Records

When the Trisled team began our path towards streamlined tricycle record attempts in 2008, we didn’t realise it would lead to a new era of record setting. But in just two years of attempts, our streamlined tricycles have cracked four Australian human powered land speed records and three world records. And for the first time in HPV history, not one but two prestigious world records have been taken back from a speed bike by a modified velomobile.

Not only has Trisled added a new twist to world endurance speed records, but we have proven that a fast vehicle can still be a practical road-going machine.

The Records

Overzealous vehicle
• Australian 12-hour record, Jeff Nielsen, 490.25km, 2008
• Australian eight-man 24-hour record, 1181km, 2008
• World low altitude trike hour record, Jeff Nielsen, 61.81km, 2009
• Australian low-altitude land speed record, Jeff Nielsen, 82.66 km/h, 2009 (current)

A lil Overzealous vehicle
• Australian 12-hour record, Jeff Nielsen, 2010
• Australian 6-hour record, Jeff Nielsen, 2010
• World solo 24-hour record, Jeff Nielsen, 1109km, 2010
• World 1000km record, Jeff Nielsen, 21 hours and 21 minutes, 2010

The Vehicles

Trisled’s R&D priority is developing practical real world outcomes. Our two record-setting streamlined tricycles, Overzealous and a lil Overzealous have been developed to explore the upper limits of this format. Based on the Sorcerer II HPV, these vehicles were purpose-built for specific record attempts. Data collected from these attempts will be used to further the development of fast, lightweight and practical commuter vehicles.

Following the success of our experimental machine Overzealous, the Trisled development team became increasingly interested in exploring the upper limits of streamlined tricycles.

Power and speed data suggested that Overzealous was in the ballpark of speed bike efficiency, and not too far away from the realm of a practical road-going machine. While Overzealous was good, further reductions in frontal area and weight could be achieved. A lil Overzealous is the realisation of that goal.

While Overzealous is already light (21.6kg), a lil overzealous is even lighter, weighing just 17.3 kg. It is also significantly smaller, with 80mm shaved from its width and 20mm from its height. And it isn’t just carbon keeping the weight down.

Fifteen years of HPV racing has taught the Trisled team a thing or two about building vehicles light. Combined with a vacuum-infused shell produced by our in-house composites guru Ken Houghton, a lil Overzealous is one of the lightest vehicles of its kind developed in the world.

From Speed Bikes to Speed Trikes

Trisled designer, Ben Goodall, had been following the progress of the 24-hour solo record for some time and observed the methods used by successful attempts.

All previous attempts had been undertaken in two wheeled streamlined bicycles. In discussion with rider Jeff Nielsen and the rest of the development team, Ben had developed a theory. During the SledEdge speed bike project , the team observed that Jeff’s heart rate was higher in the speed bike than a streamlined trike with the same power output. Ben believed that this could be due to the mental anxiety of launching, catching and balancing the machine.

While it was difficult to get an exact figure on it, he believed that it was bound to be more than the efficiency loss of having a third wheel on the ground. If all other aspects of the machine such as frontal area and weight were optimised then the vehicle should be efficient enough in the 50km/h range to set a 24-hour record (this is in fact the speed Jeff averaged during the 24 hour attempt!).

The Rider

In the Trisled Fresh Racing Team, Jeff Nielsen is described as ‘the freak show’. However, he is neither an Olympian nor a professional athlete. The person who has now traveled further than any other person in the world using only his own power is simply a very driven and fit individual. While very few of us can realistically expect to top Jeff’s incredible performance, he is a testimony to what an ‘ordinary’ person can achieve if they put their mind and passion into something they really want. Perhaps more significantly, he is an example of what is possible with human power.

The major driving force for the development of a lil Overzealous was Jeff, who put long days and nights into cutting and shutting the smaller pattern over the 2009-10 Christmas break, with the help of his friend and colleague Mikey, and Ben and Gareth from Trisled. Following his successful Australian land speed record and world trike hour record during Easter 2009, Jeff was more determined than ever to go for his long time goal of setting a world 24-hour distance record. Jeff spent huge amounts of time working on his fueling and hydration strategies, as well as his training methods. His success was as much about these smaller details as it was about fitness.

