Clark’s drag racer

When he’s traveling the bike trails in his native Rhode Island, Owen Sheff ’24 moves pretty fast. But he wants to go even faster.

He believes he’s figured out how.

The physics major is rebuilding a carbon fiber bike and outfitting it with equipment to measure the amount of drag he’s producing, then figuring out how to reduce it.

In the context of a bicycle rider, drag is the resistance caused by air flowing around the bike and rider. The more space a bicycle and rider take up, the greater the drag.

Embarking on his research, Sheff investigated devices that can measure drag on a bicycle rider.

“I saw that commercially available devices did exist but cost around $4,000. So, I decided to make my own,” he says.

Sheff is building a measurement device with the help of Professor Alexander Petroff as part of a directed study. He’s calculating the “drag area” by rewiring sensors to track the precise movements of the bike and the rider. The device will attach to a fixer-upper bike — a seven-year-old Trek that Sheff purchased for $50 from a Rhode Island bike shop. He is rebuilding the bike, trying to keep it as small, light, and aerodynamic as possible.

“When I bought the bike,” Sheff says, “it was a piece of junk, and I’ve spent quite a while fixing it and making it rideable again.”

Once complete, the measuring device should produce a final reading of the drag area, which will help Sheff track exactly how much faster he will be able to move based on the weight of the bike and how he positions himself on it.

Rebuilding the bike has involved a rewarding, if sometimes tedious, process of stripping paint and repainting the bike in bright green and yellow tones, reassembling it with new pieces, and rewiring sensors to gather the exact information he needs. “I think working on the bike has been a good exercise in patience,” says Sheff.

Sheff’s passion for calculation has been an asset for conducting his project. He hopes to apply this research toward a master’s in mechanical engineering and future work in aerodynamics.

“I am really excited to just see the drag area calculation at the end of this,” Sheff says. “I just cannot wait to hit enter on my computer and then see a number.”