my most maniacal article yet

jawnn

There was a test done by one of the cycling magazines about 10 to 12 years ago. They rigged a number of bikes with load cells on the pedals to read pressure pulling and pushing. The riders were a mix of everything from average Joes to Cat. 5,4,3,2,and,1 racers, Iron-Man triatheletes and pro-tour racers. Even though most of the riders felt like they pulled up a considerable amount the test showed that only a few of the very elite riders pulled up enough to make a measurable difference.

http://funnyfarmart.com/Qring.htm

Slugster438

So, where is this article then?
~

Aeliel

I remember it. And I'm sure it's true. Just like most things people buy to go faster the parts don't make the differance.

I'd like to see a test among a group of similar riders comparing the differance in times between an average $500-600 road bike and a 2-3k model. I would bet the differance would be patheticly small (virtually non existant) for most riders.

But since magazines and websites (along with egos) are built around selling expensive bikes and bike parts most of us don't need, I don't see it happening anytime soon.

I've said many times that the differance between my $900 bent and the $2500 model my friend rides is about 4.5 pounds. For that much money I'll lose the 4 pounds and pocket the differance.

blazingpedals

When you use the wrong words, people make assumptions about your education and your intelligence. In that same vein, when someone doesn't know the difference between "there," "their," and "they're," I tend to question their ability to write whatever it is they tried to write. Rant off.

WKB

Sorry, but I have no idea what you are talking about. It seems like a great article, but I don't have the background to follow the argument. A few basic questions:
--What are power saver pedal pendulums? How do they work?
What are BMX pedals? What makes them so great on recumbent bicycles? Do they replace the power saver pedal pendulums? What is the "dead zone?"
What are Q rings? Do they attach to the Power Saver pedal pendulums or replace them? What is biopace? Is that a brand of Q rings? What are rotar cranks? What makes them so useless to some riders?

There seems to be some great information in here, but I'm just not following it.
Best, WKB.

Aeliel

I dont know much about Q Rings but Biopace was an ovalized chain ring that was supposed to give you a longer power stroke and a shorter stroke thru the top, and bottom, of your pedal stroke. There was some controversy that they were harder on your knees so they went out of production in the mid 90's.

BMX pedals are simply standard pedals similar to what come on most department store bikes... No clips of any sort.

I assume Q Rings are similar to Biopace. And I have nothing to add about Rotor cranks.

mikesbytes

The article doesn't have any link back to the actual test.

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jawnn

excuse my illiterate typos...humbug. would you like to point them out to me so I can correct them? send an email...

neilcooper

I didn't see it either,

blazingpedals

I don't know what power saver pedal pendulums are, but I'll take a SWAG (scientific, wild-@zzed guess) that they're some device to either lengthen or shorten the pedal stroke at the top and bottom.

The 'dead zone' is when one pedal is at the top of the pedal stroke (closest to your hips) and the other is at the bottom. At that point, you can't push on either pedal to produce power, you must either use momentum to carry you past the point or 'slide' your feet. Good spinners will speak of that part of the pedal stroke being like scraping mud off your shoes. You can't produce much power there, but you can at least try to smooth the circle a bit so you bounce less at higher RPMs.

Q-Rings are oval rings, but with much more adjustability than other brands. This has applications to bents especially, because the relation between the bottom of a bent rider's power stroke and the chain are different than on uprights, so other brands don't work as well for bents.

Biopace was Shimano's version of ovalized chainrings. They were actually more egg-shaped, and were optimized for low rpm. Not produced anymore, but still available if you know where to look (or so I'm told.)

Rotor Cranks - These cranks are cammed so that the pedal coming up goes faster than the pedal going down, resulting in the top pedal being *past* the top when the bottom pedal reaches the bottom. Then the situation reverses, and the pedal that just got to the bottom goes up to the top faster, etc. As a result, there is never a situation where both pedals are at the dead spot.

Edit: The reviews I've read either state or imply strongly that if you're already a good spinner, you won't see much improvement with Rotors. In that case, their disadvantages (heavy and expensive) outweight the advantages, which are supposedly reduced knee strain (which spinning alleviates.)