One of the toughest challenges in any long distance record is keeping the rider ‘fed and watered’. Using their HPV racing experience, the team devised an innovative strategy known as the ‘bottle pass’, where a rider got up to speed with Jeff using the Aquila racing HPV , and passed provisions through the hatch. Check out the You Tube footage showing the bottle changes. Jeff kept a mobile phone on his ‘dashboard’, where he called the team to put in his order (and have a general chat). This strategy was so successful that Jeff didn’t stop for the first 12 hours! And as for disposing of the fluids, Jeff used a colostomy bag, which, after a few hours of stage fright, he managed to operate smoothly for the remainder of the attempt.





Videos from top: Bottle change for Jeff during his 24-hour record attempt.
A bottle change and sandwich delivery to Jeff during his 24-hour record attempt

Jeff’s passion and motivation was personal. In his mid teens, Jeff lost his mother to heart disease, and shortly after his father died of cancer. Jeff channeled this energy towards his record attempts and, for his 24-hour attempt, he pledged his support to the Heart Foundation, raising over $3000 for this worthy cause.

Jeff describes his motivation on his website, Pedal For Heart: ‘I want everyone to see me attempt this record in the hope that they might think: “wow, the human body is amazing and it can achieve so much”, and to think to themselves, “what am I doing to stay fit and healthy?” I want everyone to read and hear about my life and make the effort to know the warning signs of cardiovascular disease and to make the effort to not becoming another victim to this killer.’

The Designer

There isn’t a lot remarkable about Overzealous or even a lil Overzealous. In fact, both of these vehicles are based on the Sorcerer Series II design, developed using manual methods over a decade ago in the depths of Ben’s garage. However, years of HPV racing has taught Ben that the real wins are little, and they come from attention to detail. Through many years of paying attention to these small details, Ben has achieved some big results in a very small machine! When it comes down to something you have to pedal, it’s not what’s in the machine that matters, but what you’ve been able to take away.

And as for passion, Ben’s comes close to Jeff’s! He believes that breaking the 24-hour record has been one of the most rewarding moments in his HPV-building career: ‘Nothing brings me more pleasure than seeing a machine I designed reaching its full potential. I went into this attempt feeling confident about the vehicle’s performance. Jeff's performance completely blew my mind! I have never seen anything like it!’

Design Challenges

There were several design challenges in making the sizable reductions in size and performance required to make a lil Overzealous, the biggest of which was that there was limited room around the front end of the machine. At 540mm front track width in Overzealous, this vehicle was already stretched for room between the handlebars for Jeff’s legs.

To overcome this problem, an integrated wheel guard and handlebar was devised for a lil Overzealous (pictured below) , the result being that the front wheel could only be 15mm from the rider’s leg without any fear of interference. This solution paved the way for a new shell to be constructed a massive 13 per cent smaller! Other changes included the elimination of the adjustable seat and front brakes to save weight.

The Team

Often the glory goes to one or two people when a record is broken, but in fact these records would not have been possible without the many ‘behind the scenes’ supporters working away, often into the wee hours of the morning. In fact, so many people have been involved in Trisled’s Overzealous and a lil Overzealous record attempts in the last two years that it would be impossible to list them all here! Nonetheless, we’ve made our best attempt at acknowledging our supporters below.

Vehicle development: Gareth Hanks, Ken Houghton, Jeff Nielsen, Mikey, Ben Goodall
OzHPV organiser: Tim Marquardt
OzHPV officiators: Eric Ball, Peter Heal, Rick Willoughby, John Reynoldson, Mick Donovan, Luke Sutton
Timing systems: Luke Sutton, Tim Marquardt, Alan Ball
Bottle passers: Gareth Hanks, Will Livesay, Chris Taylor
On-day supporters: Nigel Smith, Mark Gilligan, Sharna Nielsen, Yolande Strengers, Luke Posthelswaith, Will Livesay, Chris Taylor, Lawrie and Julie Hunt, Ron and Matt from Team Phantom, Trisled Fresh Racing Team, and many more!
Photography and Filming: Chris Mozley, Steve Taylor

