First I want to clarify something. A lot of people seem to confuse the current crop of eliptical chain rings, which do work, with Shimano Bio-pace, which didn't work. They are completely different, and in fact, work on the exact opposit pricipal.
Leonard Zinn, who is a very smart man and knows a heck of a lot about bikes, is in favor of a rearward cleat position. In fact, he told me that he re-drills his shoes so he can move the cleats even farther back. There is some basis in logic for doing this. When your cranks are at right angles to your seat post, the ball of your foot is farther away from the bottom bracket, just as it would be with longer cranks, giving you more leverage. But there is no increase in leverage at the top and bottom of the stroke. Seems to me the results would be a lot like Bio-pace.
But put Rotor Q-rings into the mix and things change. If you set the Q-rings at the #2 position (or even #1), rather than the
#3 position recommended by Rotor, then a rearward cleat position gives you more leverage just where you need it. That is, you have more leverage when the effective chain ring size is biggest. I wish I could draw you some diagrams, but right now I don't have a good way of doing that. Hope my idea is clear anyway.
By the way, this year's TDF was won on eliptical chain rings (not Rotor).
Sorry if I sound like I'm lecturing, but I've been riding since Eisenhower was president and I have a lot of time to think and just had a few thoughts I needed to get off my chest. Wouldn't be the first time I was wrong, though. The problem with smart people (not that I'm smart) is they don't think they can be wrong. But smart people are wrong quite often.
Randy
Leonard Zinn, who is a very smart man and knows a heck of a lot about bikes, is in favor of a rearward cleat position. In fact, he told me that he re-drills his shoes so he can move the cleats even farther back. There is some basis in logic for doing this. When your cranks are at right angles to your seat post, the ball of your foot is farther away from the bottom bracket, just as it would be with longer cranks, giving you more leverage. But there is no increase in leverage at the top and bottom of the stroke. Seems to me the results would be a lot like Bio-pace.
But put Rotor Q-rings into the mix and things change. If you set the Q-rings at the #2 position (or even #1), rather than the
#3 position recommended by Rotor, then a rearward cleat position gives you more leverage just where you need it. That is, you have more leverage when the effective chain ring size is biggest. I wish I could draw you some diagrams, but right now I don't have a good way of doing that. Hope my idea is clear anyway.
By the way, this year's TDF was won on eliptical chain rings (not Rotor).
Sorry if I sound like I'm lecturing, but I've been riding since Eisenhower was president and I have a lot of time to think and just had a few thoughts I needed to get off my chest. Wouldn't be the first time I was wrong, though. The problem with smart people (not that I'm smart) is they don't think they can be wrong. But smart people are wrong quite often.
Randy