After Interbike in 2016, Pinkbike featured a story of the
world's first brake power meter. The project was the main part of my doctoral research where I aimed to scratch the surface of one simple question with a super complex answer:
what makes one rider faster than the other?The original prototype was clunky, heavy and not very easy to use
(all understatements by every means). It was built with only $3,000 NZD from my postgraduate funding, but was highly accurate and used for several research studies, such as
this one on XC racing.
Yes, braking matters in XC, too. Now that my degree is finished I'm now fully focused on helping riders get faster.
I put together the video using the brake power meter on my local trails, and it really makes the data relatable.
Squiggly lines and funny numbers on graphs are good - and super important to understanding braking performance overall - but with the data laid out over the video, the only special training needed is knowing what it feels like to ride down a hill on a mountain bike!
This summer I will venture into the northern hemisphere summer to help riders understand their braking patterns and find ways to gain seconds. And I couldn't be any more pumped to have this out on the race tracks!
86 Comments
I'm offended that we're in agreement on this one. I dare you to upvote me too.
I actually hadn't thought of adding something to the side, but that's probably worth doing!
I wouldn't want the light to show me when I'm braking so much as when I SHOULD be braking. It would be cool if when the light came on I should be braking. If I'm on the brakes at any other time when the light is not on, it's because I'm over doing it. You'd have to learn to trust the light and only brake when it comes on.
This seems like the next frontier for advancing the sport for all riders and racers. It's an area of riding where to go the fastest there is only one way of braking properly and that's at the very last minute for the exact duration needed to scrub the unwanted speed.
This kind of assistance I would think requires a lot more data on a track to calculate a theoretical maximum speed for a corner given the so many factors including weather, soil conditions, bike setup, and rider strength. Then calculate how much entrance speed needs to be scrubbed to get through the corner. Showing current speed and desired speed for the corner to a rider in a google display with the addition of the light could help greatly.
It's a complicated of a calculation with so many factors at play, but ya never know. Some factors one might think would be important might be negligible in the end too.
The future is an amazing place.
@Shockwiz just pm me and i'll give you an address to send licensing checks to
I think for a product to be marketable it would need to be simple and light. Measuring hydraulic pressure is by no means perfect but would give pretty good data on how much power the rider is actually applying.
Don't get me wrong the posters device does a much better job of measuring how much braking power is being transferred to the ground, I just think it would be much more complex to make into a product that you or I could use, and perhaps more importantly want to purchase.
agree to disagree.. and agree
If you're going slower then you'll possibly need less pressure to stop the wheel spinning than that of a higher rotational speed with more momentum.
But then there are all the other factors such as friction of the surface which really speaking, could very widely vary, just depends on how in depth you want your data to reflect the overall scenario.
We did at work one time a test of how much pressure goes into hydraulic brakes when you grab them hard as we were adapting them to work via air for a hose reel application. Was close to 3000kpa or so on for a full lock, so there are some considerable amounts of force being applied.
Guess you beat me to it and I have to admit: your dissertation also seems much more relevant than synthesis and optoelectronic properties of metastable 2D chalcogenides...
Shockwiz (from a layman’s perspective) achieved this when they made it all about set up and not data driven performance improvement.
Also Arapuke has to be one of the country’s most underrated parks!
MTB will advance eventually with some new tool, and the shockwiz shows that we are ready. But while I definitely love the data, I also like riding with no gizmos. And really I think that balance has been really fun for me over the last 6 years
+10 for Arapuke!
Train more you’ll get faster.
Now the mechanics of this simple machine ( bicycles) and you’ll never get stuck.
Electronics and scientific analysis with nice graphical presentation is very attractive but will wast a dear riding time.
I like technology. But it should be simple and solve painful issues.
Like SRAM AXS - no cables & minimizing the shifting settings frequency. Same gos to DI2 but didn’t save the cabling.
FOX Racing with the live valve, taking the inertia valve a step feather to be ready for the trail coming instead of reacting to the trail.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVJZ3ag8gLU
*In my best Forest accent
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