electr0n said:
Just curious how many of you have put any effort into aerodynamics with your setup and what were your results?
I posted my build recently here:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=60307
And didn't see much traffic on the thread.
Here's a photo showing a friend of mine modeling a faired and socked Power Gold Rush (Easy Racers):
http://mrbill.homeip.net/albums/zach_rides_hybrid_gold_rush.2010.12.04/pages/page_8.html
The rider's head sits above the top of the front fairing allowing a view forward. This custom e-bike version of the Gold Rush is similar to what one can buy stock from Easy Racers today for about $5-6k.
http://mrbill.homeip.net/albums/seattle_to_portland.2000.07.08/pages/page_3.html
http://easyracers.com/bicycles.html
And, here I am riding my Power Pursuit (Rotator) at PIR several years ago:
http://mrbill.homeip.net/albums/epower_challenge.2010.05.31/pages/page_40.html
Both of these bikes have open bottoms for ease of riding. Closing the bottom would be the next step to improve aerodynamics if I didn't mind giving up the convenience of being able to put my feet down easily.
I've ridden my Power Pursuit with and without the front wheel fairing (top 1/3 of wheel), and I see no noticeable decrease in aero drag.
Here are a couple of photos showing the front wheel fairing:
http://mrbill.homeip.net/albums/powerPursuitBuild/single-image/20140412-DSC05061-photo.html#anchor
http://mrbill.homeip.net/albums/powerPursuitBuild/single-image/20061203-powerPursuitBuild26-photo.html#anchor
I plan to discontinue use of the front wheel fairing because it prevents me from using a headlamp or video camera. Perhaps with larger wheels it makes more difference, but I have a hard time believing it would make more than about 5% difference unless my bike were more streamlined. And, certainly there are bigger fish to fry (aerodynamically-speaking) on typical city bike or MTB with knobbies.