Old 08-25-14, 07:10 AM
  #94  
wphamilton
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Originally Posted by xuwol7
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Everyone on the forum is an expert and commutes at 20mph in all conditions.
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As far as pedaling in circles, ...I guess if you think about it, your feet are going to travel in circles anyway because there is no where else for them to go.....
Snipped for brevity. It's probably exaggerated but don't be too sure that some don't commute in all conditions and usually at 20mph.

Regarding the pedaling in circles there have been a few posts and it IS thread drift, but since you mention it, my 2 cents. It's about the power variation in the stroke, shoving down forcefully on the more vertical part with less force before and after. It is more efficient, velocity for given power, to smooth that out however the ultimate difference is very small. You may fatigue faster with "squares" - I don't know, I'm just looking at the equations of motion.

The same can be said for the flywheel effect of heavier wheels, said to smooth out the pedal stroke #myth We'd need quite heavy wheels for it to actually have an impact.
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