Wow - the gearing on that bike must be insane!
“The drive ratio is 62:12, twice,” said John Howard, Mueller-Korenek’s coach, who once held the motor-paced record himself at 152 mph back in 1985. “That’s roughly 488 inches, or approximately 128 feet per revolution. She’s traveling nearly 130 feet every time she turns those cranks. It’s pretty mind-boggling.”
It's pretty crazy. 128 ft per revolution!!!!
183.9 MPH = 296.0 KPH (record speed, average over 1 mile)
100 MPH = 160 KPH (approximate speed at which tow rope detached and she began accelerating under her own power)
128 ft = 39 m (linear distance travelled per crank revolution)
Massive gear. I wonder if anyone could get that moving from a standing start. A huge 1km TT rider maybe?
Yes, 18.3 inch wheel is what I got. Here in the UK, the "wheel" size includes the tire as well, I think.
I guess if the rim is 17 inch diameter then 18.3 is only a tire width of 0.65, which isn't very fat.
> Behind it, Mueller-Korenek sat on a bike with gearing so steep that she needed to be towed to around 100 mph before taking over under her own power.
Using some of the other numbers mentioned here, we can calculate that at her top speed of 296km/h she was pedaling at ~126RPM, and the wheels of the bike spinning at ~3377RPM.
If we knew the torque, or alternately the "stroke" of the crank and the average force she was exerting, we would also be able to find out her power output in W or HP.
Edit: some searching around reveals that 120-130RPM is usually where peak power is for cyclists, which corresponds with roughly where she was at top speed: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17562069
...and it makes me wonder if she had another gear, would she be able to keep accelerating beyond that. She would've probably been producing 1-2HP at that speed.