Monday, April 2, 2012

Top 3 Ways to Make Your Road Bike Faster

For the sake of this article let's assume you have an good quality carbon fiber road bike such as a Kuota Kharma with Sram Rival. It's not freaky high end by any means but a good solid bike. You love how it rides but now want to make it faster. Do you need to get a new frame or upgrade your groupo? What about wheels? Will a stiffer crank give you more speed? If I make my bike lighter, how much faster will I be?

While citizen obsess over weight the best ways to faster are put out more power, reduce rolling drag and reduce wind drag. The three upgrades I recommend cover these areas

Hybrid Sports Bike

Here's the 3 tool upgrades to make your road bike faster.

Top 3 Ways to Make Your Road Bike Faster

Rotor Q-Rings

These are non-round rings that have been optimized to match the power curve of your legs. The road version have 5 settings so you can adjust the position of the power stroke. A easy chainring upgrade will yield a power increase of 4-5% and a decrease in fatigue. This is one of my favourite upgrades as you observation it from the first ride. You have just a minuscule more going up hill and it never feels like your are pedaling squares no matter how tired you get.

Tires

Most road bikes come with relatively cheap tires. The stock tires have a lower thread count to the casing and denser, slower rolling rubber. Upgrading your tires can make a big disagreement in both speed and the ride quality of your bike. Now there are a amount of high quality clincher tires that roll fast and are pretty puncture resistant. My favourite is the Kenda C2C 700 X 23mm. They are light, roll fast and have good puncture resistance. The best part is they are half the price of comparable tires from other brands.

Wheels

Most road bikes have pretty heavy wheels that come stock on them. A lot of clubs put the Mavic Aksiums which are pretty tough but they weigh a ton. In expanding to the weight, most stock wheels aren't very aerodynamic. What a bad combination. Upgrading to a deeper aero wheel set that is also lighter will feel like a totally distinct bike. For speed the deeper the best up to nearby 60mm. Beyond that will be good for time trials and triathlons but be harsh riding and poor in cross winds. Rims this deep will practically always be make of carbon fiber. This allows clubs to make deep rims are still light. Good options are available from Edge Composites, Zipp and Spinergy. Expect to pay a lot more for a set of carbon fiber wheels but they are lighter for the hill climbs and much more aerodynamic the rest of the time. And on top of it all the deep wheels look cool.

A set of 58 mm deep aero wheels will be a join minutes faster over 40 km. This will make a disagreement in both long road races and crits.

Summary

Increase power output, reduce rolling resistance and cut wind drag. These areas will give you the most bang for your bike buck. As you can see none of this is focused on weight as a pound makes very minuscule disagreement on flat to rolling terrain. If you climb the mountains then a bit of weight off your bike will make a disagreement but until you can see your abs, don't worry about the weight of your bike.

Top 3 Ways to Make Your Road Bike Faster

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Ducati has at last launched the new Monster 1100 and the 1100S version, a smart move that increases the Monster lineup to three members (if you count the Monster 696), each one contribution a new kind of excitement. This is the first out of ten new models that Ducati announced to kick off until 2010.

Weighing only 169 kg, only 6 kilos less than the 696 and developing 95cp at 7500rpm and 10.5kgm at 6000rpm, the Monster 1100 has the power to weight ratio on its side and it could legitimately be declared king of its type without temporizing things. The engine behind it is the already consecrated 1100 Ds, an 1100cc two-valved V-Twin gift on the Ducati Hypermotard and Ducati Multistrada 1100.

Hybrid Sports Bike

Exclusive features such as the Y-spoke wheels and the single-sided swingarm feature the rear wheel. Added more, on the "S" version, the Öhlins suspensions, carbon fiber insertions together with the golden wheels show us the time to come look of the naked starting with the details.

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2009 Suzuki Gsx-R 1000
94. 2009 Suzuki Gsx-R 1000
2009 Suzuki Gsx-R 1000

Starting with the mechanics, the engine is now 60mm shorter from front to rear. It features a bore of 74.5mm and a stroke of 57.3mm, resulting in 12.8:1 compression ratio (previously 12.5:1). Also, the retuned engine now features larger titanium valves and forget pistons for greater durability. Fitted with a Drive Mode selector which was relocated on the left handlebar, the Gixxer offers three power delivery maps.

Check out the new exhaust system! The titanium cans have nice curves and apparently blend perfectly in with the bike's 2009 design, but you shouldn't be surprised when reading the critic's opinion. At least they stand for a potent engine.
89. 2009 Suzuki Gsx-R 1000
2009 Suzuki Gsx-R 1000

In what concerns the chassis, it is a must mentioning the Showa Big Piston Front Forks, which are a Kawasaki first and Added accrue the handling capabilities of any super sports bike on which they are being introduced. To keep the pace with the advanced forks, the rear shock features rebound damping, a collar preload adjuster and high-speed, low-speed compression damping adjustment.

