Red Bikes Faster? Scientific Support at Last!

[Mike Kruger]

A search of Google Groups shows a variety of posts suggesting
red bikes are faster. A sampling of old posts:

"I was wondering if the frame colour had any bearing on drag
co-efficeincy .... a red frame which is red
because it reflects light in the fast moving red frequency to
move slightly faster than a dark blue frame which reflects in
the slower moving blue range.
I am considering re-spraying my frame if anyone can
calculate which would be the quickest colour." (1995)

"I was planning on painting my bike red. I have heard that,
hands down, red is the fastest color. This can easily be
seen..." (1998)

"So if you want a bike that pulls ahead faster, paint it red."
(2000)

"I have found that red bikes are faster than even green bikes,
even with me riding." (2001)

"That raises an interesting question, which color is faster?
My guess is that red is going to be the fastest so I would go
with that." (2001)

"Now if you had told us the bike was painted red, then we
would have been obligated to believe, since it is
scientifically proven that red bikes go faster. Also that
midlife crises can only be cured "by something Italian and
racy." " (2004)


But there are critics, notably Mark Hickey:

" If you are able to totally eliminate any of the colors
present on your bike from the surrounding area, you will
increase your speed by about 10% (which explains the total
absence of wood-colored track bikes).This is
why titanium bikes (with their absolutely colorless sheen) are
so much faster than any other frame material."


Now there's a British study
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1894&e=2&u=/ap/20050518/ap_on_sc/winning_red
published in Nature (a top science journal), supporting the
red bike theory:

""Across a range of sports, we find that wearing red is
consistently associated with a higher probability of winning,"
report Russell A. Hill and Robert A. Barton of the University
of Durham in England. Their findings are in Thursday's issue
of the journal Nature....

In their survey, the anthropologists analyzed the results of
four combat sports at the summer games: boxing, tae kwon do,
Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling.

In those events, the athletes were randomly assigned red
protective gear and other sportwear.

Athletes wearing red gear won more often in 16 of 21 rounds of
competition in all four events.

The effect was the same regardless of weight classes, too: 19
of 29 classes had more red winners, and only four rounds had
more blue winners."


--
Mike Kruger
(some of the quotes from rec.bicycles.* should have some form
of smiley associated with them -- certainly Mark's. I don't
know about the British scientists.)

[AustinMN]

Mike Kruger wrote:
>A search of Google Groups shows a variety of posts suggesting
> red bikes are faster. A sampling of old posts:
<snip>

Does that mean I go faster even if I'm not trying? (which I never do)
Or is the real question...faster than what?

Austin
--
I'm pedaling as fast as I durn well please!
There are no X characters in my address

[[email protected]]

great!! i'm 57 and haven't ridden a bike in 25 years. two days ago i
order a brand new semi-recumbent trike. blue!! the little old lady at
the end of the street has a red granny trike. i guess i'll have to
start some intensive training as soon as my new wheels arrive.

;-)

