In Part Four of our article on building a lightweight racing bike, we discussed the final modifications done to lighten the bike and also conducted an initial road test. Due to the state’s maximum speed limit only being 110 km/h, we applied for permission to use the runway at the local airport.
Unfortunately this was refused, but permission was granted to use their private road. This road has some hills in it and would give us a good indication of the bike’s hill climbing ability. All we needed next was an intrepid rider to test the bike’s maximum speed.
We finally convinced Crank to don a lycra top and test the bike for us. Following is Crank’s story of the test ride in his words. We’d like to thank Crank for risking his life in testing the bike, and Woolie for the photography.
The Final Road Test
Take off, and he is on his way.
Since a handful of cycle tourists did not want to test ride the newly built light weight racer, they had to find a person who would, so yes you guessed it they dobbed in CRANK. At first CRANK said “no way”, but then he has never been on a light weight racing bike before and since he rides fully loaded touring bicycles riding a light weight bike could not be that hard.
He said that he will be able to get it up to the top speed without any problems because there was nothing else on the bike.
Picking up speed on the long straight road.
So in the end the answer was “mmmmmm OK”. The day and place was chosen. Crank teamed up with “Woolie”, our camera man to take some action shots and we all met on the road that was chosen for the test. It was a nice 32 degrees Celsius with a bit of wind. We had chosen a ride with a small up hill then a small down hill to see how the bike goes.
It was a little bit difficult to get a balance on those small tyres and I wish I had put a little bit more air into the tyres. But the tourist said “that it will add more weight” and with me not knowing a thing about racing I said “ok”. It was easy going up the hill for me. I took off very fast and doing about 60 km/h up the hill was not a problem.
After I reached the crest of the hill and went over onto the downhill, I lost sight of the others. At this stage I started to pick up speed. I was doing 80 km/h at a guess because they would not let me put a speedo on the bike because of the added weight. It was at this stage that I suddenly noticed what was on the road in front of me.
There laying on the road directly in front of me was a CD. It must have been a CD that someone had thrown out of their car window in disgust. At my speed it was too late to take evasive action and the front wheel ran over it.
As the front wheel ran over it I saw that it was a Microsoft Windows CD and it flicked up into the chain and disintegrated into the rear wheel area. It must have caused some damage because I noticed that the bike suddenly started to wobble back and forward and shake rattle and roll.
View from afar of the bike breaking up.
Suddenly the handle bars gave out, the back wheel vanished as in just not there any more. Thats when the bitumen got really close to my face. Next thing I know, I was on the road with the frame on top of me. “@#$$%%#$” I said!
Luckily I had my helmet on even though some people said that I should not wear it because of added weight. At least it shows that you should always wear a helmet.
After finally coming to a stop, luckily he is alright.
After I had hit the ground and came to a stop, Woolie and the others came up from behind to see if I was ok. Luckily for me I was. I only had a couple of scrapes. That is the last time I am ever getting on a racing bike and especially the last time that I am ever going to wear lycra…
The remains of the bike after its freak accident.
Sadly that is the end of this project. The bike was a total write off. Luckily Crank is fine and only escaped with a few scratches and some destroyed lycra. Due to the dangerous high speeds that this bike is capable off, we have decided not to continue with this project. We think we will stick to touring projects.
There is one thing to note and that is that Windows destroys everything that it comes into contact with…….
