Posted on 01/30/2017 9:24:43 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT
It's not just about doping anymore. 60 Minutes reports on hidden motors in bikes -- and how magnets are being used to reinvent the wheel
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
On occasion some EMI makes huge changes to the Bluetooth link on my bike. And you should see the numbers that puts out!!! No motor needed!
Apparently it’s already been used. Impressive technology.
Saw the 60 Minutes story this weekend - after fast forwarding past the 20 minute pro-refugee public opinion propaganda piece.
This link worked better for me:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-hidden-magnets-the-next-big-cheat-in-cycling/
I saw articles on the hidden motor and disguised extra batteries a few years ago.
They make it sound like it’s tough to detect magnetic fields when it’s the easiest thing to do.
If I am not mistaken professional bikes are xray’d before the start and tagged.
I’ve been mistaken in the past though the only person who knew about it is dead. ;)
“I’ve been mistaken in the past though———”
—
I’ve only been wrong once in my life.
I thought I was wrong about something——but it turns out that I was right. :-)
.
No re x-ray right before race. Not done.
They’ve already busted a rider who had a back up bike with one of these.
Story suggests they’ve already been use din the Tour.
I remember a post from a guy that complained about his new "magnetic-technology" water meter not working right after he got his first bill after the installation.
The water works guy comes out, they shut the main valve off in the house, and go look at the meter. It's still running.
The WW guy remarks "It shouldn't be doing that".
"No s---, Sherlock", was the response.
I think the house may have been a duplex, and the two meters were close to each other.
Not a bad scam for the WW, you get charged whenever your neighbor flushes, showers, etc., and vice-versa.
This application would require the best Neodymium magnets.
A magnetic compass would quickly point it out.
That said, a racing bicycle is a minimal system, nothing extra.
The additional drag of the gear set hidden in the bottom bracket would be greater then the 20 minutes of assist from the battery, in a long race.
Unless maybe one wheel is powered and the other is a silent charging system with no drag.
Saw that on tv last night and noticed how they focused on Lance Armstrong without ever admitting he’d done it. Tried to tell FR about him years ago but got flamed for the effort.
A plumber friend says they run to it often!
Running a hose to the neighbors house is also popular.
Don't know how they prorated the bills, or how long it lasted.
OTOH, the record matching/setting Winter killed off all the gypsy moths for years.
I have been interested in this type of thing for a long time for electric assisted bicycles. So I have gained some knowledge about how these technologies work.
I have owned two types of bicycle hub motors and also small but powerful permanent magnet motors. There are brushed hub motors with gear reduction which are similar to the motor hidden in the down tube, and then there are brushless and gearless hub motors where the electronic controller creates a rotating magnetic field similar to what the inventor showed with the rim.
A geared motor can generate considerable torque, but makes quite a bit of noise and needs more frequent maintenance. A brushless motor is nearly silent, but the torque is very low by comparison. An electric bicycle with a geared hub motor can climb a hill by itself. A brushless hub motor is not very helpful if you let your speed drop. This is because if the rotating magnetic field is going faster than the magnets it is trying to pull it quickly becomes ineffective, and the slower the magnetic field is rotating the less amount of power can be transmitted through the motor.
There is almost no chance that any of these solutions have any application for cheating in bicycle racing. First, with the batteries the weight penalty would be prohibitive for any racing application where the race was more than just a few miles. Dragging ten extra pounds around for a hundred miles is going to take a lot more energy than what the batteries would hold.
Second, any system which could put out enough extra power to make a difference at critical times would also generate considerable heat, especially if the components were hidden in the frame tubes.
Third, any geared system putting out a decent amount of power will generate a detectable amount of noise.
Fourth, any ungeared system hidden in the rims would add weight in the worst possible place. Rotating mass absorbs more energy during acceleration than stationary weight. The most critical place to reduce weight on a bicycle is in the tires and rims.
Fifth, and most importantly unlike the human body where performance enhancing substances can be difficult to detect even in during an autopsy, a hidden motor in a bicycle would be very, very easy to detect. As someone earlier mentioned, permanent magnets put out strong magnetic fields which would be easy to detect. A boy scout’s compass would be one way, but a little bit of iron or steel powder would stick to the rims or tubes of any bicycle with hidden magnets or motor. One would have concrete evidence even without using X-rays, MRIs or ultrasound, or disassembly.
So its fun to speculate about stuff like this, but the practicality is just not there as soon as anyone suspects these types of devices are available.
The 90 degree gear set at the bottom bracket will result in plenty of drag.
Most BB’s are 30 -46mm ID, so the ring gear would be smaller; the pinion very small. 10:1 ?
The riders average crank speed is about ~100 RPM, that spins the motor at ~1,000 rpm.And more depending on the gear ratio.
The gear set is the big one, the rotation of the motor and having a magnet next to coil spinning all will add up.
Myself and most bicycle riders I know will tell you if they feel the slightest additional drag. A brake shoe that just barely kisses the rim, tire lost a few pounds, chain picked up some crap...
You know it.
IMO if you added a non working motor to my bike over night, I would feel it.
And the weight!
Some actually remove the stickers and decals to save weight!!!
They just want to show off some old stinking scalps hanging on their belt!
They did not mention their work on the Audi 5000s?
The racers dream car, with”UNCONTROLLABLE ACCELERATION”.
“Dragging ten extra pounds around for a hundred miles is going to take a lot more energy than what the batteries would hold.”
There was a bike racer of some note that was just bones on his upper body!
A hill climbing specialist, he trained so as not to develop the extra weight. Swedish I think?
If I could recall his name I’d put up his photo; amazing.
The one on the wheel was cool. Hadn’t seen that before.
How much were your motors? They were talking $12k to fit bikes with them. Seems costly!
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