Lightning's Racing Heritage
Cool Racing Stories
Lightning
A Quick History
White Lightning
We've built world record
setting bikes since out beginning over 20 years ago. It all began
with the White Lightning, a fully faired streamliner co-designed
and built by current Lightning Cycle Dynamics chief engineer Tim
Brummer, which was the first Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) to break
50, 55 and 60 mph. Next came the Lightning X-2.
Lightning X-2
The X2 appeared in the Williams Anthropropulsion Exhibit, who described the X2 as follows:
Designed by Tim Brummer, this fairing uses a honeycomb structure consisting of a Nomex core with a Kevlar skin, which gives it an extremely light, strong structure. The openings at the bottom allow the rider to stop at intersections and balance with feet on the ground, and the front nose section pivots forward to allow for easy access. Its record speed is 64.2 mph, ridden by Carl Sundquist. Take a look at a video of the X-2 in operation.
Lighting
F-40
During the competition years of the X-2, many people expressed interest in a very fast faired recumbent that could be ridden on the street for everyday use, as well as racing. The result was the Lightning F-40, the world's first and only practical high performance faired recumbent, and the only production recumbent to set world records. The F-40 set the cross country record of 5 days, 1 hour in 1989, a record which still stands today! Racers like Pete Penseyres, Tyger Johnson and many others have won races and set records with this amazing bike. Pictured here: Andre Riopel setting the Canadian record.
Lightning F-90
Finally, a much improved model, the F-90, was
introduced after a lengthy development process. Based on the many
years of experience with the F-40, the F-90 is a big improvement
over the F-40, and features a dual suspension carbon fiber frame
as well as an upgraded fairing. The F-90 has even bested the original
Gold Rush (with full Kevlar fairing) in road races!
See IHPSC 1998 for more info.
For 2004 we developed a kevlar hard shell fairing for the F-90,
then used it to win the Race Across America! For more info go to
RAAM 2004
Lightning U-2
The U-2 was our unfaired racing model. A loophole on the USCF rules allowed unfaried recumbents to race in USCF time trials against upright bicycles. Of course, since the U-2 was so successful at these races, the USCF changed the rules to ban it from racing against upright bikes.
Lightning Records
Numerous records have been set by Lightning Cycles.
Listed are most of them, for more info about that record, click
on the link, if available:
First HPV to
break 50, 55, and 60 mph (3 consecutive years): White
Lightning
Low altitude top speed record of 64.2 mph X-2
Worlds Fastest Bicycle (2 wheels), 55 and 57 mph
(2 consecutive years)* X-2
1/4 Mile Drag Records:
43.6 mph for Multiple rider White
Lightning;
41.5 mph for Single rider* X-2;
34.2 seconds for Female rider F-40
600/200 meter (1/2 mile) drag record, 52 mph White
Lightning
603 miles in 24 hours* F-40
Los
Angeles to New York (2910 miles) in 5 days, 1 hour F-40
Paris to Loudeac, France (450 km) in 14.5 hours F-90
Argus Tour, Cape Town, South Africa (100 km) in 2
hours, 27 minutes F-40
Wawa to Sault Saint Marie, Canada in 6 hours F-40
Many of these records were set on the Lightning F-40. To see the
F-40 in action, take a look at this video clip.
Only Lightning has set world records on a production bike that
you can buy today!
*Note: Record Since broken