Although it doesn't radically stand apart from the 2008 model year, the new Suzuki Gsx-R 1000 features now an even more aerodynamic shape of the fairing.
95. 2009 Suzuki Gsx-R 1000
2009 Suzuki Gsx-R 1000

All these changes make it more than convenient for competitors such as the 2009 models Honda Cbr 1000Rr Abs and Yamaha Yzf-R1. The Kawasaki Zx-10R doesn't feature operation upgrades for 2009, but it is still worth mentioning as a decent alternative to the Gixxer though I don't know why Kawi didn't fitted this also with the Bpf Forks.

posted by me at 11:01 Pm
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Top speed luxury cars & strange cars
porsche cayenne 2

Latest spy shots revealed that Porsche is already working on a new generation Cayenne that is set to be released in 2010. As usual it will compete with the next generation Touareg that will be revealed at the end of 2010 and the next generation Audi Q7 that will debut sometime in 2013.

The 2010 Cayenne will be shorter than the current model and will look less like an Suv and more like a Porsche. It will have a more muscular and elegant appearance, and in the same time will feature a more steeply raked windshield, shorter greenhouse and blacked-out B- and C-pillars.

Under the hood Porsche will place the same engine line-up as in the current model, with the top version to get colse to 500 hp. There will also be a hybrid version, that is supposed to have a fuel economy of 26.8mpg.

Aston Martin One-77

Aston Martin One-77

After first details on a new .9 million supercar, Aston Martin has set up a special web page: http://www.one-of-77.com.

The One-77 will be Aston Martin's showpiece as they move away from its old relationship with Ford. Details of the upcoming supercar include a carbon fiber chassis with a handmade aluminium body, a 7.0 liter V-12 engine, and the exclusivity of a output run petite to 77 cars.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage Coupe and Convertible by Hamann

aston martin v8 vantage coupe and convertible by hamann

Like Bentley, Aston Martin represents the British luxury and with every car built the manufacturer wins our respect. The newest masterpiece from Aston Martin was the V8 Vantage which in our view was the excellent car...until we saw the tuning kit from Hamann Motorsport.

With the new kit all changes: the car receives a new front bumper with carbon fiber insertions, new carbon fiber side sills, a carbon fiber rear trunk spoiler, and a re-designed rear bumper featuring new exhaust cutters and rear air diffuser. The car received also a new suspension kit which lowers it with 30 mm as well as a new set of 20in black alloy wheels.

Hamann offers a kit for the convertible version of the Vantage, too. With less carbon fiber used, the kit features the re-designed carbon fiber front bumper this time without the carbon fiber front lip and the new rear bumper. The tuner used the same suspension kit as well as the new wheels on this kit, making it look great than ever. No words about the price yet but we got abundance of photos after the jump!

Peugeot Omni

Peugeot Omni

A new view that entered the Peugeot originate Contest is the Omni view created by Darko Markovic. The Peugeot Omni is a strange and unusual car that uses the Omni wheel view of the great designer from past to make sure that there are no parking problems in today's cities. Thanks to the Omni wheel the car can spin and turn colse to at an instant making it easy to maneuver.
96.

The Omni wheel idea belongs to the Swedish automobile designer Bengt Ilon, who created in 1973 a wheel that could move in any direction at a given time. His idea was to attach many roller-wheels colse to the rim of the main wheel to enable the wheel to spin in any direction and turn angles at an instant. The rollers were oriented at an angle of 45 degrees with the wheels axis of rotation.

The Peugeot Omni is an awesome view that tries to show us the car of tomorrow.

Henosis - the next generation vehicle

Henosis - the next generation vehicle

The 5th Edition of the Peugeot originate Contest has an exciting theme: "Imagine the Peugeot in the worldwide megalopolis of tomorrow". This theme makes the designers that enter the contest to include in their view car originate environmental awareness, public harmony, interactive mobility and economic efficiency.

Alexei Mikhailov entered in the Peugeot originate Contest with his eco-friendly view car Henosis (in Greek it means unity, oneness). Alexei Mikhailov originate a car that unites the driver with the machine, in such a way that the car can analyze the environment, driver's mood, expression, and body climatic characteristic to supply the most comfortable and safe driving experience.
98.

The originate wants to seek the new possibilities of car building in order to collect the excellent body. The car, made from light weight carbon nano tube polished aluminum, looks like a space car made not to be driven on the road, but to seek new planets.

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