Sub Frame Photos

Great news from Canberra... Pete Heal has finished the front sub-frame & fork. These photos make the frame look a bit rough, but with a little time & an angle grinder & some spray paint, it'll look superb.
The Cranks & bottom bracket will be placed in the hole towards the front of the frame. These are ready to go, but we do need a biggish (80T) cog which will be one of the next jobs!

Training Progress

Both Mick & I have been training regularly, sometimes at Casey, but mostly at home on windtrainers. We are working on 2 areas: Maintaining a constant speed at as close to maximum sustainable HR as possible for an hour, and working on strength, with the aim of increasing overall max speed.
Last night we did a session at Blackburn Velodrome together: 2 x 10Min steady, and 3 x max speed reps. kind of a mixed session really. But, really useful, as it showed the windtraining sessions are at too LOW a resistance and at a cadence probably 5 RPM less than ideal, which is easy to fix. It also re-inforced the need for closer gear spacing at the preferred speed/cadence. So, a custom 9 speed cassette will be required. 4 beginner cogs & 5 with just 1 tooth between then for fine tuning.

Tubbing complete !

The last sections of the tubbing have now been laid and this entry is being written with the background din of the vacuum pump from the garage. A photo of the initial layer of CF and foam is below. The carbon is covered by a layer of peel ply, followed by a layer of breather blanket which allows air to flow, and absorbs excess resin. A mylar bag covers everything, and the yellow tacky tape forms the air tight seal. The hose at the top of the frame leads to a vacuum pump, which happily ticks away until the resin goes off.

New members, new builder, news...

Firstly, congratulations to Peter Heal, the current OzHPV treasurer who successfully crossed the continent from Perth to Sydney, without any outside assistance, in a remarkable 11 days & 20 or so hours. A truly amazing performance. He rode a Velokraft VK2. More on his ride soon.

Pete has also made quite a few recumbent bikes, under the Lizard name, over the years. So, he has agreed to help the team by make the from sub frame. We'll supply him with drawings & materials, and he'll TIG weld it all up for us. If you've ever seen a Lizard bike, you'll know why I'm rapt he's going to do some work for us.
And once Whoops is all running, we may just have another rider who's interested in having a crack at the 24hr record. SO, stay tuned for NAMES...

Whoops adds a TICK...

As of Aug 2009, Whoops has gained a full time team member & added his initials to the team. So, welcome Mick Donovan, to the Whoops team. Where did the TICK come from, I hear you ask wordlessly through the ether... TIm & miCK.
Mick & I are going to build one bike between the 2 of us, which halves each of our costs, and ensures we are both work in the same direction. Our goals are:
90kmh for the flying 200m (Mick is much faster than me, so it is HIS goal)
65km in an hour (that's my goal)
There will be 2 events during 2010 for which we will have the bike prepared. I'll advise dates once the venue & dates are confirmed.
We have commenced work on a tub bike, but vac bagging in some 4mm foam & carbon fibre to Micks existing lower shell, so make it rigid enough to negate the need for a full length frame. Pics next week.

What a Weekend

Easter 2009 may go down as the beginning of Australia's speed bike era. 1 world & 2 Australian records were broken.
I completely failed to break any records, but my time in Whoops was valuable & I established that the records are well within reach, if I can get my bike to hold together!
More soon....

Easter 2009

This Easter, 2009 (April 10-13) will see a Varnyle of speedbikes assemble at Lang lang for a crack at the 2 long standing Australian speed records.
Trisled are working on a new head in version of their Black Betty bike. I have a new chassis under way with a new fairing to come soon. Pete Heal from Canberra will be coming down to try & break the unfaired 1hr record. Mick Donovan is working on a Kyle clone with me. Tim Corbett will be bringing his trike along for a crack at the 1 & 6 hour distance records.
Stay Tuned...