This Bike Is Now the Fastest Human-Powered Machine Ever Built

The annual event gathers cyclists from all over the world that are seeking to go to greater heights with pedal-powered vehicles.

The Canadian engineering company has envisioned breaking the record for quite a while.

AeroVelo has been known in its initiatives concerning human-powered vehicles over the previous years, boosting its knowledge and confidence in the space.

What’s the fastest you’ve ever traveled on a bicycle? AeroVelo revealed its plan to set the record back in June, when the record stood at 83.1 miles per hour as set by 26-year-old Sebastiaan Bowier.

Named after the Greek symbol of efficiency, Eta is created to attain speeds greater than 140 km/h, the team says. However, for now AeroVelo’s record is safe. It has even ventured into aviation, developing what it describes as the first working human-powered ornithopter and also winning the Sikorsky Prize in 2013 with its Atlas human-powered helicopter.

And now, as of yesterday, AeroVelo, the Ontario-based team of engineers and University of Toronto students, have helped their captain, Dr. Todd Reichert, become the fastest human-powered man alive.

AeroVelo faced a challenge on race day itself, as the Eta toppled over upon its launch on the first heat to cause damages on the front fairing. Using a camera mounted to the top of the vehicle and a video monitor to see ahead, Eta was expected to offer around a one percent improvement on performance compared to its predecessor, according to the team’s computer simulations. The mark was then set in the third heat. Having worked for publications such as The Santiago Times and The Conversation, he now writes for Gizmag from Melbourne, excited by tech and all forms of innovation, the city’s weird weather and curried egg sandwiches. Even in 2010, a custom-built flapping wing craft built by AeroVelo recorded the world’s first sustained flight of its kind, staying in the air for 19 seconds.