track racing wheels

[Kermit power]

Afternoon all.

I'm sat watching the track cycling on BBC2, and was just wondering what the science is behind the different types of wheels?

Some events seem to have both wheels filled in, with spokes on other events.

[fixedwheelnut]

Pursuit events that rely more on sustaining a speed rely more on aerodynamics so the filed in wheels carbon disc are more effective.
The sprint and points events involve more short sharp acceleration and direction changes so the lighter spoked wheels are used.

[anonymous-user]

i noticed this too, although my knowledge is limited, i think the front disc wheels are favoured in events where there is little change of direction like the pursuit and spokes are favoured in the sprints. i guess trying to turn up the track with a full disc at the front would be a nightmare!

[khushy]

fixedwheelnut said:

Pursuit events that rely more on sustaining a speed rely more on aerodynamics so the filed in wheels carbon disc are more effective.
The sprint and points events involve more short sharp acceleration and direction changes so the lighter spoked wheels are used.

errrr not according to Sir Chris Hoy and others!

Spoked front and disc rear!

khushy

[samwilliams]

I think a lot seems to come down to personal preference. I was there on Friday and, for the same events, there were differences between the cyclists as to whether to use disc wheels or not, and also with helmets (a range from what looked like normal road helmets through to full aero ones).

For some events like the pursuit it's almost all aero (i.e. disc wheels front and back, and full aero helmet), but for the others there's a fair bit of variation.

[anonymous-user]

on the wheel theme, did anyone else see the Ugandan on the Cinelli in the individual pursuit, he was the only guy i saw all weekend on spoked wheels! (he was also the only guy lapped on the first lap....)

[Gizmo!]

pablo said:

on the wheel theme, did anyone else see the Ugandan on the Cinelli in the individual pursuit, he was the only guy i saw all weekend on spoked wheels! (he was also the only guy lapped on the first lap....)

It's probably on Gumtree now.