Talk:Bobsleigh

mixed teams
in 1928 there was experiment. To attract viewing people (pardon my English) there were mixed teams: 4 men + 1 woman in the centrery of bob - most safe place.

http://www.bobsleigh.com/results/historical_results.htm

Alas i can't find much material in English. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.219.219.17 (talk • contribs) 19:57, 26 October 2005

Btw: In germany, there are people who do a "wok world championship" and ride down a track sitting in a wok pan. (Even a famous sleighsports guy, Georg Hackl, is participating) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.176.216.216 (talk • contribs) 11:44, 24 March 2006

Bob run for Vancouver 2010
Does anyone know anything (specifically specifications) for the bob run to be used at the Vancouver Winter Olympics? The Games' official site doesn't seem to be of much help. It ought to be included in the list, of course, but I don't even know whether they've started building it yet.

I have changed the number in the text to "thirteen" from "twelve". It's a good job that someone here counts, eh?

I have also made a nice coffee table for the list, complete with international flags. I'm just going to rejig it a bit as I see that one of the entries is out of order. This will also put the Japanese flag on a grey background so that it will not simply look like a red spot. Kelisi 21:24, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

The bobsled track will be built on Whistler Mountain for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. The design is done. If they haven't broken ground, it will be done this summer. A new, refrigerated, combination track costs upwards of 30 million dollars. The Vancouver Track will be the 4th track in North America, bringing much more revenue to the sport. Until the Calgary games in 1988, there was only one FIBT-rated track in the continent which was in Lake Placid, New York. With the expense of shipping sleds, it was only worth the trip to North America for the World Cup because the track was so challenging. Now, there is a strong, World Cup tour in North America and the strengthening of a North American tour. Also, the North American tracks serve as training sites for the South American and Caribbean teams. The Park City, UT track has not been included in the World Cup tour since the 2002 Olympic Games. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Holly-dc (talk • contribs) 04:40, 9 February 2006

Cleanup tag
Okay, I'm not sure if this actually requires a cleanup tag; but from the article, I read:
 * Initially the sled teams were of five or six, this was reduced to two- or four-person sleighs in the 1930s. Sleds were wood but steel-runner sleds came into use from ????. (emphasis mine)

If you don't know where steel-runner sleds came from, the paragraph should be moved to the Talk page until the information is found. Micahbrwn 19:45, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Something I found strange: Quote from the article - "Ideally, a modern track should be at least 1500 metres long..." If the table below is to be believed, out of the "thirteen top-level competition tracks in the world", there are only 3 that match this requirement. --Bicycle repairman 06:34, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
 * The article appears to be wrong about ideal length. The rules available on the FIBT website (latest revision 2004) specify a track length of 1200-1300m.  There is no apparent requirement for the number of turns.  --Stormraven 03:00, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Corrected in the "major reorganization" I just put up. However, a question now remains as to why so many tracks are longer than the FIBT requirements.  --Stormraven 16:47, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Hi, I'd just like to point out something about the Cresta run in your article. The Cresta run is no longer used for bobsleigh. The type of sled used on the Cresta run is unique to that track, although I have heard that other types of skeleton sleds may have been used on it. The actual bobsleigh track in St Moritz starts across the road from the Cresta run and the two tracks actually cross each other near the end though they are entirely separate. 82.12.110.70 (talk) 11:41, 22 June 2020 (UTC)-Chris McCulloch-82.12.110.70 (talk) 11:41, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

How is a bobsleigh steered?
Could someone knowledgeable add information on how the bobsleigh is steered? Is there a lever or a steering wheel? Which runners move? So far there is only a mention by the by that the driver's skill is important. -- Mareklug 07:21, 23 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Actually, if someone could find or create it, I'd like to see a photo or schematic of the interior of a typical bobsleigh. Like Mareklug, I wonder about the steering, and I also wonder about how the brakes work and even how the pushbars are lowered. --Stormraven 13:10, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

I also came here hoping to find out how this works, what the brakeman does (and why they don't need to look where they're going.) Perhaps someone who knows could add a couple of paragraphs explaining the roles? Cosmo7 (talk) 03:51, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

My understanding is that the sled is steered by ropes connected to the front runners. Perhaps this is historical and there are newer systems in use now. As to the brakeman, he does operate a brake, but only on the outrun after the timed run is completed. His only possible contribution (and that of #2 and #2 on a 4-man sled) during the run is possibly to shift weight to assist in negotiating the curves. But since this is knowledge I have picked up watching bob competition on the TV, I can't source this. 173.30.145.40 (talk) 20:32, 4 February 2011 (UTC)


 * "Steering is accomplished by turning the front axle either with ropes or by a wheel linked to the axle by cables. The brake is a toothed bar that is pressed against the ice between the rear runners." according to Britanica EliteArcher88 (talk) 00:55, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

Reorganizing links
I've just reorganized the links section. I moved the Swedish Bobsleigh and Luge Association link to a comment (visible only when you edit the page) because it appears to be a broken link. If anyone can find a working link for SBLA, please add it back in. Also I've separated governing bodies from other national sites (which are mostly national team sites), but some of the national sites I've got listed might in fact be governing bodies. I can't tell because of the language barrier. I trust someone else will come along and correct any such error. --Stormraven 14:41, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

