This past summer they succeeded in building and flying a human powered helicopter to capture the 33 year old outstanding Sikorsky prize. You may have read about them or seen them in the news.
This coming year their target is to break the current human powered land speed record of 133.8 km/hr on a level road in a streamlined recumbent bicycle and they have asked me to help them accomplish that.
The first step was to get Todd in to the studio and get him properly fitted on his road bike which he uses for about 50% of his training. This was completed on Nov 12, 2013
Next we met at AeroVelo's Design Lab on Nov 21 to talk about the building of the recumbent test rig that they will use for building the prototype of the actual recumbent bike that will be used for the record challenge. Topics discussed included back position, BB height, Q Factor ( pedal stance width ) and crank length, just to mention a few.
The challenge is coming up with the right combination to fit the body in to the smallest aerodynamic shell possible while generating the largest power possible. This test rig is now in the process of being built
Stay tuned for ongoing updates, however in the meantime take a look at AeroVelo's record challenge in 2011
For more INFO visit the AeroVelo Website