This piece could’ve been a lot better. Not a whole lot of information was given, like how did they make the chain more efficient? Or how did moving his hands a few inches change his aerodynamics? Good production, no substance. Expected more from The Economist.
a) don't really expect much from the Economist b) I highly doubt that the British team want to freely give away their tactics and approach by allowing someone to delve into specifics.
I wouldn't expect highly technical information thru this medium. Most people would find the details overwhelming and uninteresting. You're pretty much gonna have to read to gain detailed knowledge about aerodynamics and drive-train loss. Or take that professors class at Cambridge.
Perhaps the interviews where interesting, it points you to where we’re making improvements to a very basic technology that’s been around for well over 100 years. You all really expected a 5 min UA-cam video to discuss flow dynamics, pressure differential and all that? Get real
2:55 Graeme Obree invented the Superman position, not Chris Boardman. He used it in the individual pursuit at the 1995 world championships, after the UCI banned his previous tuck position. Boardman did not use the position until his hour record attempt in 1996.
Also Graham Obree's tuck position years after was studied in a wind tunnel and the findings were that it was the fastest position of them all on the track by a long way, the super man position was found to be only slightly faster than the normal tt bars currently allowed by the UCI, who banned both the truck and superman positions. Graham Obree came up with the fastest position in his mate's small bike shop workshop without a wind tunnel or a formula one professor lol. He himself got the hour record without the massive backing Boardman had, I think at the time he was actually on the dole and used his own training methods on the country roads of Scotland, he was the true hero. His old faithful bike crank bearing was lifted from a washing machine and the frame he welded up himself - class.
@@stevezodiac491 So true, and the bike can be viewed today in the National Museum of Scotland - bit.ly/2SfQsAZ. Obree is a living legend to all cyclists, his story is by turns heartbreaking, triumphant and heartbreaking again. What he achieved, the odds he fought against is amazing, the only other person in my eyes who has achieved similar feats was Nicole Cooke - and its telling that Graeme Obree wrote the forward to Cooke's autobiography 'Breakaway'. Obree's autobiography is a must read also.
Coincidence that The Economist, with London offices, credits Brittish cyclist Chris Boardman for the superman position? Graeme Obree was a genius and one of the last great stories of a self made athletic hero.
Great Filippo Ganna!!! He has set on October 7th, 2022 a new UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland - covering a distance of 56.792 kilometres. His Pinarello is the current fastest hour record bike 🎉
The professor said that reducing the friction within the chain would make the athlete that much more powerful. I think he means that it would make them that much more efficient, therefore faster.
Biking is so much fun. In NY i could bike all day and had so much endurance i go run for 1:30 min on the treadmill because of biking. Biking will always have a special place in my heart
I just lost my 2km Strava KOM (from July 2018 riding on Bullet 50s) by 6 seconds to a man who did it in 2 minutes 10 seconds. On the same day that I lost it, I rode on Zondas (35mm) at 2 minutes 18 seconds, while my perceived effort was less on the Zondas I wasn't much slower. So, I wonder if the Zondas actually perform better with a tailwind than the Bullets. Just fun to think about, since I love this kind of tech talk.
I have a pair of Zonda and indeed they are not slow to non-aero wheels. Consider the tires are just as important as the wheels. I use Continental GP5000 25mm.
When your players are fussing over gains due to a slight difference in the place they put their hands, that's when you as a game designer know that you should incorporate more randomness in your game to make such trivialities become irrelevant noise.
@@DancingDeity a Keirin race is done on a velodrome where your power to weight ratio is much less relevant, as you're not going uphill. While a smaller rider would still benefit from being more aerodynamically efficient, this type of race is usually won by bigger, sprinter type riders, which is why it's a "miracle" that a smaller guy managed to win.
When you realize that a Colombian rider is appeared winning a race in the end of the video.. 😭👏🏼👏🏼 is beautiful ❤️ Colombia tierra querida himno de fe y alegría
Economist - lack of journalism research there. It was Obree that pioneered the Superman position after Obree used it to break the world record. It was then subsequently banned by the UCi. Could’ve also shown Obree’s extreme tucked position, which even today remains potentially one of the most aero positions.
