Originally Posted by
cooker
You have some assumptions in there that might be unsupported. You can't assume that spreading the work among different muscles groups improves efficiency, because those muscles may differ in their mechanical and chemical efficiency . So you might end up underusing your most efficient muscles, and overusing some inefficient ones. You also can't assume that steady power output is more efficient than pulsatile output concentrated on the downstroke. In fact pro cyclists exert much more effort on the downstroke than the upstroke and it seems to work for them.
My assumptions are not unsupported. I say that in confidence, not in aggression. I may be newer to bikes, but I am incredibly well based in thermodynamics.
One muscle's proficiency dosen't have anything to do with the others. Joule for joule, the power comes from direction, not timing. If you can spread say 40 watts over two strokes, even if it's 30-10, then you can optimize (minimize) the wear on said strokes.
Yeah, everyone has a better push down than anything else (thus the elliptical cranksets), but that's no reason not to use everything else too. if you push down with 40 watts but you can also pull with 15, why not take the 55? (totally making these number up, as I'm sure you noticed) it's [almost] the same energy transfer, but more power.