jordanaustino

@kevinturner12: Squat is driven by the chain the torque of the chain pulling the wheel either compresses to extends the suspension based on the kinematics of a given bike (anti squat). In theory it can do neither but that's not particularly realistic. (This is what 100% anti-squat is, but there are also oscillating forces involved that might be the "vertical" force you talk about and it doesn't matter that much). If the frame drive force doesn't compress or extend the frame, that force can instead drive the wheel forward. As for the return of energy to the system with hard tails: https://www.renehersecycles.com/the-biomechanics-of-planing/ is fairly well written albeit by a guy who is a bit nutty. https://cyclingtips.com/2017/06/cyclingtips-podcast-does-frame-stiffness-matter/ contains an interview with a long time bicycle engineer who tried in vain to prove that frame flex affected drivetrain efficiency (can affect other things though!). Remember we aren't generating vertical and horizontal forces into our bicycles, we are generating torque. Deflection is just storing that up and then pushing it back at us.

@kevinturner12: In theory if you "locked" the suspension you could still lose energy through frame flex in the pivots and such. Locked suspensions also aren't fully locked. With a true hardtail? No there are still system losses through the frame and drivetrain of course. Power lost to flex can also be returned to the system, like a spring. Socks are very purposefully bad springs that absorb energy though.

@mechaNICK: No it is not. If it were repeatable the calibration would solve for it. They have taken steps to minimize it though of course.

Keep in mind the error bars here. Kickr is +/- 1%, SRM pedals are +/-1.5%. Theoretically up to 2.5% could be just the margin of error from the devices. Now granted that's more likely between devices, and did a good job with setup to ensure less issues. Two other things: Shocks can absorb energy, would like to see them fully locked out or replaced with wood blocks. Additionally the forbidden has a chain guide, the privateer doesn't appear to. I imagine that and not the idler itself is responsible for the loss. Granted guide seems likely to be more needed with an idler since there is less chain wrap on the chainring, but the shore and ptrain get away without it. I suspect this is largely down to design priorities for the bikes. I suspect the forbidden sans guide would fair much better.

There are two areas power meters are really useful: A) Learning how to pace. As you note pro athletes have learned this skill, but the process of learning it can be difficult the power meter helps. Knowing your limits numerically, what it feels like at the start of the race and how hard to you need to not go to blow up etc. B) Tracking long term fitness and trends. It's a lot easier to spot when you aren't getting better when the power goes down. Can catch overreaching before it becomes a bigger problem. It also makes it easier to analyze as a coach and figure out "hey this person numerically really responds well to this".

@bishopsmike: It's a lot cheaper to ship when you are amazon and you negotiate contracts with shipping companies and do a lot of last mile work yourself. What are you going to do as a shipping company, tell amazon to f off? Realistically we probably all pay more in shipping to subsidize the price that amazon pays for it.

@lenniDK: As someone who wears lycra pretty often on the bike.... it is kinda boring. But fitness still helps.

@jaame: shake my head

Cannondale is making cool stuff lately. They have nice new road bikes after a decade of stagnation, their redesigned mountain bikes have performed well in Pinkbikes field tests as well. I seem to recall the Scalpel being the fastest XC race bike in their test.

As a former bike mechanic, for a long time I viewed it as a way I saved money. Now, I still do most work myself but sometimes I just say fuck it and pay someone and then go back over the important stuff. I don't have the time to fuck around with fishing cables and housing, but you bet I'm rebleeding (or at least checking it out) the brakes as soon as they are done. Trust but verify.