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Equipment & Gear => Archery Gear => Topic started by: JJD on December 10, 2014, 06:10:52 AM

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Title: Speed bead Physics
Post by: JJD on December 10, 2014, 06:10:52 AM

I don't know what other companies call them, but G5 calls them Speed Beads.
They are the little plastic beads that are added to the bow string near the top and bottom cams.
The claim is they increase bow speed by a few fps.
I'm no physics wiz by any means, but was just wondering how your string dragging more crap through the atmosphere, added speed.
Can anyone give a basic explanation as to how they (supposedly) work?

Is their location on the strings critical to their effectiveness?

Guess I just have a problem with things I don't understand.  (I have no shortage of problems  :chuckle:)

Title: Re: Speed bead Physics
Post by: motg9_6 on December 10, 2014, 06:14:37 AM

tag
i didnt see any benefits other than getting my peep to line up better

Title: Re: Speed bead Physics
Post by: D-Rock425 on December 10, 2014, 06:48:43 AM

They do help in the right spots.  My last string i put on my vector turbo didn't have any at all so we played around with them.  Started by putting on top and bottom picked up a foot or two per second.  Added another picked up a couple more.  Tried the third no change sonwe took the third off and left it at two.  We just used regular brass nocks then covered them with a shrink wrap thing.

Title: Re: Speed bead Physics
Post by: D-Rock425 on December 10, 2014, 06:52:15 AM

Here's a close up,of the two near my top cam.  In all i picked up roughly 4fps.

Title: Re: Speed bead Physics
Post by: JJD on December 10, 2014, 07:52:51 AM

My DRV sp has them built into the string like those D-Rock added, my previous G5 bow had them placed between the strings and served into place.
As motg9_6 pointed out, the ones on the G5 were moveable and allowed for peep better alignment.

Using the SWAG (scientific wild as* guess) method, I'm guessing that the beads, being heavier than the string, cause increased string speed post initial inertia.

Title: Re: Speed bead Physics
Post by: Jellymon on December 10, 2014, 02:52:36 PM

If you look at high speed video when a bow is fired with out speed nocks, there is a small amount of "slack" that appears in the string. This isn't efficient and creates a small amount of speed loss. By placing a certain amount of weight on certain spots on the string near the cams, you slightly slow down these "slack" spots and the whole string now moves as one solid unit, which is more efficient and equals more speed.

Some bows you won't gain anything, some bows can gain 8-10fps. All about experimenting with the amount of speed nocks/beads and the location.

Title: Re: Speed bead Physics
Post by: JJD on December 11, 2014, 08:11:21 AM

Thanks Jellymon, that is the info I was after.
Interesting.

Title: Re: Speed bead Physics
Post by: RadSav on December 14, 2014, 10:54:40 PM

You have to get them in the right spot, though.  Otherwise they will work the opposite!

Can be a lot of trouble for such a small amount of speed increase and it rarely if ever increases accuracy.  If they gave even the slightest of accuracy advantage they would be all the rage on the target circuit and they certainly are not.  I also think the 10 fps claim is archery's version of an urban legend ;)  2-3 fps is the norm.  For me I prefer to avoid them.  But if you want to try them I see no reason you shouldn't.  It can be a good inexpensive lesson in bow mechanics if nothing else.