![]() ![]() It doesn’t take long before this quickly adds up to consume all of a motorcycle’s power, so much so that at a mere 100 km/h, 80% of a motorcycle’s energy is spent just overcoming air resistance. Air pressure rises to the cube of speed, meaning that for every kilometer per hour, the corresponding air resistance increases by a multiple of 3, On a bike, once you go over about 30 km/h, air pressure starts to dominate proceedings. That’s not spaghetti on his back… this computer simulation of air flow shows violent, turbulent air (in blue) separating from the free flowing air (green) and tumbling around behind the rider. But the force that causes a 300 ton jet to shudder at near supersonic speeds is the same force that shreds your hearing, wiggles your helmet around and holds you back when riding fast. To most of us, turbulence is just something of an annoyance that forces us into seat belts and to hold our pee during commercial air travel. Turbulence is important to understand, because it is the reason why aerodynamics matter on a motorcycle. As a result, air that was previously sailing effortlessly alongside the smooth fairings of the bike come crashing into our wrinkled, flailing bits causing massive air turbulence. Unlike a car, plane, or even the hull of a boat, the surfaces of a motorcycle moving through the fluid (in this case air) is interrupted by a human body that is draped rather inelegantly over the top and spills down the sides in a gangly mess of limbs. Motorcycles are inherently un-aerodynamic because of us, the occupants. It’s All Our Fault : The Rider Just Doesn’t Cut It Unlike mechanical or electrical engineering, fluid dynamics (the name given to aerodynamics and hydrodynamics, the study of motion through water) can appear mysterious only because they involve almost endless variables and an infinite number of conditions, which is easily enough to cause most people to throw their hands up frustration and call it an “art”. It is a science the mastery of which requires high level mathematics, careful observation, curiosity, rational deduction, and an open mind the very founding principles of scientific thinking. Aerodynamics, the study of motion through the atmosphere, has often been called an art. ![]()
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