Anyone aware of research on scrubbing front wheel?

[doctorSpoc]

Apologies if this is in the wrong place.. couldn’t find a forum that just dealt with research.

If you’ve ever tried just scrubbing your front wheel side to side continuously (no pedalling) you can actually propel your bike easily to ~15km/h. Conventional wisdom is that you should ride as straight as an arrow (shortest distance thing), but I have found (completely anecdotally) that slightly rocking front wheel timed with peddling actually smooths out dead spots, increases power and speed I can hold.

Given that you can demonstrably propel your bike just by this action ALONE it seems to indicate that it should contribute to performance, but wonder, by how much and has anyone ever tried to measure this?

 

[cobbwheels]

Still takes energy to do it (no free lunch there) and whatever you do with your arms, that load has to be supported by your core muscles.

And since the core muscles are already supporting your legs at the hips while you pedal, you could over-work the core muscles or force you to take some load off the legs. So that's a big NO for me especially on a long ride. Definitely don't do it. Trying to smooth out dead spots in ~road~ cycling is also useless. I've been there and been faster since I stopped doing it.

It's very obvious, the legs will always deliver power to the wheels more efficiently than the arms so if you're transferring some of the load from your legs to your arms, you then become less efficient.

 

[doctorSpoc]

I kinda don’t agree with your analysis. It’s not really a matter of efficiency or energy it will take more energy to go faster no matter what (basic law of physics).. it’s a matter of fatigue. And it’s a well known concept that you can produce more power by recruiting more muscles and/or more muscle groups. each muscle has a limit on how much carbohydrates and oxygen can get in an utilize to produce energy.. so if you can get more of those muscles on the job then you can produce more power (work per unit time)

I.e. you will fatigue much faster cycling at 300w with 1 leg vs 2… a presumably fatigue even slower with two legs and two arms.

But was really looking to see if there was any research on the subject.

 

[cobbwheels]

I kinda don’t agree with your analysis. It’s not really a matter of efficiency or energy it will take more energy to go faster no matter what (basic law of physics)..

Efficiency will not matter on rides less than 1 hour.

But on rides more than 4 hours, efficiency will matter quite a lot and is going to be a significant factor on average speeds and ride comfort.

So what point of reference are we talking about, <1 hr rides or > 4 hr rides?

 

[RoadRover]

Hey there! It's great to see new cyclists joining the road riding crew! ‍ When it comes to efficiency, don't sweat it too much on rides less than an hour. Just focus on having a good time and enjoying the fresh air. But if you're planning longer rides, like over 4 hours, then efficiency can make a difference in your average speeds and ride comfort. So, what type of rides are you looking to conquer? Let's chat about it!