Why Use a 2 Stroke Bike as the pace bike at the olympics

knoxie

knoxie

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Meh :roll:

Watching the olympics and dumfounded that they use a stinky old 2 stroke motorbike ( A Derny Bike) as the pace bike to lead out the riders? WTF in a closed velodrome OK I know on the scale of the place its not going to kill anyone but any on the builds on here would do the job? The Olympics is all about health and performance so why use a 100 year old motorcycle pumping out fumes and with the risk of spewing oil all over the track when you can use a sub 1000 dollar ebike?

The maximum speed of the pace bike is 30mph, crikey someone have a word with Seb Coe for me :lol: :lol: a magic pie and 80V of lipo is all you need, cheap, safe clean and simple and they can still sit the steely old bloke on it as well, here is the link to the story.

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereve...-peter-deary-leads-the-olympic-bike-gold-rush
 
I swear I'd heard some velodromes had started using e-bikes :?:

I was thinking about this earlier when trying to find how fast these cyclists travel. It's surprisingly hard to find any info. The world record average speed over one hour is apparently ~56mph for upright, unfaired bikes.

Yet, a someone set a record the other day by covering a flying 200m in 9.7 seconds, which I make to be about 45mph.

Confusing.
 
I thought I heard one of the Optibike guys (at Pikes Peak) say their velodrome bike was in the Pikes race.
 
knoxie said:
Meh :roll:

Watching the olympics and dumfounded that they use a stinky old 2 stroke motorbike ( A Derny Bike) as the pace bike to lead out the riders?
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When I was watching the opening ceremony, I clearly saw the celebration of destroying the environment and growing huge smoke stacks. Despite how offal it is to see, I think it goes along with the London Olympic theme of "celebrating old industry." :roll:
 
I think the theme they were trying to portray there was nothing more than displaying what we were once like during the start of the industrial revolution, I will agree though that at times the ceremony was a little over the top but then many are arent they.

My point is just that it seems ridiculous to be using a stinky oily old motorbike to pace out the riders when there are cheaper and cleaner options, sure for leading out they could use a pace rider powered under normal steam but if they choose not to and want to use a powered machine why use a stinker, it makes no sense at all and you always have the danger that its going to spray a mist of oil or pop a leak all over the already quite slippy and steep velodrome track.

Modern ebikes as we all know would be a much better solution and heck if you really want to pace them out sit them behind Luke on the death bike, I would like to see them overtake him :lol:
 
Tradition :)

Derny's are a legacy from the 560km bordeaux-Paris classic where they were used as pace bikes from half distance. Show me an ebike that can do 25mph for 280km :)

The French would have a duckfit if you tried to get rid of thier beloved Dernys.
 
Seems like they could realize it's 2012, and at least use a less stinky honda. :roll: Definitely they should be switching to a stealth fighter, or something like that for pacing indoors.

I'm not going to hold my breath though, waiting for world class competetive cyclists to discover ebikes.
 
e-beach said:
When I was watching the opening ceremony, I clearly saw the celebration of destroying the environment and growing huge smoke stacks.
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I was expecting them to get blown up by the Luftwaffe as the time line moved to the WW2 era...
 
you all are as bad as the spandex crowd. a lot of people get the 2 strokes because it is all they can afford. my first electric bike was a piece of crap and got a 2 stroke then a few 4 strokes and had a blast with them except the maintenance then i got a good electric bicycle and love it however back then i could not afford an electric kit. i have no ill feelings with the gas bike crowd. they are out their enjoying themselves just like we are. and that is what motorized bicycles is all about.
 
amigafan2003 said:
Tradition :)

Derny's are a legacy from the 560km bordeaux-Paris classic where they were used as pace bikes from half distance. Show me an ebike that can do 25mph for 280km :)

The French would have a duckfit if you tried to get rid of thier beloved Dernys.
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That's a pretty cool little ice bike but come-on. I can't imagine being a world-class athlete and huffing 2-stroke fumes... indoors no less.
 
grindz145 said:
That's a pretty cool little ice bike but come-on. I can't imagine being a world-class athlete and huffing 2-stroke fumes... indoors no less.
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Yeah, seems absurd to me!

The western world has world class emissions controls on their gas engines, which means you won't have to worry about inhaling nasty toxic crap as you go about your day. Blowing uncatalyzed 2 stroke fumes into an athlete's lungs during a world class competition reminds me of a scene out of the Borat movie, where the idea is to show how hilariously behind the times the country is.

It's like watching a google employee bust out an abacus for an important work task. That's cute, but put that thing away and get back on your computer.
 
I would certainly prefer to see Optipike leading that olympic group around instead of that old gasser. Good for them even if I don't like their pricing structure they do make a good American product and that I definiately support.
otherDoc
 
Optibike, any Ebike, just not a gas bike. They made a big deal about the olympics being as green as possible on some shows I watched about the construction of the buildings, then they run a gas bike inside the building. :roll: Guess somebody didn't get the green memo.

On the other hand, they've been using these same pace bikes inside velodromes since moses, why change it? Must take about a century to wear one out. Reuse is green too. 8)
 
For a short run like that it would probably be practical to absorb and store the nasty exhaust gases :idea:
 
I agree with the OP.

Fact is, most people don't know what an ebike is. But I would suspect the tradition part of it mostly the reason.
 
veloman said:
I agree with the OP.

Fact is, most people don't know what an ebike is. But I would suspect the tradition part of it mostly the reason.
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With probably a billion people watching sometimes all they would need is a short explanation of an E-bike as the pace bike. People catch on real fast. I''m sure the Chinese and the Indians who make motors and batteries would help sponsor it. Maybe even Optibike? :)
otherDoc
 
alGARDNER said:
I'm pretty sure they run on alcohol to minimise the fumes we're all complaining about. ;)
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Hmm?.. a stroke pollution is mainly caused by unburnt fuel in the exhaust.
Motors running on alcohol need 30% more fuel for the same output.
So running a 2 stroke on alcohol simple changes the type of hydrocarbon pollution, but also increases the amount of it emitted .
Effectively all you do is change the smell !
 
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