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<\/figure>In the first place we owe all this pleasure to a guy named Karl Drais, who literally kicked things off in 1817. But clearly, if you look at the Draisine below and compare it to one of the n+1 modern bicycles in my garage it becomes obvious that we’ve come, – or should I say – “rode” a long way. While Drais clearly disrupted the way people are moving with their very own body strength, the question today has shifted from a qualitative how to a quantitative one. Or in other words it’s no longer about walk vs ride, it’s about how to bike best! So we wonder, what makes a “good” bike a “good” bike? Or even a great one, or – wallets aside- the perfect one?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Well, first and foremost the answer depends on what you want to do with it. So the conversation starts, “Look honey, there is gravel, there is asphalt, there is mountains, there is the city, hence, the n+1”. But even then what is the perfect bike also depends on who you ask. For the real bike enthusiast it quickly becomes emotional. Questions like, which is the right component? – Yes you can have philosophic exchanges on the material of a brake lever. Is a gravel bike a legitimate replacement of my road bike? Which is the right brand, anyways? And most recently, is it a crime to ride an e-bike?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those are the fundamental questions that have destroyed friendships!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyways, valid fights aside – I figured out what unites all great bikes and components that offer a faster, safer, further, smoother, quieter, braver ride is one thing: they are a result of great engineering boosted by simulation and rigorous testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therefore, if you still believe only cars and airplanes get a dose of virtual product development and cutting-edge measurement, come ride with me…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ride faster \u2013 Aerodynamics CFD and the power of GPUs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Since the first Draisine a very obvious challenge in the improvement of bicycles was making them faster. Making a bicycle faster means less friction. And less friction means two things: First, lower mechanical friction in the drivetrain and between the wheels and the ground. And second, less air friction aka drag, which translates to better aerodynamics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And while tight pants (I know you all love them!) can only take us so far, for high performance racing machines, CFD simulation had to conquer the world of bicycle development to make them cut through the air as efficient as possible. And to design a faster bike faster, GPU-native CFD solver technology arrived just in time as Trek Bicycle impressively demonstrated for at the Tour de France 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n