Sports isn't a novel frame of reference for businesses, but how well do CEOs et al analyze the minute details of their people's performance, in order to carve out marginal gains against their competitors?
Voice in video: "But it's not just human endurance on the track that delivers the winning formula, it's human ingenuity off it." UCI: "Now you can have saddle angle tilt by nine degrees maximum".
Bit biased towards GB Cycling and not really looking at the whole scene. I would be more interested in a piece on HUUB Wattbike team which is currently breaking WR's, winning championships all on a budget 10 times smaller than GB Cycling. Maybe look at the innovators not the status quo.
@@DancingDeity no, because with something like F1 or even horse racing obviously the rider/driver is important but the sport is based around the pedigree or engineering respectively and always has been that way. With the Olympics the basis of each event has always in the past been about what can be achieved with the human physique in all events, this is very evident when they banned the ZLR Racer swimsuit etc from swimming comps as it was deemed to be too much of an advantage, evidently this shows they do value more what athletes can do "naturally" without excessive benefit from their equipment.
I hate that sports focuses on the best of the very best. Sports isn't about some phony medals on most prestigious games in the world. Its about what you and regular people do.
Yep, In a sport where most of the top contenders have failed a drug test, let’s just show the pic of the one guy that did it too without ever getting caught..somehow that makes the officials hate him lol
Track cycling is a very small sport where money is everything . Oh that and drugs . It would be even much smaller if it wasn't in the Olympics Britain has realised that money spent on track cycling wins Olympic medals in a way that the same money would not do so in other sports . Low hanging fruit is the expression . Just think how USA would dominate if they had a ' British ' attitude to Olympic medals . USA dominates in track and swimming which a lot of people actually do . Track cycling hardly exists anywhere . It was actually a much bigger sport just about everywhere 50/100 years ago . Mountain biking and BMX have taken over while road cycling has always been around Britain has an attitude to sport based solely on medal counting . Just like East Germany and Qatar
cycling is a sport that depends on too much on equipment and strategy for winning. It's not really a "purely athletic" endurance sport. For the true test of speed, it is running.
imagine what would happen if they allowed things like recumbent position. youd be making seconds difference, 10s of kph difference. hundreds of watts of energy difference. its silly when people come up with a better way every one else either jumps on it or fights it to make sure they dpnt have to go against it
Battle Mountain USA IHPVA rules-enclosed streamlined recumbent bicycle reached 90 miles per hour with out any kind of assistance.Higher speeds possible with athletes with higher watts per kilo ratings.
Yeah... It is pretty silly on some of the regulations (like for road cycling, my cheap alloy bike could probably hit the minimum weight limits, which were set back when I was born...). With carbon fiber being 50-100x stronger than steel per weight (when used correctly, obviously only works in tension), then it makes sense to lessen these restrictions from back when CF was experimental before the massive amount of data and fabrication method was known like it is today. When you have to add weight to a stock production consumer bicycle, you have to question if its really for safety... Last I checked, lead weights don't make a bicycle safe! Although, a velomobile would totally blast past these guys/girls, I'm pretty sure with my puny legs I can make a composite airframe even around a normal bicycle and out-race them! So it makes sense to categorize them for racing levels (just like any race, you've got stock class, modified, methanol, NA vs turbo/supercharge, pro series etc), but they don't need some of these silly rules (have a class with disk wheels and another without if you wanted, its not rocket science - one of my favorite expressions since I'm an aerospace engineer). Also, at what point will we see riders with vortex inducers or laminar flow trip line separators glued to the clothing? I'm sure that's banned too, but since most of the drag is the rider (as seen by those stupid looking turtle helmets, LOL!), it makes sense for the clothing to finally get out of the stone age... If you're allowed the ugly turtle helmet apparel, I don't see why aero shoes are not a thing either... I think they are chasing gains in the wrong places!
