Battle Mountain	2009
72.79	Barbara Buatois	Varna Tempest	Battle Mountain	2010
72.534	Barbara Buatois	Varna Diablo 3	Battle Mountain	2009
71.37	Barbara Buatois	Varna Tempest	Battle Mountain	2010
66.585	Lisa Vetterlein	Varna 2	Battle Mountain	2005
65.89	Ellen van Vugt	Varnowski	Battle Mountain	2004
65.628	Andrea Blaseckie	Varna Diablo II	Battle Mountain	2005
65.36	Ellen van Vugt	Varnowski	Battle Mountain	2008
65.293	Lisa Vetterlein	Varna II	Battle Mountain	2005
65.21	Ellen van Vugt	Speed Hawk II	Battle Mountain	2010
65.169	Ellen van Vugt	Varnowski	Battle Mountain	2008
65.046	Ellen van Vugt	Varnowski II	Battle Mountain	2005
64.91	Ellen van Vugt	Speed Hawk II	Battle Mountain	2010
64.74	Andrea Blaseckie	Varna Mephisto II	Battle Mountain	2002
62.924	Ellen van Vugt	Varnowski	Battle Mountain	2008
62.83	Lisa Vetterlein	Varna II	Battle Mountain	2005
62.677	Tanya Markham	Varna Mephisto II	Battle Mountain	2009
62.397	Ellen van Vugt	Varnowski	Battle Mountain	2008
62.27	Andrea Blaseckie	Varna Mephisto	Battle Mountain	2002
61.8	Ellen van Vugt	Varnowski	Battle Mountain	2004
61.71	Andrea Blaseckie	Varna Diablo II	Battle Mountain	2005
60.741	Barbara Buatois	Varna Tempest	Battle Mountain	2010
60.62	Andrea Blaseckie	Varna Mephisto II	Battle Mountain	2002
60.173	Tanya Markham	Varna Mephisto II	Battle Mountain	2008

The Cheetah HPV (1992)

One of my favorite HPV's ever. The Cheetah held the World Speed Record (68.73 mph) for about 9 years I think.

There is a short clip in the video showing the Cheetah team performing an aerodynamic tuft test. It shoes  the airflow over the Cheetah faring. The airflow seems smooth over the sides but then goes turbulent at the tail section.

Visiting Cal Poly, SLO

On Saturday, January 7, 2012 we visited Cal Poly "aero hanger" to pick up the molds for the Atlas HPV. It's always fun to go back to where I spent so much time as a student! :-) The current Cal Poly students working on the HPV are an impressive bunch. They were hard at work sanding their current molds. I wish them the best at this year's ASME HPV competition.