About Blackwell Research
JOHN COBB
Chief Designer, Blackwell Research, Ltd.
In every field there is one person who
stands out. This person leads the way. He is the trailblazer:
the person who brings clarity and truth to a field of knowledge.
For the last 30 years that person has been John Cobb.
John spent his college years in Waco, Texas
studying art and design. Even then he seemed to have an
intuitive understanding of aerodynamics and airflow in motion.
He began to race in the cart racing category. He won the state
championships 6 years in a row. In 1984, he began objective
investigation into cart racing. His intuitive understanding of
aerodynamics coupled with objective wind tunnel testing led to
F.I.A. qualification and a Daytona Cart Racing National
Championship two years in a row (1985, 1986).
 This ability to prove his technology in
wind tunnels while cart racing was transferred to bicycle
building when a friend asked him to help break the state Time
Trial record for the 40 K. Larry Thompson was a talented amateur
bike racer. John and Larry went to the wind tunnel. They tested
positions and bike shapes and made several important
discoveries. This led to Larry and John shattering the previous
record by more than a minute.
Aerodynamics, the behavior of air in
motion, involves body shapes at speed. But also includes
high-speed air movement within motor systems. In 1984 John was
asked to help the chainsaw manufacturer, Stihl. They had been
loosing logging championships at a constant rate. John
redesigned their motors, maximizing their airflow efficiency and
composition. The result, Stihl won the Minnesota World Logging
Championships in the chainsaw three-cut in 1985 and 1986. His
machine virtually halved the previous world record. In fact,
John’s design was so effective that the world championship body
outlawed John’s design to bring parity back to the event.
His revolutionary motor designs were also
used in cart racing in the mid 1980’s. They were so effective
that of the 10 classes of cart racing, 7 of these classes were
won with John Cobb modified motors.
During this entire period John continued to
experiment and clarify the aerodynamics of bicycle racing. In
1988, 1989 and 1990 Greg Lemond asked for John’s help. Hours
spent in the wind tunnels working on positioning and aerobar
development led to several Tour de France wins.
These were busy times for John. The early
1990’s found John developing products for HED, Soft Ride, Giro,
Trek, Aegis, Kestrel, Scott, Shimano, Cervelo, Javelin and
others. He served on the product development boards for several
of these companies. He worked with several of the European
racing teams. Again, his penchant for objective corroboration of
his ideas led to clarification and truth.
In 1991 and 1992, utilizing a grant from
NASA, John produced some of the most definitive data on
position, watt production and biomechanics yet obtained. Real
time, invasive monitoring of over 300 amateur and professional
athletes allowed John to prove his theories objectively and
separate what really worked from what was simply hype.
In 1998, 1999, and 2000, John was again
asked to help the American team. This time Lance Armstrong, Trek
and the U.S. Postal Team needed to be fast. Frame and helmet
design along with John’s positioning expertise helped to create
the now legendary 7 Tour de France victories.
In 2004, John decided to devote himself
exclusively to aerodynamic design and positioning. He joined
forces with Dr. Stephen Greer, a cardiovascular surgeon and avid
triathlon enthusiast to create Blackwell Research, Ltd.
Their goal:
*To design, produce and
market innovative bicycle components that are data proven
*To use the best technology
available to provide the best products at affordable prices
*To produce products that are
sturdy, reliable and offer optimum aerodynamics and comfort
*To help all athletes achieve
their goals, whether they are Amateurs, age group racers or
elite professionals
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