As Martin says it was a Shimano invention. I had some on a cheapish 80's-90's DiamondBack MTB that came to me needing tyres and cables, I booted around town on it for a few months without incident, a mate had it for a while and now my Dad has it and hopes to toodle around. I think the roady equivalent is more radical in its profile, so you really notice it.
Official Tour De France 2018 Thread
- Thread starter andrew d
- Start date
I love the fact that the live coverage is effectively a 3 week travelogue. It always works with us as we start planning our next trip to France, even if we are there at the time (as we were this year).
Boulting and Miller are a notch above ....who were they? I could have done without some of the 'from the studio sessions' with people barely able to even use 'like' as every other word. Boardmanwas exeptional and Imlach very self-effacing.
It is just a shame it has to end.
Boulting and Miller are a notch above ....who were they? I could have done without some of the 'from the studio sessions' with people barely able to even use 'like' as every other word. Boardmanwas exeptional and Imlach very self-effacing.
It is just a shame it has to end.
Dozey
Air guitar member
They are supposed to be easier on the knees. The theory is that during the power stroke, when the cranks are more or less horizontal, you are using the power of your legs to accelerate your feet, which get going quite fast in the lower gear provided for that part of the stroke. The momentum of your feet then carries the pedals through the "dead spot" when the cranks are near vertical. Since the rider doesn't push as hard during the power phase of the stroke, and motion is slower when the leg is changing direction, the Biopace design is gentler on the knees than even round chainwheels
Stunsworth
pfm Member
I know what you mean. I thought the Ardeche look spectacular - I've only been a couple of times, and it's on the list for next year.
Speaking of the Ardeche, does anyone remember the Channel 4 series "A Place In France" where Nigel Farrell tried to set up a Chambre d'Hote there with Nippi, then an Indian restaurant? Both ventures failed in spectacular fashion, and sadly Nigel died in 2011.
gavreid
Pretty Words...
People associated them with knee injury and they dropped out a fashion quite quickly. People were thought to adjust their pedalling style to pedal in their familiar way! If you think about it, the leg still needs to turn full cirle so there is no mechanical advantage unless you pedal harder on average, a bit like going up to a bigger front chain wheel.
I didn't know about the injury incidence. I thought that the advantage was that in the bits of the stroke where you have less power the gearing was lowered, so it was easier to maintain a cadence and so ensure that the work done and hence power was maximised.
sean99
pfm Member
Short peaks are impressive in a different way - what blows my mind is the ability to hold 500 watts for 20+ minutes. If you scroll down on this link to my local informal time trial there's a power meter reading from when a local semi-pro showed up some years back - he's pushing 450 watts for about 16 minutes - and this guy wasn't good enough to make it on a pro team.
http://markdionne.com/tt.html
