4 ms·
A faired recumbent with an oval and a regen direct drive motor as torque assist
by xcxcx 3y ago
A faired recumbent with an oval and a regen direct drive motor as torque assist
- grogenaut 3y agoHard thing with bikes is they're so light, that regen and battery system will add significant weight and rolling resistance to the bike. It's a saturday so I'm not doing the math to see what the function for tradeoff is :)
- xcxcx 3y agoWell the main problem with recumbents are hills due to higher weight and reduced aero advantage. The motor allows you to trade some rolling resistance for torque assistance
- scott_w 3y agoRolling resistance is a function of tyre and road surface, not weight. On a flat course, weight only affects acceleration (which the motor helps with). Once you’re at a constant speed, weight is a non factor and it’s all wind resistance.
- grogenaut 3y agoI'm an ideal system yes. But I'm fat so if I don't have my tires well or over inflated they're almost flat at most speeds on a road bike where you might be just on the ideal edge. So rolling resistance will be worse for me than I due to energy lost folding and unfolding the tire
- littlestymaar 3y ago> Rolling resistance is a function of tyre and road surface, not weight. Except the contact surface between tires and the road depends on tire pressure and weight (because it affects the shape of the tires on the road). Increasing pressure can compensate for weight, but only up to some point, and increasing pressure also make the tires more rigid, which makes the cyclist spend much more energy to actively (albeit subconsciously) dampen the vibrations coming from the road (while most of this is done passively by the tires when the pressure is at the optimum level).