alanf

There is a local mountain that is just about all I can do to get up it. Some days if I am hungry, I can't. Coming down that hill is excitement deluxe. I am praying that the brakes don't cack. One local biker died after he hit a cement truck that came out of a side road at the bottom.

I used to hang glide years ago and we used to use drogue chutes for the tow rope (that kept tension, so it could be reeled back in better) and I was wondering if anyone had tried using a drogue chute to help the brakes on a long mountain downhill ? I am talking about a short maybe 2 or 3 foot lines with an option to reel it in at the bottom with a hand pull or whatever. This system was being played with by hang glider pilots years ago to increase the rate of descent in a short landing field situation. The drogue chute was tucked into the centre pole of the glider and was released into the slipstream by simply letting the rope out. The more you let it out the more the drag. Then you could pull it back in to reduce the drag after landing or whatever.

So has anyone tried this? and survived?

Dean V

No. And it doesn't take much imagination to picture it wrapped around the back wheel.

alanf

The way I picture it it is not a drogue chute like a car chute but one that comes out from the seat and naturally flies up the way a paraglider inflates and flies.

I picture it coming out of a pipe under the seat.

TGT1

Played with that idea when I was about 12

Damn near yanked me off the bike when it deployed.

Next attempt damn near yanked the bike from underneath me.

GrainBrain

No but in the winter here I wear a somewhat baggy runners jacket. I'll tuck into a headwind, but with a tailwind I'll kind of open up my chest so it grabs more wind. Same thing on a fast downhill I'll kind of stand and open up the chest, unzip the jacket a bit.

You might want to look into disc brakes

Seattle Forrest

Enormous potential for something to go wrong. And not really needed because you can simply ride in control. The guy who died coming down the mountain was out riding his brakes. If there's a side street and you can't see for sure that no one is coming, you need to slow down as you approach so it's not just a panic stop when it's too late.

nomadmax 

It doesn't sound like a good idea to me but then again I've never gone hang gliding or invented anything; so what do I know?

But, if you do try this, please budget enough money for a GoPro helmet cam

Seattle Forrest

Does any car on the market use a drogue? Sure cars have better stopping power than we do, but drivers exceed it all the time, that's why there are accidents. Somebody does 70 on a rural highway and then a deer walks out from behind a bush and the car can't stop in time.

How long does it take a drogue chute to begin to show you down? Probably too long to be of any use in a panic stop. And if it's not a panic stop, the regular brakes are good enough. That's probably why they're not standard on cars.

jadocs

Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either. If the purpose is to slow yourself, just use your brakes and ride in control. It reminds me of a post I saw somewhere....where someone had the idea of carrying weights to make it harder (and therefore get a better workout) to ride....and my thought was just ride in a bigger gear.

woodcraft

The standard drogue jacket will keep you from getting those dangerous high speeds-

always deployed- flapping away.

alanf

They're used for racing typically in cars:

znomit

Ignore the naysayers.

Please make sure Mrs alanf knows to post us updates when you're in hospital.

MoAlpha

datlas 

Makes me think of the "Bat-Turn" from campy 1960's Batman T.V. show.

daoswald

On the other hand I do find myself getting into a less aero position coming down some descents intentionally to reduce my downhill acceleration so I don't have to ride my brakes quite as much. It's not any more wrong to intentionally be less aero to keep a descent more under control than it is to get into a more aero position when a little speed boost is desirable.

datlas 

But seriously, if this is a legit concern about brakes and long downhills, I believe the solution is to switch to hydraulic disc brakes.

Wileyrat

This was my first thought, and I'm sure if it were a big concern for me, it would be enough of a reason with Mrs Rat, for at least a n+1 disc frame.

Please, if you do the chute, post a vid.

alanf

Wouldn't that be a complicated fix? Not to mention expensive? I've priced them and they didn't seem to be cheap.

AlmostTrick

Yes, a new bike would be expensive, and not as exciting.

"With the parachute their downhill speed was limited to about 28 mph. Without it they were flying down the hill."

Shimagnolo

If you ever experienced the winds here in the CO Front Range, you would know why you couldn't pay me enough to attach a drogue to a bike.
I've been knocked off the road by the wind alone, as recently as last April.

MoAlpha

woodcraft

Toward the end, without the 'chute, it says that they're going 55 mph,

and they're intermittently pedaling. That's some tall gears!

Looks like it would take about an 80 tooth chainring, according to the gear chart.

alanf

Thanks Almost trick and all of the other posts. Very interesting thoughts that never occurred to me. Very cool to actually see that it works and I am not crazy... LOL Well maybe just a little...
The oscillation was one problem that I foresaw. Also the crosswind would be a factor that would be an unknown till it hit and if a car went by or worse a huge truck it could be catastrophic.
Another issue would be that the chute might actually lift the rear wheel enough to slide it out.
One solution would be to use a very small chute to minimize the effect but make it safer.
Shimagnolo I've had that issue driving between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Canada over an area where there is a constant crosswind that you have to lean into for quite awhile and when a truck goes by you almost fall over.
I can't imagine doing 55 MPH down a 26 mile downhill run. I did 45 or so once and I couldn't help but think what if something let go..........

Driving down a hill on a bike is inherently dangerous no matter what, because all mechanical things eventually fail and as Murphy says they will sometimes do it at the worst time. Last night I went down that hill and my headlight was not that strong, so I slowed to a crawl the whole way down.

JohnJ80

I can easily picture this winding up in one of those "Darwin Awards" emails that make the rounds on occasion.

indyfabz

I saw that Roadrunner & Coyote short when I was a kid.