How standing is calculated
The article states that "The men's standing is calculated over the aggregate of four runs, the women's over two runs." But in the Olympics (going on now), the women are doing four runs. I haven't found official rules yet that clarify this issue. --Stormraven 19:09, 23 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Repaired by another editor. --Stormraven 13:24, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Data alignment
Try as I might, I can no longer align the data in the columns 'Length,' 'Vertical Drop' or 'Grade' along their decimal points, at least not in any way that looks presentable. It appears to be a weakness of the wikitable class/style. Any ideas? --Stormraven 13:24, 6 March 2006 (UTC) Insert non-formatted text here

Latvian TaxiBob
From what I can tell, the link to http://www.taxibob.lv/ may be an advertisement. If so, I would like to see it removed. Would someone who reads Russian please look into this for me? Thank you. Pygmypony 11:05, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Labyrinth
The Tracks section explains that a track must have one Labyrinth, but links to the page describing a classical Labyrinth without any explanation of what a bobsleigh track labyrinth is. 124.176.8.153 (talk) 02:39, 22 January 2008 (UTC) sonic the hegdehog is cool —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.218.178.83 (talk) 16:38, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

Bobsledge?
I can't find any source supporting the word "bobsledge" as another name for this sport. Any reference I see to that word seems to be just a misrendering of the name "bobsled". The term "bobsledge" was originally put into the article with the statement that that was the name in Brazil. Of course, that was unsupported by any sources, and any searching I do try to support it just turns up mirrors of old versions of this page. I feel entirely comfortable with removing this term from the article, and suggest that it not be re-added unless someone can find a reliable source to support the claim that it's actually used. -adavidw (talk) 09:01, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

What do team members do?
Can we explain a bit about how the riders steer the sled? Are they just along for the ride, or do they actually do something? (I'm sure they do something - but what?) What does the pilot do? What does the brakeman do, and why? What do the pushers do, besides push to get the sled started? This may seem obvious to people who know the sport, but it's not obvious to the rest of us. 69.200.247.26 (talk) 15:04, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Bobbing
An article about bobsled that doesn't talk about bobbing? --208.76.104.144 (talk) 09:30, 25 February 2010 (UTC)

Record speeds
The statistics on the 1998 Swiss team's speed appear to be inaccurate. I have not found any other source to support it, and they won the silver that year, after all. The Latvians were credited with breaking the four-man bobsled speed record in February 2009 on the Whistler Sliding Center at a World Cup event, traveling 153.02 kmh. []. The USA 1 team is credited with the track record at Whistler after their first run on February 26, 2010, although their top speed was only 153kmh flat []. 12:10 27 February 2010 User:DocstilesDocstiles (talk) 19:15, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

Bank angle?
From the article "The Petersen is renowned for its trademark 180 degree turn and 270 degree bank angle..." A 90 degree bank angle is vertical, a 180 degree bank angle is inverted, and a 270 degree bank angle would be a vertical wall on the inside of the turn. Was the intention 'three-quarter pipe'? Treedel (talk) 15:18, 19 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm confused about this too. a 270 degree bank angle makes no sense.  Are we sure this is correct?  At the very least, it deserves an explanation and reference.  -- RoySmith (talk) 14:33, 7 May 2017 (UTC)

No reason for Plants vs. Zombies reference
I took out the PvZ reference. It serves no purpose, except for publicizing the game. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.82.73.66 (talk) 02:34, 12 June 2012 (UTC)
 * If there were a popular culture section, it would fit right in, but as it is, I have to agree with you. JDZeff (talk) 07:24, 12 February 2022 (UTC)

And the Middle Class?
I am confused about the following line in the introduction: "to protect the working class and rich visitors in the streets and byways of St Moritz, bobsledding was eventually banned from the public highway."

It seems to suggest that the middle class was not considered in this ban, though I can't imagine why this would be the case, or even if this is the intended implication of the sentence. Without knowing anything of the history of this ban, It seems to me that a rephrasing to "to protect residents and visitors in the streets" or even "to protect people in the streets" would be much more reasonable. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.84.35.145 (talk) 03:32, 14 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Agree. That reads strangely to me. "people in the streets" or possibly "pedestrians" woule be better. Robhogg (talk) 00:21, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

bobsled is a sled, bob.
no doubt this has been adjudicated before, but I'm just asking: Google says "bobsleigh" has 800 thousand references and "bobsled" has 2.6 million. So why is this article bobsleigh? dictionary.com has "bobsleigh" as "chiefly British" and cites "Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 146., January 21, 1914", while it has "bobsled" as "1830-40, Americanism; bob + sled". What's the OED say?

96.246.68.27 (talk) 23:10, 14 November 2015 (UTC)

"Happy pedestrian peril"?
Under the heading "History", it states "Long term, after a couple of more years of happy pedestrian peril, Badrutt built a special track for their activities..." This is a most unsatisfying sentence. First, "Long term" is an irregular way to begin a sentence in a dictionary, and in any event, the term is always hyphenated. And second, what is "happy pedestrian peril" if not an oxymoron? "Peril" is never "happy". I'd appreciate it if someone would rewrite the sentence to be both accurate and sensible. Thank you. Bricology (talk) 17:08, 24 December 2017 (UTC)

Add athlonym [άθλος, sport + όνομα, name] section on the main chart, the athlonym is the equivalent of demonym for sports
athlonyms: bobsledder, bobsleigher, bob

Add athlonyms to all sports, how are we supposed to know if you don't teach us?
athlonyms: bobsledder, bobsleigher, bob athlete: the name of the athlete

That's because athletes are not athlonyms or sports themselves.

"Bobsleigh(sport)" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bobsleigh(sport)&redirect=no Bobsleigh(sport)] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Steel1943 (talk) 21:27, 15 November 2023 (UTC)