Flying Without Wings ..................... Aero on bikes, what’s it all about? We have spoken to the people that know, to find out.
In the last 10 years, we’ve seen the aero envelope pushed harder than ever on two wheels. But what’s the deal with all the wacky fairings and wings, and how much difference do they make?
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Even in the past 10 years or so, bikes (and particularly sports bikes) have come on leaps and bounds. Not only have they got sexier, but we’ve been given a barrage of electronic aids that have turned from an aggravating annoyance into a genuine assistance. We’ve got tricker engines, stickier tyres, a shed load more power, the list goes on… but now? Well, wings are the new hype. Unlike an IMU controlling electronics, or a clever cam system to help maximise an engine’s performance, aero packages are an incredibly visible upgrade to the naked eye; I mean, when Ducati released their V4R in 2018 with the big chunks of carbon sticking out the fairing, it turned more heads than a naked supermodel. With the new Fireblade following suit, and now even naked bikes joining the winged fray, it got us thinking about the downforce side of things with aero. Being aerodynamic and 'reducing drag' is a pretty simple theory; you know, the bigger the lump trying to punch a hole through the air, the more drag there’s going to be – and therefore, the slower you’ll go.
But now, aero has moved much further on. It’s not just about being aerodynamic, because that’s not enough any more. It’s all about creating downforce as well; a force, produced by a combination of air resistance and gravity, that acts on the bike by having the effect of pressing it down towards the ground. I mean, we’ve seen it in car racing for years, and if you look at the levels of trickery on any modern day race car, let alone an F1 car, it’s plain to see the amount of painstaking hours that it’s spent in a wind tunnel, in order to shove that car into the ground as hard as it can go. And really, Ducati were first on the bandwagon, plastering their Desmosedici MotoGP machine in more carbon than NASA’s latest space rocket. But with all the added forces, the fluctuation in movement, and even the lack of surface area, how effective really is downforce on a motorbike? How much of a difference does it make? And will it make any difference on a road bike? Well, you’ll have to read on to find out…
WHERE DID AERO ON BIKES ORIGINATE FROM?
So where do we start with aero in the arena of going fast? Well, it’s always been about; just think back to the late 1950s with those horrible dustbin-spec fairings. But then again, it was for aerodynamic 'drag' advantages rather than aero-created downforce, and that’s a whole different kettle of fish, so as far as wings go it’s probably best to start at the beginning… with cars (who stole the whole thing from the aerospace sector). Take F1 as the prime example. In the current climate a car will be cracking on about 5g in cornering and braking, thanks mainly to the advancements in aero; without it, the cars wouldn’t be able to hit even a third of that, as there just isn’t enough force pushing the tyres into the ground. Hell, they could even drive upside down on a roof at about 70mph (no, it’s not a myth), yet even so, there isn’t a massive overlay between cars and bikes.
This is because the majority of the downforce created from any car is actually made underneath the car, thanks to the Venturi effect. Without getting crazy technical, it basically means that when you reduce the air going through a contraption, it speeds up, which then reduces pressure, and in turn creates suction – which explains why race cars are so low to the ground (think of the principle in the same way that a carb pulls fuel into an engine). Essentially, a wing two metres off the ground will make a hell of a lot less downforce than one that sits 2mm off the ground, which is one of the reasons that aero developments, like wings, are a lot less effective on two wheels. Another reason is a lot simpler, and it’s the fact that it’s plain easier to get more effective aero on a car; there’s a lot more space, and effective, usable areas. On a bike, what would actually be the most ideal place for some aero is below the belly pan, but thanks to the front wheel buggering up the air, even that isn’t