Performance and Physics of Bicycles

A bicycle is an uniquely efficient machine, but elements such as the wheels, tires, frame, and brakes will affect the performance of your ride. This book answers questions like - How much faster will you ride with a lighter wheel or frame?, Will wide tires slow you down?, How fast can you turn?, Why are front brakes far more effective than rear brakes?, What is a safe braking distance?, What is the "right" tire pressure?, Should you reduce air drag or rolling resistance?, and are you safer riding in a bicycle lane. The book includes over one hundred plots and one hundred illustrations to describe the performance and physics of bicycle components. Equations explaining how components perform and work are also included for the interested reader. Data for the analysis was collected from government websites as well as public domain information. Also include is an Android ad-free app, GPS Trip Analyzer, to track your rides. You can view your speed, altitude, latitude, longitude, gradient, satellite signal strength, power, wind magnitude and direction, temperature, and bearing at locations on your route. The app uses the Google Maps and OpenWeatherMap APIs to optionally collect altitude, temperature, and wind data (requires API keys). A calculator to compute power or velocity given bicycle and rider parameters is also included. The app automatically splits a trip into segments based on U-turns and loops and you can compare two the performance of two trips side-by-side.