martin caskey
millers island, maryland


Mike Kruger wrote:
> A search of Google Groups shows a variety of posts suggesting
> red bikes are faster. A sampling of old posts:
>
> "I was wondering if the frame colour had any bearing on drag
> co-efficeincy .... a red frame which is red
> because it reflects light in the fast moving red frequency to
> move slightly faster than a dark blue frame which reflects in
> the slower moving blue range.
> I am considering re-spraying my frame if anyone can
> calculate which would be the quickest colour." (1995)
>
> "I was planning on painting my bike red. I have heard that,
> hands down, red is the fastest color. This can easily be
> seen..." (1998)
>
> "So if you want a bike that pulls ahead faster, paint it red."
> (2000)
>
> "I have found that red bikes are faster than even green bikes,
> even with me riding." (2001)
>
> "That raises an interesting question, which color is faster?
> My guess is that red is going to be the fastest so I would go
> with that." (2001)
>
> "Now if you had told us the bike was painted red, then we
> would have been obligated to believe, since it is
> scientifically proven that red bikes go faster. Also that
> midlife crises can only be cured "by something Italian and
> racy." " (2004)
>
>
> But there are critics, notably Mark Hickey:
>
> " If you are able to totally eliminate any of the colors
> present on your bike from the surrounding area, you will
> increase your speed by about 10% (which explains the total
> absence of wood-colored track bikes).This is
> why titanium bikes (with their absolutely colorless sheen) are
> so much faster than any other frame material."
>
>
> Now there's a British study
>
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1894&e=2&u=/ap/20050518/ap_on_sc/winning_red
> published in Nature (a top science journal), supporting the
> red bike theory:
>
> ""Across a range of sports, we find that wearing red is
> consistently associated with a higher probability of winning,"
> report Russell A. Hill and Robert A. Barton of the University
> of Durham in England. Their findings are in Thursday's issue
> of the journal Nature....
>
> In their survey, the anthropologists analyzed the results of
> four combat sports at the summer games: boxing, tae kwon do,
> Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling.
>
> In those events, the athletes were randomly assigned red
> protective gear and other sportwear.
>
> Athletes wearing red gear won more often in 16 of 21 rounds of
> competition in all four events.
>
> The effect was the same regardless of weight classes, too: 19
> of 29 classes had more red winners, and only four rounds had
> more blue winners."
>
>
> --
> Mike Kruger
> (some of the quotes from rec.bicycles.* should have some form
> of smiley associated with them -- certainly Mark's. I don't
> know about the British scientists.)

[Zoot Katz]

18 May 2005 19:32:49 -0700,
. com>,
" > wrote:

>great!! i'm 57 and haven't ridden a bike in 25 years. two days ago i
>order a brand new semi-recumbent trike. blue!! the little old lady at
>the end of the street has a red granny trike. i guess i'll have to
>start some intensive training as soon as my new wheels arrive.

Easier to just paint the new bike.
--
zk

[Fritz M]

Mike Kruger wrote:

> Now there's a British study
> ... supporting the red bike theory:

> "Across a range of sports, we find that wearing red is
> consistently associated with a higher probability of winning,"

It seems instead to support the Red Shorts theory, in spite of any,
umm, "coverage" objections some people might have.

RFM

[Bill Sornson]

wrote:
> great!! i'm 57 and haven't ridden a bike in 25 years. two days ago i
> order a brand new semi-recumbent trike. blue!! the little old lady at
> the end of the street has a red granny trike. i guess i'll have to
> start some intensive training as soon as my new wheels arrive.
>
> ;-)

She's gonna kick your ass all over that island.

:-D

[Maggie]

Mike Kruger wrote:
> A search of Google Groups shows a variety of posts suggesting
> red bikes are faster.

Does that stand true for shoes too? I have a pair of shoes I call my
"Red Hooker Heel shoes".....I wonder if they are faster than my
sneakers. My sneakers are white.
I will have to try that out and report back.

Maggie.

[dkd]

You missed the critical point: Athletes who WEAR red go faster.

The study doesn't say ANYTHING about red paint on a bike.

Maybe you will go faster if you wear the red bike around your neck on
a chain...

[John Everett]

On Wed, 18 May 2005 19:19:11 -0500, "Mike Kruger"
> wrote:

>"I was planning on painting my bike red. I have heard that,
>hands down, red is the fastest color.

Wrong!!! White is clearly the fastest color. It never runs or fades.


jeverett3<AT>earthlink<DOT>net http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3

[Maggie]

John Everett wrote:
> jeverett3<AT>earthlink<DOT>net http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3

That Jaguar is awesome. My oldest son works for Jaguar. I have to show
him that picture. What a car. Very nice web page. Very interesting
stuff.

Mags....

[rdclark]

I just put a pair of red pedals on my (titanium) bike. I'll let y'all
know if they make my feet go faster. Seems to me the combination of red
pedals and a ti bike, following Mark Hickey's theory, should be
unbeatable.

RichC

[Bill Sornson]

John Everett wrote:

> White is clearly the fastest color. It never runs or fades.

How can something that never runs be fast at all?!?

