Velocite plan to “revolutionize aero bicycle design”

I would just like to point out that a certain G.Obree is doing something very similar to this, using all of the computer firepower that his kitchen can provide...
Check out the Vimeo clip/interview from a few weeks ago.

Victor from Velocite here.

Thank you all for the interest in this story, and your comments.

I'll add some more information and direct you to the full press release that due to it being a joint press release,is indeed heavy on detail and technical jargon:

http://blog.velocite-bikes.com/2012/05/new-era-for-bicycle-aerodynamics-...

There are actually several supercomputers and high powered workstations that are used in this project. The final run, once everything is set up will be executed on the "real" supercomputer and that will occupy a large part of it for about 25 days solid. We now also have access to a wind tunnel, and other validation tools to establish perfect correlation between simulation and wind tunnel data (I cannot say reality since wind tunnels themselves are not perfect and introduce error).

The project is very complex with all software being custom written for a particular purpose. This specificity makes the project possible. Off-the-shelf software is not optimised for massively parallel supercomputers.

To the bike. We do not know what the end result will be, we have no preconceptions beyond the basic mechanical requirements. This alone makes the project unique. There is no "starting point" as such, where we look to optimise some aspects of it. The entire system comprising of the bike, fork and wheels is being developed from a blank slate. Nobody has done this yet, in any field, let alone another bike company. The resources required are well beyond commercial sensibilities.

Of course, there are constraints. It would be pointless if we ended up with a perfectly aerodynamic blob. Thus, the project will deliver a non-recumbent bike that can be ridden comfortably, in a familiar way, legally and safely in non UCI races. I specifically say non UCI since that allows us to push the envelope a little bit further. Of course we'll have sufficient data to make a UCI legal bike too, but that is not the initial focus.

The bike will be stiff, lightweight and will handle well. That's a promise, not a marketing goal

I'll be happy to answer any further questions.

We will also be sharing some initial information, and hopefully have something to show in time for the Cycle Show held at the NEC Birmingham, 27-30th September.

I'd guess this a probably an interesting computational problem and there's a bike-mad professor / PhD student in Taipei who;s persuaded Velocite to chip in some money to support the project. And they're getting some nice marketing in return. What would be interesting to know is the constraints they're putting around the design - does it have to be a standard double-doamond frame? Can it be a receumbent? Otherwise they'll just end up with a teardrop-shaped, faired recumbent.

Whether it produces something radically different will be interesting too. I suspect a lot of bike companies have thought about this then concluded it's actually cheaper and easier to hire some time in a windtunnel where you can simulate a bunch of different wind conditions fairly quickly.

It'll be interesting to see what they come up with, but, utimately, it's restricted if they only consider the bike. It says they're going to run the simulations with a dynamic rider, but not if the rider's position will be considered/changed through the 7500 iterations.
Beyond fairings, which were mentioned above and available back in the '80's (I think Moulton even supplied them as an option on the AM7), the most influential/obvious factor has to be rider position (Superman position may be legal for triathlon?). Everything else is just p**sing in the wind, so to speak!

Yawwwwn.....
As long as it has more torsional rigidity whilst being more vertically compliant who cares.
I suspect the marketing men might have a hand in the unnecessary use of a super computer. Are we loosing sight of the fact, it's a push bike not a jet fighter?

Fairings are the answer. Just ask Graeme Obree. They should get him involved with this project, too.

That zx spectrum looks almost modern in a wierd kinda way. Even got world champ colours. Nice

Although a lot of work has been done on aerodynamics, it's so tied down by regulations. Even non-UCI sports like Triathlon have regs. Looking at motorbikes, it seems pretty obvious that some kind of fairing is what's needed to divert more airflow around the bike/rider, rather than trying to make the bike itself create less turbulence.

It's a bit more than some run time on a super computer! As far as I know no one has ever done this before. IMHO it's about time someone tried something new, hats off to a small brand like Velocite to try it. Takes balls to do that.

The computer is a cluster at a national research centre, and I'm sure it's used for a lot more than just modelling airflow around recumbents ;).

Basically, they've gotten a bit of run time on a super-computer.

Interesting stuff. Be surprised if someone like Trek hadn't already used something similar though?

(8.4TB = 8602GB, for anyone wondering. You've probably got between 2 and 4GB in your PC.)