People have been racing bicycles around velodromes for more than 100 years. In many countries around the world it is still a drawing spectator sport and it is certainly huge deal at the Olympics where the event has been featured at every modern games aside from 1912. Like all things involving man and machine, the men and the machines have evolved over the years. The velodromes themselves have as well. In this video we see a tandem bike and its riders hauling ass around the track.
When we say hauling ass, we mean it. These bikes can see speeds of over 50mph in the corners! Highly specialized machines they have no brakes, they and a single fixed gear ratio, and they are at the top of the racing bike advancement curve. Carbon fiber is the name of the game when it comes to the construction of these machines. From the frames to the wheels, it is carbon fiber all the way.
In this video we see a failure happen up on the front of the bike. The “tires” used on these bicycles are pretty wild. Insanely narrow and filled with a couple hundred PSI of pressure they are about as specialized as things come in the realm of round, rubber, inflatable objects.
The video does not give us specifics on what happens to these poor guys. Did the tire blow out and then cause the wheel to fail? Did the wheel fail and then kill the tire? The fact that there is a massive POP seems to indicate that the tire gave way and that lead to the two riders smashing down onto the track. The most amazing illustration of the insane banking these guys run on happens when the bike goes down and the whole heap slides down to the center.
We have major league respect for these athletes and their bikes. As you can see, this is hardcore!
Tire failure/wheel failure I dont know.
My first thought after seeing the failure is ,that spinning disc looks like a saw blade when your wearing pantyhose all over your body.
Have you ever been cut with a piece of fiberglass? Carbon fibre is scientific ,precise fibre glass. If has to be like a razor blade.
to go with the no brakes i believe these bikes have no freewheel, cranks always turn with the wheel…….
and the riders feet are locked onto the pedals. OUCH!
Nobody noticed that say…the diameter of the front wheel was decreasing about an inch a second? These are the same guys who crash after not lifting when they’re sideways halfway down a strip.
Pretty sure the bike isn’t designed to stop quickly. You’re along for the ride.
Just as long as my flat crank Shelby 350R’s carbon wheels don’t do this (dreaming).