[gds]

Maggie wrote:
>
> Does that stand true for shoes too? I have a pair of shoes I call my
> "Red Hooker Heel shoes".....I wonder if they are faster than my
> sneakers. My sneakers are white.
>
>
> Maggie.

You answer your own question by using your own nomenclature. If you
think of them as "red hooker.. shoes" then obviously you are thinking
about being "fast."

[Ken]

"Mike Kruger" > wrote in message
news:1116461830.6a961bc91929a38a2d74c46ece874413@t eranews...

I thought I read somewhere that the black iron ferrite paint made the bikes
faster! Oh no that's supposed to make them invisible to radar. My bad.

Ken

--
Remove "-dispose-trash" for email address
My personal webstie: http://kcm-home.tripod.com/
My blog: http://mind-dribble.blogspot.com/

[Mark Hickey]

"rdclark" > wrote:

>I just put a pair of red pedals on my (titanium) bike. I'll let y'all
>know if they make my feet go faster. Seems to me the combination of red
>pedals and a ti bike, following Mark Hickey's theory, should be
>unbeatable.

It would seem that way, but in fact the advantage of the red pedal on
the forward stroke is cancelled by that of the red pedal coming back
on the return stroke. There is some evidence that mounting a red
pedal on the outside, and a blue pedal on the inside of a track bike
will be good for a nice boost, but it's hard to achieve that on a
non-track course.

I'm working on perfecting a color-shift pedal paint that's blue from
one angle and red from another. With careful attention to getting the
alignment right, I expect that I should be able to get some real
color-based performance gain, though I suspect it will require some
serious ankling to maximize the advantage.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame

[John Everett]

On Thu, 19 May 2005 16:56:50 GMT, "Bill Sornson"
> wrote:

>John Everett wrote:
>
>> White is clearly the fastest color. It never runs or fades.
>
>How can something that never runs be fast at all?!?
>

Sigh!


jeverett3<AT>earthlink<DOT>net http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3

[Pat Lamb]

Mark Hickey wrote:
> "rdclark" > wrote:
>
>
>>I just put a pair of red pedals on my (titanium) bike. I'll let y'all
>>know if they make my feet go faster. Seems to me the combination of red
>>pedals and a ti bike, following Mark Hickey's theory, should be
>>unbeatable.
>
>
> It would seem that way, but in fact the advantage of the red pedal on
> the forward stroke is cancelled by that of the red pedal coming back
> on the return stroke. There is some evidence that mounting a red
> pedal on the outside, and a blue pedal on the inside of a track bike
> will be good for a nice boost, but it's hard to achieve that on a
> non-track course.
>
> I'm working on perfecting a color-shift pedal paint that's blue from
> one angle and red from another. With careful attention to getting the
> alignment right, I expect that I should be able to get some real
> color-based performance gain, though I suspect it will require some
> serious ankling to maximize the advantage.

Ah, but surely that's a rotating redness!

Pat

[Mark Hickey]

Pat Lamb > wrote:

>Mark Hickey wrote:
>> "rdclark" > wrote:
>>
>>>I just put a pair of red pedals on my (titanium) bike. I'll let y'all
>>>know if they make my feet go faster. Seems to me the combination of red
>>>pedals and a ti bike, following Mark Hickey's theory, should be
>>>unbeatable.
>>
>>
>> It would seem that way, but in fact the advantage of the red pedal on
>> the forward stroke is cancelled by that of the red pedal coming back
>> on the return stroke. There is some evidence that mounting a red
>> pedal on the outside, and a blue pedal on the inside of a track bike
>> will be good for a nice boost, but it's hard to achieve that on a
>> non-track course.
>>
>> I'm working on perfecting a color-shift pedal paint that's blue from
>> one angle and red from another. With careful attention to getting the
>> alignment right, I expect that I should be able to get some real
>> color-based performance gain, though I suspect it will require some
>> serious ankling to maximize the advantage.
>
>Ah, but surely that's a rotating redness!

Yes, but I figure I'll get a little blue shift on the back stroke.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame