The guys who are racing bicycles have paper covering the spokes on their wheels? Does this make them go faste?

Question

I tried it on my bike and it didn't feel like I was going any faster...

Answer 1

No offense... you don't sound like an extreme rider, I mean, not enough that aerodynamics affect the performance immensly.

Answer 2

You're probably thinking of Disc wheels, which are used to help reduce the amount of wind resistance or aerodynamic drag on the wheel.

These are usually heavier than normal spoked wheels and can be pretty dangerous with crosswinds, and so are mainly only used on the rear wheel. It's more common to see 2 disc wheels on a track bike in a velodrome though.

Answer 3

no paper. probably disc wheels? usually seen on time trials bikes. it makes their bike more aerodynamic..

Answer 4

Solid disc wheels are used by track cyclists because they're more aerodynamic than ordinary wheels but on road bikes they'd be worse than useless and probably dangerous in windy conditions. Another type of wheel they use has three broad spokes and is made out of carbon fibre- again it increases aerodynamic efficiency and is very lightweight. I don't know anything about paper covering wheels though.

Answer 5

Define "paper covering the spokes" Do you mean like each spoke is individually wrapped?  Or do you mean like the other guy posted, a disc wheel?  If in that case, that really looks nothing like paper.....I'm just confused.