CdA of road frames in da wind tunnel
04-21-23, 05:05 PM
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CdA of road frames in da wind tunnel
Anyone have any pointers to articles or research studies that get into the CdA of different types of road bike framesets?
Have seen frame differential estimations of .01 to .02 for standard road vs aero road frames in other forums... and plenty of wind tunnel studies looking at complete road machines with and without riders. With all the marketing hype around aero frame shapes (ellipse, foil and truncated wedge, etc), wondering about CdA/Cd research targeting framesets alone. Tho maybe a moot point if manuf like Giant, Specialized, Trek, etc, continue moving in the direction of proprietary wheelsets designed for their own specific aero frame offerings...
Have seen frame differential estimations of .01 to .02 for standard road vs aero road frames in other forums... and plenty of wind tunnel studies looking at complete road machines with and without riders. With all the marketing hype around aero frame shapes (ellipse, foil and truncated wedge, etc), wondering about CdA/Cd research targeting framesets alone. Tho maybe a moot point if manuf like Giant, Specialized, Trek, etc, continue moving in the direction of proprietary wheelsets designed for their own specific aero frame offerings...
04-21-23, 05:37 PM
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proprietary wheelsets? never seen that on an aero road bike. tarmac, venge, propel, madone, aren’t they all standard through axle, shipped with totally interchangeable roval, bontrager, etc wheels or as frames on which you can put any appropriate wheels you want?
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04-21-23, 05:50 PM
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I heard some manuf have designed aero frames to be paired with in-house wheelsets (Madone SLR designed / tested with Bontrager wheelset, etc)... moving in the general direction of total aero package
04-21-23, 06:41 PM
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I wouldn't think the drag coefficient of just the frame would in any way be meaningful.
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04-21-23, 07:12 PM
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04-22-23, 03:02 AM
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I feel like the difference in CDA when I'm wearing a jersey vs wearing a t-shirt would be on part or greater than that between an aero vs traditional frame only - can anyone confirm?
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04-22-23, 08:37 AM
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[Edited to add] To clarify, the difference between a good jersey and a loose T-shirt is huge. The difference between a good aero frame and a round-tube bike is also huge. And, of course, you can do both: you can wear a good jersey and ride a good aero bike. That's allowed.
Last edited by RChung; 04-22-23 at 08:59 AM.