Overzealous Specifications

Body: Trisled Sorcerer series II shell. Fibreglass, without wheel arches fitted
Frame: Chromoly with custom geometry
Steering: Trisled direct steering
Seat: Trisled carbon
Wheels: 406mm Velocity rims 28 spoke. Schwalbe Kojak tyres
Driveline: 155mm external bearing crankset, 90t front chainring, 12-25 9-speed cassette
Length: 2700mm
Width: 660mm
Height: 870mm
Ground clearance: 90mm
Track width: 540mm
Wheel base: 1120mm
Seat angle (effective): 20 degrees
Weight: 21.6 kg

A lil Overzealous Specifications

Body: Custom made pattern and molds; 80mm narrower than Sorcerer series II. Resin infused Kevlar construction
Frame: Chromoly with custom geometry
Steering: Trisled direct steering with carbon wheel guard & handlebar combined unit
Seat: Trisled carbon
Wheels: 406mm Velocity rims 28 spoke. Schwalbe Kojak tyres
Driveline: 155mm external bearing crankset, 90t front chainring, 12-25 9-speed cassette
Length: 2680mm
Width: 580mm
Height: 870mm
Ground clearance: 95mm
Track width: 440mm
Wheel base: 1120mm
Seat angle (effective): 20 degrees
Weight: 17.3 kg
Aircraft spec 4130 chrom moly alloy; tig weld; .heat- <hide

When the Trisled team began our path towards streamlined tricycle record attempts in 2008, we didn’t realise it would lead to a new era of record setting. But in just two years of attempts, our streamlined tricycles have cracked four Australian human powered land speed records... read more>

In our ’spare’ time, the Trisled team is designing, building and racing world-class recumbent speed bikes.

Speed bike records

The streamlined recumbent format is the fastest known way to transport a person using human power alone. The world human powered vehicle (HPV) record is held by Sam Whittingham, who has reached 81 miles per hour (just over 130 kms) on high-altitude flat terrain in the Nevada desert. That makes Sam the fastest man in the world!

In October 2005, Trisled’s Director, Ben Goodall, visited the famed World Human Powered Speed Challenge at Battle Mountain in Nevada, where HPV speed records are set and broken, wetting his appetite for a speed bike project of his own.

The one-hour speed record is currently held by veteran HPV rider Freddy Markham, who set a new world record in 2006, riding 85.991 km in an hour.

A combination of aerodynamic advantage, light weight and cardiovascular efficiency are the main reasons why human powered vehicles are capable of achieving such high speeds. Like all recumbents, the reclined position of a speed bike allows the rider to open his or her chest while keeping the upper body almost completely relaxed. This position increases lung capacity and cardiovascular capability.

It all began with.... Whoops

In 2006, Trisled’s HPV skills were enlisted by Tim Marquardt to design and construct a streamlined two-wheel recumbent to fit Matt Weaver’s Kyle Edge molds in time for an attempt at the Dempsey-MacCready Hour Record. The prize, which expired at the end of June 2006, was to be awarded to the first single-rider to equal or surpass 90 kilometers (55.924 miles) in just one hour.

Tim also recruited local HPV enthusiast Ken Houghton, who has a lifetime of composites experience which proved invaluable to the project’s development. Tim secured limited access to the Holden Lang Lang proving ground - a perfect surface for speed bike testing and racing. This combination of factors was enough to tempt Ben into the world of speed bike design and construction and it wasn't long before he built his own speed bike - aptly named ’Sled- Edge’.

The initial start-up project involved the construction of a low-tech speed bike to fit the molds. ’Whoops’, as Tim named it, was completed in May 2006 and proved to be a very solid and stable machine, with novice HPV riders able to ride it with ease.

Recruitment and preparation

Full of confidence and enthusiasm, the team was keen to get serious, and there was little time to waste. Ben contacted the Trisled racing team and recruited Scott Hawke as an assistant technician and Jeff Nielsen as ’the engine’. The team initially used Whoops and a Trisled Sorcerer II vehicle for training and testing to prepare Jeff to ride what would be a far more advanced and challenging machine.

As with Whoops, Ken and Tim were called on to assist with laying up the SledEdge shell, which this time was made of carbon/klegcell to ensure a more solid and crash resistant finish. However, unlike the true-form molds used for Whoops, Ben decided that a few ’nip-n-tucks’ were needed to reduce the frontal area for the SledEdge speed bike and gain a little more speed. In total he took 60mm out of the height and 20mm out of the width to get Jeff extra snug inside the fairing. Ben also designed and constructed a custom drive system and crank set into a Chromoly chassis to allow for the even tighter fit.

