41–49 of 49 posts
I'm sure this is a neat system, but it's worth noting that bicycles are already very efficient, the difference between their claimed efficiency and a properly set up traditional drivetrain is maybe one or two percent. And any weight savings are probably useless due to the minimum weight required for racing. Pro bikes are basically at the point where they're having to add weight just to pass inspection. This system mi…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't be surprised if most of that difference in feel could be explained by frame rigidity rather than weight. I love my steel frame but I know it's not super efficient.
IMO it’s probably that wheels are a lot lighter now. Rotational mass is a killer.
As far as I'm aware chain was introduced to allow for light weight while keeping vibration resistance. Can't this pulley system be trimmed down even further to one bar transmission?
This company is really famous for selling really expensive "upgrades" that do very little for actual speed. The resistance of the chain & pulleys is a very tiny percentage of the whole unless they're gunked up and not maintained/lubricated or are broken. Pretty much all mechanical resistance on a bike is dwarfed by aerodynamic resistance. When the aerodynamic resistance is broken down the contribution of the bike is…
chains are a pain. But belt drives have been around for 10 years now and you hardly see them. Chains are the most complex part of the bike with the most moving parts. You have to lubricate them, they stretch.. But they work well in all variety of conditions (even rusty and squeaky) and are fairly cheap. Sheldon Brown's (RIP) bike pages have some good articles on the good old chain. old school html ahead: https://www.…
Belt drives are comparatively expensive and don’t work with derailleur gears. Internal gears, especially cheap systems, still cannot offer as many gears as a derailleur. Belts also need to be pretty tight and thus cannot be used on most bicycles with a rear suspension as the distance between the pedals and the sprocket changes under load. So many people opt against belts.
BMW uses them on some of the F models, Buell’s where all belt drive and I think all Harley’s use a belt transmission.
This company is really famous for selling really expensive "upgrades" that do very little for actual speed. The resistance of the chain & pulleys is a very tiny percentage of the whole unless they're gunked up and not maintained/lubricated or are broken. Pretty much all mechanical resistance on a bike is dwarfed by aerodynamic resistance. When the aerodynamic resistance is broken down the contribution of the bike is…
I think the fastest bikes in a straight line are recumbent bikes because of the small frontal area. Nobody talks about it much (probably because nerdy middle age men are the only demographic with enough devil-may-care attitude to ride one in public)
This company is really famous for selling really expensive "upgrades" that do very little for actual speed. The resistance of the chain & pulleys is a very tiny percentage of the whole unless they're gunked up and not maintained/lubricated or are broken. Pretty much all mechanical resistance on a bike is dwarfed by aerodynamic resistance. When the aerodynamic resistance is broken down the contribution of the bike is…
I think the fastest bikes in a straight line are recumbent bikes because of the small frontal area. Nobody talks about it much (probably because nerdy middle age men are the only demographic with enough devil-may-care attitude to ride one in public)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the fastest bikes in a straight line are recumbent bikes because of the small frontal area. Nobody talks about it much (probably because nerdy middle age men are the only demographic with enough devil-may-care attitude to ride one in public)
Also they're banned in most racing events and horrendously expensive.
I'm reminded of the look of sport motorcycles. The design has been heavily influenced by an almost unknown source - a racing rule from many years ago that said the fairing should not extend forward of the front axle.
chains are a pain. But belt drives have been around for 10 years now and you hardly see them. Chains are the most complex part of the bike with the most moving parts. You have to lubricate them, they stretch.. But they work well in all variety of conditions (even rusty and squeaky) and are fairly cheap. Sheldon Brown's (RIP) bike pages have some good articles on the good old chain. old school html ahead: https://www.…
> Sheldon Brown's (RIP) bike pages[...] Off-topic, but how sad to see the state of that website today. I read Sheldon's website religiously before he died, but hadn't seen it in over 10 years. This[1] is how it looked like when he was alive. Now it's stuffed full of ads, and the first thing you see is a pop-up cookie warning about "our social media, advertising and analytics partners". 1. http://web.archive.org/web/2…
There are some clasics on the archive. Browser tips: http://web.archive.org/web/20071227104629/http://sheldonbrow...
how to make a website: http://web.archive.org/web/20071227104613/http://sheldonbrow...
Sheldon Brown's wife was my CS prof at northeastern[2] and someone named John Allen[1] seems to be keeping the site up to date. Oddly John's bike blog page is pretty good and ad free. Lots of words on the old web.