Gawnsoft wrote:
> Is this true? I only ask as originally pneumatic tyres were frowned on as soaking up effort, and
> they're actually more efficient than solid tyres.
Pneumatic tyres make life better by deforming the tyres over small deviations while the frame and
rider stay more static in the vertical. This means less energy gets converted from going forwards to
going up and down. Good roadgoing suspension works on the same principal, and if you ride behind a
bike with good road suspension you can easily see how the frame stays far more still than the
wheels. On a perfectly smooth surface a solid tyre would be better, but roads tend not to be
perfectly smooth. Note how rollerbladers use solid wheels, but stick to the smoothest paths.
But cheap suspension is made with the primary goal of looking like expensive suspension rather than
to soak up small deviations in the road surface. It also tends to be modelled on chunky MTB
suspension which is there to soak up major shocks rather than lots of small ones, and the
combination of these factors means that the frame tends to bounce up and down more rather than less,
which steals the energy you put in through the pedals.
Note how high end MTB forks can often be locked out on the fly for when the rider is climbing. And
also note how much the UK market's low end is dedicated to looking like sports machinery rather than
what actually doing what works best as a utility machine.
Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net
[email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/