Re: When is fat too fat?

Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

On 3/24/2025 8:12 AM, zen cycle wrote:

On 3/24/2025 8:01 AM, Roger Merriman wrote:

zen cycle <funkmasterxx@hotmail.com> wrote:

On 3/24/2025 7:43 AM, Roger Merriman wrote:

Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

 
The speed benefits are usually explained by less energy transmitted to
the rider's flesh, where it is lost (and adds discomfort). In this
forum, I remember Jobst rather fiercely defending rolling drum
data, and
saying that those energy losses should not be considered part of
rolling
resistance.
 
That may be a semantic argument. It's clear those losses are real, and
they need to be considered _somewhere_.
 
 

I’d argue that speed shouldn’t be anyone’s sole concern.

 
For some, it is, with justification.
 
https://efprocycling.com/tips-recipes/this-is-how-wider-tyres-and-
rims-can-make-you-faster/
 

 
Even for pro racers comfort ie other factors come into play, ie having a
wider tyres even if largely neutral in rolling resistance, not getting so
fatigued and so on.
 
And that’s road, let alone the Gravel races and so on

 
My feeling is that if it makes them faster, they'll put up with the
discomfort.

I'm sure a racer will try his best to put up with the discomfort. But in
general, discomfort lessens a person's capabilities; and I think that's
especially true of the discomfort that comes from having one's body
vibrated excessively. It's enough of an issue that the U.S. Army has
paid for research on how to reduce that sort of discomfort. From your
link: "I think it’s very important to have a lot of comfort when you
ride 170 kilometers average for 21 days.” (I think a reasonable amount
of comfort is beneficial even on 50 mile rides.)
 
Also, in the efprocyclng link above, this statement seems not detailed
enough to me: "Rolling resistance is mainly caused by the friction
produced when a wheel rolls over the road."
 
That sounds like the classic and (I think) simplistic view, that the
lost energy is absorbed entirely by the tire's rubber and fabric. I
think more of what we call "rolling resistance" is energy transmitted
into the body and then lost within the body.
 

Roadies are normally very easy to spot off road be that MTB or Gravel as
they are so rigid and stiff, and seem to jar and get caught on every root
and what not, I have skills advantage to a lesser of greater extent with
cycling buddies who are roadies, rather than MTBers at heart, so they
describe me as being able to float over stuff.

Clearly some of that is line choice ie not slamming into that rock and so
on, or if one does using one’s weight to carry momentum, some of them
suffer due to lack of inertia and just brute strength, in some of the
winter Somme bog stuff being heavier and stronger has it’s advantages, and
so I don’t end up stalling in the middle of the semi frozen bog!

Roger Merriman