Fascinating piece. But that’s not the worlds fastest bike. All the worlds fastest bikes are recumbents. Faired or unfaired. Because aerodynamics. Recumbent bikes and rider postures are inherently more aerodynamic than those of diamond frame bikes. Above 24kph, drag predominates over rolling and internal resistance by a wide margin. And since power to overcome air resistance increases with the cube of one’s speed, the faster one goes, the more aerodynamics matters.
If you've won a race lasting many minutes by less than a second, can you really claim to be 'better' than your opponents? Doesn't seem like much of a victory to celebrate to me. But what do I know? I'm just some fat dude sitting at my computer.
Alright The Economist, how much did Cervelo pay you guys to advertise their frames? Bikes now days are all same. Take Peter Sagan for example, he's been on the green jersey since he was riding Cannondales, and now he rides Specialized but still takes the green jersey every tour. The rider is what matters!
5:15 -- Wait, Cervélo is pronounced "Chervaylo" here? I thought "Servaylo". It's a Canadian brand, after all, not Italian (that and the é were clues?).
Thank you thank you now that way is a pleasure being of YER services makes sure starts now alrighty thank you very much oh I made an anonymous denounce make sure the cops take actions ass well thanks
This piece could’ve been a lot better. Not a whole lot of information was given, like how did they make the chain more efficient? Or how did moving his hands a few inches change his aerodynamics?
Good production, no substance. Expected more from The Economist.
a) don't really expect much from the Economist
b) I highly doubt that the British team want to freely give away their tactics and approach by allowing someone to delve into specifics.
Agree, very shallow coverage
I wouldn't expect highly technical information thru this medium. Most people would find the details overwhelming and uninteresting.
You're pretty much gonna have to read to gain detailed knowledge about aerodynamics and drive-train loss. Or take that professors class at Cambridge.
Perhaps the interviews where interesting, it points you to where we’re making improvements to a very basic technology that’s been around for well over 100 years.
You all really expected a 5 min UA-cam video to discuss flow dynamics, pressure differential and all that? Get real
It isn't "The Physician" or "The Biologist"...
2:55 Graeme Obree invented the Superman position, not Chris Boardman. He used it in the individual pursuit at the 1995 world championships, after the UCI banned his previous tuck position. Boardman did not use the position until his hour record attempt in 1996.
Also Graham Obree's tuck position years after was studied in a wind tunnel and the findings were that it was the fastest position of them all on the track by a long way, the super man position was found to be only slightly faster than the normal tt bars currently allowed by the UCI, who banned both the truck and superman positions. Graham Obree came up with the fastest position in his mate's small bike shop workshop without a wind tunnel or a formula one professor lol. He himself got the hour record without the massive backing Boardman had, I think at the time he was actually on the dole and used his own training methods on the country roads of Scotland, he was the true hero. His old faithful bike crank bearing was lifted from a washing machine and the frame he welded up himself - class.
@@stevezodiac491 fascinating! News to me, so thankyou gor posting
J Dietrich there were a few other factually incorrect statements too.
@@stevezodiac491 So true, and the bike can be viewed today in the National Museum of Scotland - bit.ly/2SfQsAZ. Obree is a living legend to all cyclists, his story is by turns heartbreaking, triumphant and heartbreaking again. What he achieved, the odds he fought against is amazing, the only other person in my eyes who has achieved similar feats was Nicole Cooke - and its telling that Graeme Obree wrote the forward to Cooke's autobiography 'Breakaway'. Obree's autobiography is a must read also.
Coincidence that The Economist, with London offices, credits Brittish cyclist Chris Boardman for the superman position? Graeme Obree was a genius and one of the last great stories of a self made athletic hero.
as mentioned before... it was Obree who created the superman position, which was banned for a time.
Great Filippo Ganna!!! He has set on October 7th, 2022 a new UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland - covering a distance of 56.792 kilometres.
His Pinarello is the current fastest hour record bike 🎉
The professor said that reducing the friction within the chain would make the athlete that much more powerful. I think he means that it would make them that much more efficient, therefore faster.
