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Old 07-02-06 | 01:39 AM
  #7419  
531Aussie
Aluminium Crusader :-)
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Joined: Apr 2004
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From: Melbourne, Australia
Originally Posted by mrkott3r
They quickly showed Julich's elliptical chain rings, whats the go with them? I did remember reading that they are pretty much bull ****.
he's a short article: http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?...ures/non-round

.....which includes Shimano's view:

"Shimano even goes so far as to say that its own in-house research suggests that round rings actually perform better, particularly in race situations and if the rider already has a good pedal stroke. According to Shimano's Jasen Thorpe, "The current set of non-round rings adversely affect cadence since your legs are moving at a non-constant speed. Since the motion is not constant, there is more energy required to repeatedly re-accelerate a rider's feet. The differences are subtle, but subtle is everything at this level." Interestingly, these comments would also apply to Shimano's own Biopace non-round chainring offerings which the company quietly dropped in the early 90s after failing to win widespread acceptance among riders.
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