The Sin Bin - Getting The Hump.

Oh my dear life, what do we have here?

It's an Aero Hump pocket/patch that's what, not as you might expect, a rescheduled April Fool.

Reckon this thing will see you going faster? Don't mind people pointing and shouting 'The bells! The bells!' at you? Well you have two ways of getting your aero hump lump. One way is to send off for the not at all duff looking kit of a piece of material and a lump of foam to insert, and then get busy with the needle and thread yourself. The other option is to send off your fave riding shirt (best wash it first) and the good folk behind this device will sew it on for you. But wait, there's more... this is not just an aero aid, oh no! It is also a handy pocket for... carrying stuff. Spare rain coats, water bottles, tools etc can all be carried in the aero hump bump lump apparently, but not your dignity, unfortunately, you'll be leaving that at home. 

The blurb claims it'll make so much difference blah, but, speaking from my vast inexperience of such matters, I don't think it'll reduce aero drag at all. If anything, it looks like it'll add to it. The outer material for the hump appears to be the same as shirts are made from, and which the air has to pass over, but you've just increased the surface area of it. Not by a lot, granted, but increased it is, and the weave/texture of the fabric isn't smooth and shiny, like if it were made of solid plastic for example. You'd think the hump would have to be matched to individual helmet shapes too, but I don't really know. What of the air passing around the pilot's lower head/chin/neck? Instead of meeting at the nape of the neck and passing over the spine, air will now meet a flat surface. No, I'm sorry, but I shan't be investing.

Motorcycle racers have similar humps on their leathers, but they generally go about their business at insane velocities where aerodynamics can make a huge difference when allied to the shape of the helmet/fairing/tail piece of the bike, but at the speeds a racing bike can achieve, even down some vertiginous mountain road, I'm not so sure.

I don't know, maybe I'm being a bit unkind, and maybe it really does offer an advantage, but I can't help thinking this is one of the dafter things I've seen lately. 

Anyway, should you actually be looking for a bit of extra speed and think the aero hump is just the thing to see you dropping your Sunday afternoon riding posse, then you can find it here Get the hump

But for me, it's going in my Sin Bin.