Biking is so much fun. In NY i could bike all day and had so much endurance i go run for 1:30 min on the treadmill because of biking. Biking will always have a special place in my heart
I just lost my 2km Strava KOM (from July 2018 riding on Bullet 50s) by 6 seconds to a man who did it in 2 minutes 10 seconds. On the same day that I lost it, I rode on Zondas (35mm) at 2 minutes 18 seconds, while my perceived effort was less on the Zondas I wasn't much slower. So, I wonder if the Zondas actually perform better with a tailwind than the Bullets.
Just fun to think about, since I love this kind of tech talk.
I have a pair of Zonda and indeed they are not slow to non-aero wheels. Consider the tires are just as important as the wheels. I use Continental GP5000 25mm.
This is just an ad, not journalism.
Joe Hopfield yeah it was quite pathetic
😂😂😂
Cervelo and Argon 18 both started in Montreal...
Obree developed the Superman position. He also developed the "Egg" position before it.
Caretfr
And the coolest one too: praying mantis
When your players are fussing over gains due to a slight difference in the place they put their hands, that's when you as a game designer know that you should incorporate more randomness in your game to make such trivialities become irrelevant noise.
*CHERVELO?!?* Makes it sound like Chernobyl... It's more like 'Sir Velo'.
This biggest miracles happen in a cycling history is when a smallest cyclist ever Azizulhasni Awang won a Keirin World Cup. 👍👍👍
Not surprising, a smaller cyclist would weigh less and can travel faster for that reason.
@@DancingDeity a Keirin race is done on a velodrome where your power to weight ratio is much less relevant, as you're not going uphill. While a smaller rider would still benefit from being more aerodynamically efficient, this type of race is usually won by bigger, sprinter type riders, which is why it's a "miracle" that a smaller guy managed to win.
James Clear in his book ''Atomic Habits'' talks about this very phenomenon of Marginal Gains.
yes he also added the story of Britan's gold medals in cycling due to marginal gains
When you realize that a Colombian rider is appeared winning a race in the end of the video.. 😭👏🏼👏🏼 is beautiful ❤️ Colombia tierra querida himno de fe y alegría
Boardman pioneered the superman position? I thought Graeme Obree did that.
It was Graeme Obree
Cycling = proper sport 😉
👋hey
Let’s not forget the biggest factor: the boon of asthma
This bike is so cool I want this bike.
Just a correction. Boardman didn't pioneer the superman position.
Economist - lack of journalism research there. It was Obree that pioneered the Superman position after Obree used it to break the world record. It was then subsequently banned by the UCi.
Could’ve also shown Obree’s extreme tucked position, which even today remains potentially one of the most aero positions.
Simply AMEZING
Cycling tests the limits of their Credit Card
Its a shame you only showed Lance when you talked about doping knowing that sport has been dirty for years🤫. We all know it wasnt just him
Thank you guys, for make all carbon fiber bikes expensive like everyone were sponsored
As a cyclist did"nt get anything from this video
Same here. It's clearly intended for the mainstream public.
"Cycling's reputation has been damaged by doping"
That's like denying that there was no one before and after Lance Armstrong who doped.
Sports isn't a novel frame of reference for businesses, but how well do CEOs et al analyze the minute details of their people's performance, in order to carve out marginal gains against their competitors?
Epic race.
Voice in video: "But it's not just human endurance on the track that delivers the winning formula, it's human ingenuity off it."
UCI: "Now you can have saddle angle tilt by nine degrees maximum".
now moving to the banned Recumbents and Velomobile,
Bit biased towards GB Cycling and not really looking at the whole scene. I would be more interested in a piece on HUUB Wattbike team which is currently breaking WR's, winning championships all on a budget 10 times smaller than GB Cycling. Maybe look at the innovators not the status quo.
Like every sport is challenging in many ways
I am interested in that chain what is the design details that made it better?
There is nothing out there about this.
I never understand how the british manage to win at cycling but now I know. It's the bike.
great .......
Should the Olympics not be purely about the physical ability/skill of the athlete as apposed to who simply has the better equipment on the day?
Ultan O'Brien...Agreed.Seems all cyclists should use same bike, at least.
Would you say the same thing about Formula 1?
