Could be one of the best cheats of all time, UCI are meant to be looking into it. Video evidence is very strange and does show something odd.

What do you think?

I give up. What is the point of sport? 😀

To balance things out a bit

Valentino Rossi doesn't have a real engine, it's fake
Every time you see him putting his leg out, he's craftily scooting the bike along

What is the point of sport?

if you said "competitive sport" I'd agree 🙂 That doofer isn't big enough to contain enough energy to make much difference, but the psychological boost to the rider, and hit to the others might be more significant…

his moustache fluff is tiny wind turbines sucking him along too.

perhaps you shouldnt beleive eveything you read / watch on you tube.

Do the bikes get weighed before/after a race?

Oh FFS. It's a total crock and they haven't got a shred of evidence. It's exactly two months late for April Fools.

I saw this at the weekend, on the face of it it looks pretty damning, but then again that's what the TV show would portray, the way Cancellara can just zoom away from his competitors does look odd though. However I'm no expert just watching the Tour and a few Giro stages every year. Great tech.

Do the bikes get weighed before/after a race

that's what I was thinking. Surely a 'doped bike' is easier to find than a 'doped rider'. Are the bikes not scrutinised during competition?

Would the fact that the system screams like a banshee when the button is pressed not alert other riders to the possibility that someone had a motor in their bike?

what tyres for bicycle doping??

this is a crock of sh1t, how much torque would an "engine" like this produce?

If this is the one that was posted a month ago, it was 100W over 4 hours (pretty handy), and I'd agree about the noise!

WOW this is ace!!!!!!
At last something good to come out of road biking, where can i get one?

My thoughts as well – that motor was bloody loud!

Would the fact that the system screams like a banshee

electic motors can be quiet

it was 100W over 4 hours

and what battery technology ?

That doofer isn't big enough to contain enough energy to make much difference,

Got to disagree there. A LiPo battery down the tubes and a well designed motor there could easily add enough oomph to knock the skin off the competition.

Amongst everything else, what holds the motor in place? As far as i can concieve it would be spinning round in the seat tube, not powering the BB.

thats the whole point for me. you only need like a 1% difference to beat the competition.

throwing in a motor thats so strong you can scream off with your feet up is nonsense. and seems to be what that video link is claiming.

coffeeking – Member

That doofer isn't big enough to contain enough energy to make much difference,

Got to disagree there. A LiPo battery down the tubes and a well designed motor there could easily add enough oomph to knock the skin off the competition.

I second that, SFB is behind the times – a decent cordless drill would run 450 watts, you'd only need half that to drop your opponents if you were already pretty stack!

Time to get out my tool kit and but a new drill 😛

http://shopping.lycos.com/search?page_id=1406&q=Dewalt+Cordless+Drill&topcat_id=30&limit=30&diktfc=19DDDFA6F612F5EDBEAE6BA61C34B9E5061753561130

There is a minimum weight limit, the bikes can be made light enough to house this and still be at the limit I think? I was under the impression that the UCI were introducing X-Ray scanners to catch this, but that riders could swap bikes during the race.

Amongst everything else, what holds the motor in place? As far as i can concieve it would be spinning round in the seat tube, not powering the BB

Ah, but if you were going to do it, you might put some cunning 'ribs' inside/at the bottom of the seat tube that woudl stiffen the frame, but could also be used to react torque if such a device was pushed down the seat tube.

For an added conspiracy theory, looks like Cervelo are working on a 650g road frame. I couldn't possibly comment, but that would be a nice platform to fit a motor/battery into and still hit the UCI weight limit….. 😉

I think this is technically feasible (indeed, one German MTB mag apparently entered someone in an XC race using this system – no-one noticed despite the motor noise, but they deliberately DNF'd).

Whether or not it's in use by anyone is another matter entirely. I would be surprised.

Andy

He seems to move away pretty fast… Now if I was riding with him I would understand that… But at this level, the difference in speed seems a bit unrealistic.

One thing is for sure, Boonen needs to get one!

Maybe disabled or elderly cyclists could make good use of it.

I second that, SFB is behind the times – a decent cordless drill would run 450 watts

except a drill only has to deliver sporadic power (low duty cycle) and the battery pack is massive. The movie showed the battery as about 10cm long and the diameter of the inside of a seat tube – no more than 200ml.

The figure for energy density I found on Wiki is: Volumetric energy density: 250 to 530 W·h/l, so 200ml would give max 100 Wh

Internal resistance SFB Internal resistance!!!

That clip talks a good talk. Nice selection of race footage as well. Well inflammatory 😆 I'd love this.

Look SFB, apparently a man was put on the moon 40 odd years ago, believe me if you have a few bob someone could knock you up a bike that runs on the electrickery! 😆

Not saying it was done, but i'd bet my lunch it could be!

All the UCI need to do is check Podium winner bikes as they do with blood analysis.

Simples

Cancellara is arguably the best time trialler (triallist?) the world's ever seen, he can apply that to riding in a pack too, and has done many times.

It all seems wonderfully absurd!

simonfbarnes – Member

Would the fact that the system screams like a banshee

electic motors can be quiet

it was 100W over 4 hours

and what battery technology ?

Can the gearing be quiet though? The vid I was was noisey.

No idea re batteries.

I once spent about 10 minutes on my road bike tailing an old bloke who was doing about 20mph into a strong head wind on a sit-up-and-beg. I was killing myself just to keep up with him, and I remember looking up and watching him spark up a fag while nonchalantly keeping up the same pace. It's only when I caught up with him at a junction that I actually saw the battery pack and motor hub. I'd been about a metre or two away from him the whole time but hadn't heard any noise, despite it being a fairly industrial looking motor on his bike; and there were hardly any pissed Belgians screaming at us at the time.
Just saying…

believe me if you have a few bob someone could knock you up a bike that runs on the electrickery

I didn't say it wouldn't work, only that, compared to the power of an athlete, it wouldn't be much! Of course, to win a race you only need to be 1cm in front…

5mm allen key, torch, lifetime ban for team, problem solved.

Gearing can be quiet, take the example of car gearboxes, OK a straight cut gearbox whines like hell, but the more normal ones dont, ditto bevle gears, no reason they cant be cut to quieten them down.

Has no one thought of regenerattive braking yet? Squeeze the rear brake and that big chubb hub or powertap could easily be concealing an alternator?

I reckon this is awesome, not sure what the legal aspects of it on an MTB would be though, would it not turn us into motorbikes?

Can the gearing be quiet though?

Helicals and decent grease would cut most of that noise. It's possible. The diagram may (amazingly) be only indicative. But much like kers – you only need to use it at a critical point for a few seconds and you've destroyed the opponent.

why not make the motor concentric with the bb axle to get rid of the bevel gear?

You would then have to put it inside the bottom bracket axle, and then you wouldn't be able to transfer the torque to the frame, so the motor would just spin itself. It would also be very tricky to get the electrickery to it too.

I reckon this is awesome, not sure what the legal aspects of it on an MTB would be though, would it not turn us into motorbikes?

In the UK as long as it won't power the bike above 15mph it's counted as an electric bike.

It would of course be very illegal for competition!

I didn't say it wouldn't work, only that, compared to the power of an athlete, it wouldn't be much!

They're likely averaging somewhere around 250-300W over a 5 hour race, with some intense efforts of substantially more, it wouldn't need to be much. On the other hand, it's a load of twaddle.