Lightning Riders

The XT fairing uses a different mount than the larger fairing,that's a lot of the weight savings. The XT ,I think weighs about 3lbs and the full fairing weighs about 5lbs.
The Xt gives a lot more coverage than the handlebar model ,but not as much as the full.
The feet are covered very well hands are not.
If you would like to see it on my bike email me at benfox1@comcast.net.
Ben

I've got a P-38, a R-84 and 1 and 1/2 F-40 fairings (the rear of one fairing was destroyed when a truck rear ended me). For summer group riding I've been using the P-38 bare with a few aero mods: F&R wheel covers, cut down handle bars (the handlebar is lowered on the steerer tube so my knees come up behind the bar instead of in front of it) the handlebars are narrowed a bit, mostly flat, but with a kink in both side to create straight sections, not the handlebars with the curved turned down ends. With the lowering of the handlebars, my arms are straight ahead in superman position, pretty much level as viewed fron the side and not splayed out too much apart as they go forward. One other mod I'm looking at for the summer group riding configuration (bare bike, no fairing) is to have an extra seat narrowed so it is no wider than my torso, but I'm pretty thin and narrow.

If you weren't going with the F-40 fairing one thing to look at is shortening the seat back(bought the bike used, I don't know what size seat it was), the stock seat was sticking up behind my shoulders more than I thought it needed to be with the seat mesh bottom adjusted down a bit, this I saw as putting too much extra air brake up in the breeze above my shoulders. I cut the sides down about 2.5" near the top with a tubing cutter and epoxied some short pieces of tight fitting aluminum tubing over where the seam was. Some consequnces of shorter seat back, the mesh has to be modified to fit by cutting some of the rear material so it goes all the down on the seat at the top and doesn't interfere with the rear cross brace and a couple inches have to be cut off the front where it attached to the front cross member. The seat bag sits lower and is more likely to rub on the tire. I use a hydration bladder in the bag instead of water bottles and holders under the seat to help aero and reduce weight.

I've thought about running the brake and derailleur cables up the back side of the steerer tube and putting a fairing over them to make the steerer teardrop shaped for better aero. I also removed the formed plastic chain guide for the return path and tie wrapped some plastic tubing onto the frame rail to protect it. All cables are cut short and held close to the frame and steer tube and as another poster noted use a helmet mirror, mine has a plastic half circle siliconed to the front of it. Sit on the bike in front of a big mirror to see what sticks out/is a candidate for trimming etc.

The current summer configuration is fairly aero for a bare bike compared to roadies whom I usually coast better than on downhills unless they weigh a lot more or are in super super tight tucks.

If you go with the F-40 fairing you will feel like Superman, the bike is a bit slower on uphills because of the extra weight, but it is smoking fast everywhere else. When group riding with the full fairing, I used to ride at the back and brake at the top of hills where there was an uphill after the downhill and wait for the group to get about half way down, get up some speed and try to time it so I was just running out of coasting speed on the uphill when catching back up to the group (hopefully far up the hill), that was much better than sticking with them and having to brake at the bottom of the hill when they are bunching up.

Watch ahead for clearings, valleys etc. which could have cross winds. When I ran the full fairing in summer I'd only wear shortie running shorts and shortie socks to have as much skin as possible exposed under the fairing for cooling, a jersey isn't needed or wanted.

A couple other things, go directly to the F-40 fairing, I don't think there is much aero advantage of just a front fairing without it being tied to the rest of the setup, this is judged by coast down comparisons against Wally K's R-84 at this year's bike Virginia. I had my R-84 w and w/o fairing and it didn't seem to make much of a difference whether it was off or on, he was on his R-84 without fairing.

If you do the F40 fairing look at putting a couple storage containers below the seat, I used some lightweight thin plastic bottles with part of the tops cut off, put in at angle with the opening toward the front of the bike. With this setup you can put energy bars and other stuff where you can get at them while riding and tools/tubes were low in the other side and of course there is no aero disadvantage since the containers are within the fairing.

This is is probably enough for now, I don't get to this site too often, so this is catch up, hope it helps

1) I have very little experience with disc brakes, so please take my comments with that in mind. Tim Brummer likes the Hayes disc brakes. If he suggests them for an F40, he is the guy to listen to. My understanding is that the disc brake is only for the rear wheel. An ordinary caliper or V-brake is used in front. Many people on the Tandem listserv have said they like the Avid BB7 disc brake. It is supposed to be easier to set up and keep in proper adjustment than other disc brakes. Talk to Tim about this.

I am fond of Magura hydraulic rim brakes, and have them on most of my bikes. Very powerful, excellent modulation, and almost no need to fuss with them. The hydraulic line can be as long as you like, and as twisted as you please, with no deterioration of braking power. This makes it particularly good on the rear end of recumbent bikes. But I am a mere Chicago-area flatlander, and do not need the most powerful brakes.

