Bike-bound man achieves .74 horsepower on dyno
OK, this is pretty funny. Middle aged man on a bicycle pedaling away on a dyno, while he's cheered on by Mrs. Cable Guy and the rest of the team. The result is a reported 0.74 horsepower. Can only guess what Lance Armstrong might do, but we digress. We suppose the subject's name is Phil, as that's what the title says, but other than that, we have no further info on who these people are or why on Earth they felt the need to do this run, let alone film it and upload it to Streetfire. But hey, more than 2,500 clickers can't be wrong. If you have other similarly bizarre dyno pulls on tape, please share.
Thanks for the tip, dubbedinenglish!
[Source: Streetfire]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
epp_b 9:21PM (11/13/2006)
That actually sounds like fun. See what kinda muscle you're made of! :)
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James 8:26PM (11/13/2006)
Ummm, yeah. I'm speechless.
James
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MikeW 8:40PM (11/13/2006)
2 hp peak probably
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risingsun 9:21PM (11/13/2006)
You know, this could be a cool contest: Guess how much horsepower Lance Armstrong would make on a dyno. Now where did I put Lance's number?
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Steve R 9:37PM (11/13/2006)
Add intake and exhaust will bring him up to at least 30.74HP. Maybe add a wing and a few stickers for an extra 10 - 20 HP.
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rawker 9:50PM (11/13/2006)
i wanted to put a horse on a dyno....
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John B 10:53PM (11/13/2006)
I'm not 100% sure of the conversion to watts, but I think .74 horsepower converts to around 550 watts. This is actually pretty good and the guy on the bike sure didn't seem to be working that hard. I believe the peak output from an elite cyclist like Armstrong is close to 1000 watts. The guy in the video sure doesn't look like he's climbing Alpe d'Huez.
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Carmine 10:44PM (11/13/2006)
steve
no way bro, a cheap wing adds at least 15 by itself, and the right stickers can add up to 25-30. he'd totally push as much as an old fiat 500 with that stuff.
also if he wears under armour spandex, he'll gain a solid 3.5.
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Jp 8:55AM (11/14/2006)
The dyno is that accurate at such a low speed???
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chewy 1:25AM (11/14/2006)
I think the actual number is much lower for continous pedaling. Maybe right at first. People aren't that powerfull.
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bert 11:29PM (11/13/2006)
I was not aware that dynoes are that accurate.
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spdracerut 12:40AM (11/14/2006)
I'm pretty sure 746 watts = 1 hp, off the top of my head. I think in a full sprint, the top sprinters are doing 1200 watts. On a tough mountain stage, I think they average like 250-300 watts.... that's a lot of power to maintain for 4-6 hours. I'm sucking wind after only doing 150 watts for 30 minutes!
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naugahyde 12:47AM (11/14/2006)
Handlebar mounted sensors that measure watts are a pretty common training device in the elite cycling world - Powertap is a brand name of one of them. Trainers evaluate cyclists on watts produced, heartrate, miles covered etc. and constantly adjust their regimen.
With telemetry, the power output in watts is reported in real time during televised cycling coverage, along with heartrate.
Do a Google search on "Lance Armstrong" watts and you'll see several articles.
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Lance+Armstrong+watts&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=11857&sidebar=725&category=tdf2005_index
http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=CATEGORY_VIEW&CATEGORY.ID=351&MODE=&gclid=CLi4sP3mxYgCFRUFYgod6lkaKg
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naugahyde 12:49AM (11/14/2006)
Hmmmm, I meant that the sensor is in the hub, the read-out is handlebar mounted.
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Eleventeen 8:37AM (11/14/2006)
Well, that's wheel horsepower, you have to account for transmission losses. =)
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TrueDis 8:47AM (11/14/2006)
Isn't this Autoblog? How about exercising some discretion in what you post...
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Colin Toal 10:55AM (11/14/2006)
The magic number for professional stage race (tour de france) competitive cyclists 6.7 watts per kilo of bodyweight. They need to put out this power for extending periods - an hour or more in a time trial or in the mountains of the pyrenees of french alps.
Assuming an average cyclist weight of 72kilos (158lbs - a bit on the heavy side) - this translates to approximately 483 watts. This translates to roughly 0.64 hp. But putting out 0.64 hp for an hour is a ridiculous feat. Armstrong's power output in the early tour victories was a bit north of 6.7w/kilo.
When cyclists talk about 'finding form' - this is what they are shooting for. Its the ability to put this out for an hour or 90 minutes in a time trial or high mountains that is extraordinary. It's more diesel engine than F1 racer.
Sprinters are dragsters. These specialists road race cyclists will exhibit explosive power, allowing them to accelerate to north of 70km/h for up to a minute at the end of a 300 km race like Milan-San Remo where they have been cruising along all day at 45 km/h. The effort for that minute is sometimes in excess of a 1000 watts - which is about 1.34 HP.
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Brian 12:28PM (11/14/2006)
I have done this at my old college on a dyno I installed. I got around 1.5 hp and all of my friends were in that range too. That was on a mountain bike with a front suspension and soft tires, so it could likely be better.
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