Testing SledEdge

During the first test session at the proving ground, the SledEdge was configured into a camera bike. Ben’s aerodynamically designed pod on top of the bike contained a video camera and Jeff had a small screen in the bike to see the road ahead. This proved to be the most testing session for the SledEdge team.

With the low winter sun affecting Jeff’s vision and the lack of time available to get used to camera steering, the team quickly realised that they were going to have to rethink video vision for the initial attempt. After consulting with the team, Ben decided that the only workable option with minimum impact to the speed would be to add a windscreen to the bike. Although this resulted in some added aerodynamic drag, it was a necessary move to allow Jeff to get his full power down with confidence.

Further thinking and testing lead the team to decide that a combination of a smaller windscreen and camera in the nose would be the best way to get the most out of the bike with the limited time on hand. With only a few days to go before the attempt, Ben rebuilt the SledEdge and finished the bike with a shiny silver paint job.

The failed attempt

Following four weeks of hard work and development, bad luck with the weather kept the SledEdge grounded on the designated day of the trial. Holden were only able to grant the team one day at the track within the time deadline and the conditions were not safe or suitable to run.

Ironically, the teams attempting the same record on the other side of the world in Arizona were having the opposite problem. Scorching temperatures meant that none of the teams in the US achieved the 90km needed to claim the full prize. As no team has been able to reach the target, the cash has been divided up to the top three teams.

A second chance

For the SledEdge team, the fun didn't stop with the expiration of the prize. During the 2006 November Melbourne Cup Weekend, the SledEdge speed bike team had access to the Holden proving ground again. Several of the team members and other interested enthusiasts who are designing, building and learning to ride their own speed machines, also came along to test their bikes. In total, there were five speed bikes on the track that weekend.

With a full four days access to the test track, the SledEdge team was sure there would be at least one suitable day for setting some Australian records. But as the weekend came closer the forecast looked increasingly grim. The Saturday morning appeared to be the only option as strong winds were forecast for all of the remaining days.

The team arrived early to begin the final shake down of the vehicle and practice their launching and catching. During this time they fitted strips of plastic to the outside of the body to protect the highly polished laminar flow surface from any scratches due to mishaps.

Rider Jeff Nielsen was on his final testing lap when disaster struck. While cruising along at around 65 km/h the SledEdge had its rear tyre blow out. The chase vehicle behind Jeff noticed that something was wrong and sped ahead of the bike to deploy the catch crew. With no rear tyre and the fairing dragging, it was only a matter of time before the vehicle lost control and fell over. Jeff did an amazing job of controlling the bike down to a mere 15 km/h (a mean feat in a wobbly speed bike with locked steering!) but unfortunately he slipped through the catchers by a matter of a few meters. The SledEdge sustained minor body damage and a mangled rear wheel.

The conditions were still calm at this stage, and knowing that this would be the only good day, the crew frantically rebuilt the side where the flat had occurred and carefully sanded back the scratches, costing them around an hour and a half of good riding conditions.

With the sea breeze on the brink of coming in, Jeff pushed off for another test run. It became obvious within about half a lap that the conditions were now not suitable to run. With this in mind, Jeff used the opportunity to gain experience in the bike for future trials.

In the test runs Jeff was able to sit well above 60 km/h with very low power input. In one sprint he reached 76 km/h within the space of 500 meters or so. He did this with the protection strips still fitted, which makes the team very optimistic about the vehicle’s potential.

Trisled is continuing its speed bike research and has already had several more testing days at the Holden proving ground since these the previous trials took place. Ben is keen to move on to the next generation of the SledEdge with some new ideas and possibilities.

Thanks to our supporters

Trisled and the SledEdge team thank General Motors Holden for use of the Holden Lang Lang proving ground for this project.

Thanks also to Chris Mosley (Moz) for traveling down from Sydney to take a series of awesome photos during the two main trials. For more of Moz’s speed bike photos click here. <hide

In our ’spare’ time, the Trisled team is designing, building and racing world-class recumbent speed bikes.

Speed bike records

The streamlined recumbent format is the fastest known way to transport a person using human power alone. The world human powered... read more>