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  1. Jo Stevenson 215

    I had never heard of Graeme Obree until today, but wow, what a fascinating guy! I encourage everyone to check him out.


    Here are some articles I found about his bicycle and how it was made:

    https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/science-and-technology/made-in-scotland-changing-the-world/scottish-science-innovations/graeme-obrees-old-faithful-bicycle/

    Obree made the bottom bracket (the part which connects the crankset and chain to a bike) deliberately narrow. He used washing machine bearings when standard bike bearings were unsuitable, a test to see if they were of a higher quality. The wheel fork only had one blade and shoes were fixed to the pedals, decreasing resistance against the cyclist’s body. Obree even invented a new aerodynamic cycling position, the Tuck: hunched over the handlebars, arms folded away under the chest. Taken together, bike and position reduced aerodynamic drag by around 15 percent.

    https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/flying-scotsman-graeme-obree-uses-877238

    He said: “I used an old pot that I had burned so I won’t miss it – it was ideal for what I needed.
    “I wanted a light, flat surface for my shoulder supports and it was just sitting under my sink.”
    The former 4000m world champion posted photos of the new frame online and told fans: “New bike coming on well.
    “All built in the kitchen, even using some traditional kitchen stuff like a pot – recycling!”

    https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/graeme-obree-old-faithful-bike-put-test-wind-tunnel-heres-373769

    The position and the bike were all Obree’s own work — he had the confidence of his convictions, and cared not a jot that no one else in the world was doing it like him.

    “Whatever I stepped up with was mine. It was my creation. All the contracts I had to ride events in 1993 specified that I ride Old Faithful. People loved that bike. If Old Faithful had been invented by someone else and I’d just ridden it I might have felt differently about finding out how big an advantage it was, but the whole thing came from me.”


    https://ilsoe.medium.com/how-graeme-obree-brought-about-innovation-and-shattered-the-most-prestigious-record-in-his-sport-535e2a2197a3


    Here's a link to the BBC documentary about Graeme Obree. It doesn't seem to be available on this site, but I'm sure it exists somewhere.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08c70vf#:~:text=on%20BBC%20iPlayer-,Battle%20Mountain%3A%20Graeme%20Obree's%20Story,record%20at%20Nevada's%20Battle%20Mountain.

    And if you're a really really big fan, you can see his bike in the National Museum of Scotland.

    http://www.scotlandforvisitors.com/nmspic.php


    UTC 2021-04-15 06:58 PM 0 Comments

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