@@DancingDeity no, because with something like F1 or even horse racing obviously the rider/driver is important but the sport is based around the pedigree or engineering respectively and always has been that way. With the Olympics the basis of each event has always in the past been about what can be achieved with the human physique in all events, this is very evident when they banned the ZLR Racer swimsuit etc from swimming comps as it was deemed to be too much of an advantage, evidently this shows they do value more what athletes can do "naturally" without excessive benefit from their equipment.
So it becomes more of a money thing?
Feature road cyclists Tour de france and TT cyclist. Facing all headwinds and different terrain.
I thought the Superman position was invented by Greame Obree
I hate that sports focuses on the best of the very best. Sports isn't about some phony medals on most prestigious games in the world. Its about what you and regular people do.
True.
Superman position is not a myth. Edmonda has done windtunnel testing
Here after watching Yowamushi Pedal
Thanks! Trek Madone is the fastest bike in the world
"GERMAN SCIENCE IS THE WORLD'S FINEST"
Von Stroheim
Same vibes
This is similar to Formula 1 without the engine though
Technically the rider is the engine
Doom Slayer also without downforce since if they focused on downforce for the corners there would be too much drag for the rider to work with.
@@theacrobat4123 you wouldn't need downforce on a bicycle
Graeme Obree pioneered the "superman" position, not Chris Boardman.
「もっと多くの人が必要なので、このビデオをもっと
What size for someone 5’7”
54" i think
In the end the one that invested more money has the edge, doping with in the limits.
Aren't belt drive chains better?
Next Velomobiles
Chervelo lol. Someone did their research! 1:41
Haha, I thought something was wrong when she said that.
What...? Didnt the T5GB cracked and failed and they all changed back to T4?
Yes and no. The frame's carbon layup was too brittle for the sprinters but it was still good enough for the pursuit riders to use.
"damaged by doping" Shows only images of Lance Armstrong.
Lmaooo!!!😂😂😂
Yep, In a sport where most of the top contenders have failed a drug test, let’s just show the pic of the one guy that did it too without ever getting caught..somehow that makes the officials hate him lol
Obree invented superman position
Track cycling is a very small sport where money is everything . Oh that and drugs .
It would be even much smaller if it wasn't in the Olympics
Britain has realised that money spent on track cycling wins Olympic medals in a way that the same money would not do so in other sports . Low hanging fruit is the expression .
Just think how USA would dominate if they had a ' British ' attitude to Olympic medals . USA dominates in track and swimming which a lot of people actually do . Track cycling hardly exists anywhere . It was actually a much bigger sport just about everywhere 50/100 years ago . Mountain biking and BMX have taken over while road cycling has always been around
Britain has an attitude to sport based solely on medal counting . Just like East Germany and Qatar
Would you like some salt and vinegar to go with that massive chip on your shoulder?
That bit with Armstrong wasn’t even necessary in this video
Did... did she just say Chervelo? It probably is pronounced that way but... no.
3:20 there you go for the average rider spending and spending on their bikes
Boardman didnt start the superman position.
Yea Graham Obree created the Superman position! Not the other guy
Errrrr Graeme Obree please!!!!
Between the obvious errors and general lack of substance, this piece feels like some kid in high school put it together! Yikes!
I'll just stick with my mountain bike
Same here
Aussies breaking records while doing shoeys. Its not about marginal gains. Its all about heart and pain
Add a chain guard. 1mph increase. Do I get a job?
Que video top em
Chervelo?
I couldn't even turn over a gear ratio like that once
They sometimes power their own house by spinning.
cycling is a sport that depends on too much on equipment and strategy for winning. It's not really a "purely athletic" endurance sport. For the true test of speed, it is running.
Video
What about EPO???
imagine what would happen if they allowed things like recumbent position. youd be making seconds difference, 10s of kph difference. hundreds of watts of energy difference.
its silly when people come up with a better way every one else either jumps on it or fights it to make sure they dpnt have to go against it
Battle Mountain USA IHPVA rules-enclosed streamlined recumbent bicycle reached 90 miles per hour with out any kind of assistance.Higher speeds possible with athletes with higher watts per kilo ratings.
