Four SF State engineering students hope to cruise to a win and pass up more than 27 other colleges on their hand-made super bike in the 1995 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Human Powered Vehicle Championships at San Diego State University this weekend.
The human powered vehicle (HPV) is a reclined bicycle with a front- wheel drive system housing 14 gears, a speedometer (the vehicle can reach speeds of close to 50 mph), an adjustable support seat and a two-part fairing that encloses the vehicle to prevent wind drag.
This year's team, thats's members include Larry Abuan, Frank Xiaofeng Chen, Matthew Chow and Alex Ramos, has revamped and modified the HPV that was entered in last year's competition at U.C. Davis.
According to Alex Ramos, last year's SF State team was so unknown upon entering the competition that they weren't even considered underdogs, but he also said that didn't stop the team from placing first in the design category and finishing in the top ten in both the sprints and the road race.
"SF State came out of nowhere with this bike to beat engineering schools like Berkeley, Cal Poly and Davis," Ramos said.
The major changes made to this year's HPV are a redesigned front wheel that offers greater stability and handling and an adjustable seat, Ramos said.
"The HPV from last year wasn't as safe -- stability was a factor, and that affected the rider's performance," Ramos said. "Also, they were using pillows and inserts on the seat to adjust the height for the different riders, and that changed the center of gravity."
The competition is broken-up into three categories: the design presentation, sprints, and a 65 kilometer road race in Jack Murphy Stadium's parking lot.
According to Dr. Anthony Wheeler, professor of mechanical engineering at SF State and the HPV team's faculty advisor for the past two years, all the riders in the competition must be engineering students and members of ASME to participate, and the team must include one woman who will ride at least 25 percent of the road race. He said he felt that last year's riders weren't prepared enough and that contributed to the loss in the sprints and the road race categories.
"I felt that our athletes weren't as qualified as some of the others, but I know that SF State is honest at least and used engineering students as is called for in the guidelines," Wheeler said. "It seems as if some of the other schools pulled their track and field guys out for the competition."
Emile Lemoine, who was last year's principal rider and is competing again this year, disagrees with Wheeler.
"I rode eight to 12 hours a week and was very prepared last year," Lemoine said. "A bike rider must have endurance in their legs and lungs, but that wasn't our problem last year. The bike looked cool, but I felt the handling of the bike was suspect, and I crashed. This year's HPV has an ingenious front wheel drive and is a lot more stable."
The other two riders this year are Claudia Truesdale and Ellaine Taraya.
Ramos said he feels confident that his team will place in the top three, and although no monetary or material award is offered to the winning schools, he said there are other factors to take into account. "Winning gives us bragging rights," Ramos said. "We can put SF State's School of Engineering on the map. Also, it gives us a chance to do something fun and creative with all this stuff we've learned here."
According to Wheeler, being a part of the competition is also good for the students' resumes.
"Not only does competing successfully bring a lot of satisfaction, it also brings status," Wheeler said. "Last year's team members all got jobs as soon as they graduated."
Ramos said there is one more goal the team aspires to meet in the competition this weekend.
"Last year, the HPV reached 42 mph and we hope to get our bike up to at least 46 mph. One thing to keep in mind is that the world record is just shy of 70 mph."