Originally Posted by spambait11
I guess it depends how you define "conserved" because someone else has argued that this is not accurate. He says the bike is a conservative system, but muscles are not. Thus you lose energy every time you pedal; energy does not all of a sudden go back into your leg. The discussion is in terms of frame flex, but it does get to this issue in a roundabout way.
No, but the energy does go toward motion. See the example of the heavy flywheel wheel. The energy is stored in the wheel and goes toward overcoming friction, drag, and rolling resistance. In a normal bicycle wheel, the amount of energy stored is small, but that's the point.
If you have to hit brakes, it will go toward heating the rims.
Speedo