2) The way that I mounted my fiberglass seat described in my earlier note might put too much stress on the twin top tubes of the P38 frame, especially if you are a heavier rider. I am prepared to take the risk, but others should understand that doing this might not be safe. If you try it and destroy your expensive frame, and injure yourself, please do not blame me.

3) The P38 handlebar is designed to fit harmoniously inside the F40 fairing. If you do not use the F40 nosecone, some other handlebar might give you a small aero advantage over the stock Lightning drop-style bar. I think ncaudio had experimented with different handlebars on P38 bikes. Other riders must have done the same thing.

Safe riding,
Joel

Hi again Bob,

Glad you are acclimating to the new bike, and thinking about ways to tinker with it. Some ideas:

1) I have never used the Mueller fairing, but did use a P-38 with the larger Zzipper bubble many years ago. The Zzipper helped some, but I was not impressed with the speed boost. At least not enough to buy one. Likewise the little Zzipper fairing designed to fit on the Lightning handlebar. It definitely gives you some free speed, and that is nice. But it will not make a dramatic difference.

Looking at the pictures of the Mueller fairing vs. the large Zzipper, the Mueller looks more aero. But aerodynamics can be tricky, and what looks more aero may in fact not be. So I cannot really say if the $500 would be money well-spent, not having had a ride on a Mueller-equipped bike. Maybe other people reading can offer useful advice.

Regarding hose clamp attachments: it is dirt cheap, simple, lightweight, and highly effective. Yes, the ordinary hose clamps look kind of industrial on a bike dripping Dura Ace components. But they work. I think it is possible to purchase fancier hose clamps made of stainless steel that look nicer, but I don't know where. Poking around the web would probably turn them up.

2) You say you have an aesthetic objection to the full F40 fairing, and prefer the open cockpit instead. I understand this, but in my experience, aesthetic considerations get trumped by and are interanimated with functional ones. Many years back I liked the looks of monotube recumbent bikes like the Vision (R.I.P.). They look very elegant and simple, just a single beam with wheels at both ends. I thought the Lightning P38 was ugly and complex in comparison.

Then I had the opportunity to take a ride on a P38. At first I was disoriented by the steering. It was much quicker than what I was used to. I kept riding, and soon realized the bike was far superior to my old Vision. From that point on, the Lightning started to look beautiful, and the Vision looked boring. You get the idea...

The F40 fairing (or some functionally similar homebrew fairing) is the only way to provide a night-and-day dramatic speed boost. Once you experience that kind of speed, your aesthetic objections may get swept away. The only caution I would make is that very light riders - say people in the 130 to 150 pound range - will have trouble with heavy gusting winds blowing from the sides. If you are more of a middleweight, you can handle the winds, though it takes some concentration. Clydesdales will have
no real problems.

3) Suppose you still do not want to try the F40 fairing, but want to explore other options. I agree with what you said about aero wheels on the P38. They can cost big bucks, but yield very tiny improvements. They do look nice, if that matters to you.

4) Just for the hell of it, I substituted a hard-shell fiberglass seat for the Lightning original on one of my P38 bikes. The idea was to lay back more and lessen my frontal area somewhat, also using a pivoting handlebar to compensate for the lower position. I found some steel brackets in my parts box left over from an old Blackburn rear rack. I stretched two of them between the twin top tubes of the frame, attaching them to the frame via the water bottle attachment points. The two strips form a bed for the seat bottom to rest upon. Two more of these rack-mounting strips were attached to the rear of the seat, and these were attached to the seat stays with the seat mounting bolts.

In a nutshell, the change was cheap, easy, reversable, and effective. I had to get a longer bottom bracket boom to make things work, because my seat bottom was shifted forward. The seat is not nearly as comfy as the Lightning mesh. Handling and visibility are compromised too. Hill climbing and sprinting also are not as good. I also put a smaller rear wheel on the bike to get lower down. Essentially, I took a perfectly good Lightning P38 and turned it into a sort of half-baked semi-low racer.

But the bike is faster on the flats and downhills with the more laid-back seating position, just as you would expect.

If you do this, just be sure to keep your original Lightning seat in case the changes do not agree with you.

5) Regarding mirrors: I use little eyeglass-mounted mirrors made by an outfit called Bike Peddler. It is the Bike Peddler Take A Look mirror, and it works very well for me. I think I paid about $15 for it. It is well-made and lasts for years, unlike some of the plastic mirrors I have used in the past.

If a mirror saves your life, it is worth the $15. (Maybe even worth $16.) And this mirror has got to be more aero than the handlebar-mounted variety.

The WISIL site has a wealth of information on all of these issues.

Safe riding,
Joel