Originally Posted by rydabent

This is an interesting thread. Some posters touched on what I question. On a DF if a rider is standing and his or her full weight is on one pedal, some of the numbers quoted seem low. Now if a 200 pound rider is pushing down his weight, plus the force added by pulling up on the handle bars for maybe 90 degrees the torque would seem to me would be around 250 foot pounds. That would be repeated with the other leg, for a total of 180 degrees. Then divide that by 2, because of a full 360 degree circle. Then drop that by the gearing of say 42 by 15 and you would get the torque actually applied to the ground. So to me you would have 125 times .3 would equal 37.5 foot pound of torque. Those are approx numbers for a 200 pound person and would be reduced by less weight and less pulling up on the handle bars. That would seem to me to be the max, but again that would be reduced by mechanical efficiencies. It also occurs that that would be the torque on the cassette. It would again have to be reduced by the relationship of the sprocket to the wheel depending on the size. I believe that is why my Tailwind bent would take off like a scalded rabbit with its 20 inch rear wheel. Comments?