@@edwardnowill4408 watts per CdA is what really matters
lol at "chervelo", say that in quebec haha
Haha made me chuckle
I came here to comment on that :-)
can anyone say to me what is the ratio of the the fastest bike?
28t with a 12t maybe
❤❤❤
Boardman's Lotus bike is now illegal. UCI is silly.
Yeah... It is pretty silly on some of the regulations (like for road cycling, my cheap alloy bike could probably hit the minimum weight limits, which were set back when I was born...). With carbon fiber being 50-100x stronger than steel per weight (when used correctly, obviously only works in tension), then it makes sense to lessen these restrictions from back when CF was experimental before the massive amount of data and fabrication method was known like it is today. When you have to add weight to a stock production consumer bicycle, you have to question if its really for safety... Last I checked, lead weights don't make a bicycle safe!
Although, a velomobile would totally blast past these guys/girls, I'm pretty sure with my puny legs I can make a composite airframe even around a normal bicycle and out-race them! So it makes sense to categorize them for racing levels (just like any race, you've got stock class, modified, methanol, NA vs turbo/supercharge, pro series etc), but they don't need some of these silly rules (have a class with disk wheels and another without if you wanted, its not rocket science - one of my favorite expressions since I'm an aerospace engineer).
Also, at what point will we see riders with vortex inducers or laminar flow trip line separators glued to the clothing? I'm sure that's banned too, but since most of the drag is the rider (as seen by those stupid looking turtle helmets, LOL!), it makes sense for the clothing to finally get out of the stone age... If you're allowed the ugly turtle helmet apparel, I don't see why aero shoes are not a thing either... I think they are chasing gains in the wrong places!
PRO tip : use Superman move
Yall gunna do Lance like that. Plenty of Euros who dope
Get everyone on the same bike then its fair game.
that something; major drag is from the rider
The rider is actually not a professional but an amateur!
I mean... shouldn't they all be using the same bike?
She sounds like the lady in F1.
Oh 🤔 that's why now bike's comes for like this type sitting!!! 😳
Cycle is essential for Third world.
aero dynamic😂 Marketing snakeoil Sorcery
I think any hyper kid who just ate a bunch of candy and got on that bike would go like 100 mph lol
I gained speed by shaving all of my hair. These are literally dead weight.
The secret is in the legs.
So we won't know the secret. ok
The secret is to lean forwards and ensure your head and hands are in line.
Fascinating piece.
But that’s not the worlds fastest bike.
All the worlds fastest bikes are recumbents. Faired or unfaired.
Because aerodynamics.
Recumbent bikes and rider postures are inherently more aerodynamic than those of diamond frame bikes.
Above 24kph, drag predominates over rolling and internal resistance by a wide margin.
And since power to overcome air resistance increases with the cube of one’s speed, the faster one goes, the more aerodynamics matters.
If you've won a race lasting many minutes by less than a second, can you really claim to be 'better' than your opponents? Doesn't seem like much of a victory to celebrate to me. But what do I know? I'm just some fat dude sitting at my computer.
Do not forget the juice!!!!!???
Alright The Economist, how much did Cervelo pay you guys to advertise their frames? Bikes now days are all same. Take Peter Sagan for example, he's been on the green jersey since he was riding Cannondales, and now he rides Specialized but still takes the green jersey every tour. The rider is what matters!
Obviously not enough because they're pronouncing their name wrong.
There's a confusion between real super man position vs a ridiculous superman position during descent it's not funny anymore
What is cycling,it should be known to indians
5:15 -- Wait, Cervélo is pronounced "Chervaylo" here? I thought "Servaylo". It's a Canadian brand, after all, not Italian (that and the é were clues?).
Exactly, the "cer" comes from "cerebral" and should be pronounced as such.
Do it for mtb!!!!
Eric cheung
Thank you thank you now that way is a pleasure being of YER services makes sure starts now alrighty thank you very much oh I made an anonymous denounce make sure the cops take actions ass well thanks