focomat 1c
Retro Guru
You may remember that during the 2012 Olympics there were allegations that the British cycling team had ' rounder ' wheels
than anyone else , giving an unfair advantage !
Some new information has recently come to light that may shed some light in this general area
A number of years ago a cycling team were carrying out routine training runs ( whether on the road or track is not known ), when during subsequent performance analysis a number of strange anomalies were discovered. Further investigation revealed that although the
riders power output had been within expected values , the resulting bike speed was higher than predicted. It was clear that a closer
examination was required
Having already eliminated the rider from the performance increase , work was concentrated on a close inspection of the mechanical
side of the equation
After several days work stripping and closely examining/measuring every component , an entirely unexpected ' solution ' was found !
When the rear wheel was placed in the wheel truing jig , it became clear that although the wheel was true , the spokes had not been brought up to full tension . The wheel was laced 3 cross on the drive side and radial ( weight saving marginal gain ) on the other .
When driving torque was applied to the hub the wheel was free to twist ever so slightly ( known in the trade as ' wind up ' ) . The previously radial spokes were now able to help drive the rim around ! This added to half the spokes pulling on the normal drive side , gave the unexpected performance gain
Apparently the bike had been assembled by a mechanic new to the team , and he had inadvertently selected the wrong wheel ( it is
amazing the number of discoveries that have been made by pure accident )
Further analysis of this accidental performance gain revealed the potential of a new system of wheel building . Normal wheels are
under this new system considered to be ' power neutral ' ie the number of trailing spokes equal the number of leading spokes .
A ' power positive ' wheel has more trailing/pulling spokes than leading spokes . A typical wheel could have 24 trailing/pulling
spokes and 12 leading/braking spokes .
In order to hide this whole concept from rival teams scrutiny , it became obvious that the new system could only be used when concealed
under a ' disc ' wheel ..................... the rest is history
Should you wish to pursue the science behind this then I would recommend you Google ' Sheldon Browns POWERwheels ' , he was a
man ahead of his time , and invented the so called ' POWER wheel ' many years ago . As such many considered his work to be a practical joke . However in the light of the above we now have the opportunity to re-evaluate his contribution to cycling science
than anyone else , giving an unfair advantage !
Some new information has recently come to light that may shed some light in this general area
A number of years ago a cycling team were carrying out routine training runs ( whether on the road or track is not known ), when during subsequent performance analysis a number of strange anomalies were discovered. Further investigation revealed that although the
riders power output had been within expected values , the resulting bike speed was higher than predicted. It was clear that a closer
examination was required
Having already eliminated the rider from the performance increase , work was concentrated on a close inspection of the mechanical
side of the equation
After several days work stripping and closely examining/measuring every component , an entirely unexpected ' solution ' was found !
When the rear wheel was placed in the wheel truing jig , it became clear that although the wheel was true , the spokes had not been brought up to full tension . The wheel was laced 3 cross on the drive side and radial ( weight saving marginal gain ) on the other .
When driving torque was applied to the hub the wheel was free to twist ever so slightly ( known in the trade as ' wind up ' ) . The previously radial spokes were now able to help drive the rim around ! This added to half the spokes pulling on the normal drive side , gave the unexpected performance gain
Apparently the bike had been assembled by a mechanic new to the team , and he had inadvertently selected the wrong wheel ( it is
amazing the number of discoveries that have been made by pure accident )
Further analysis of this accidental performance gain revealed the potential of a new system of wheel building . Normal wheels are
under this new system considered to be ' power neutral ' ie the number of trailing spokes equal the number of leading spokes .
A ' power positive ' wheel has more trailing/pulling spokes than leading spokes . A typical wheel could have 24 trailing/pulling
spokes and 12 leading/braking spokes .
In order to hide this whole concept from rival teams scrutiny , it became obvious that the new system could only be used when concealed
under a ' disc ' wheel ..................... the rest is history
Should you wish to pursue the science behind this then I would recommend you Google ' Sheldon Browns POWERwheels ' , he was a
man ahead of his time , and invented the so called ' POWER wheel ' many years ago . As such many considered his work to be a practical joke . However in the light of the above we now have the opportunity to re-evaluate his contribution to cycling science
