Would you recommend Q rings

[BikeMax]

 

Bikemax - No offence' date=' just because you cant understand something doesnt mean it doenst work. 

[/quote']

 

And just because you "think" something does work doesn't mean that it does...

 

I am trying to look at something critically and get past the marketing hype and "placebo" effect that so many seem to be experiencing.

 

It's your money.

 

[FanieFiets]

Easy tiger!

mind power is better than any gadget, imho. So if you THINK it does even if it doesnt it works for me!

 

[BikeMax]

 

Easy tiger!

mind power is better than any gadget' date=' imho. So if you THINK it does even if it doesnt it works for me!

[/quote']

 

Well you just hit the nail on the head 100% - thanks.

 

Ever heard of the "Placebo effect"

 

[Willehond]

.....Let me ask you why are the cams in a car engine offset and not round?....

 

....

 

Uhmmm, otherwise the valves won't move perhaps???  Apples and oranges mate.  Though it looks like you got FanieFiets all excited.  Maybe I should fit a camshaft to my front suspension to cointeract the vertical damping and prevent spontaneous combustion? 

 

Quick question: Why don't Campag and Shimano provide these as standard if they are so bleeding obviously better?

[Marius]

BikeMax, same can be said about the PowerTap's

[Christie]

 Williehond Christie2007-08-03 03:38:17

[_C50_]

 

Hey Ivan,

 

I'm going to the SSI in 2 weeks time for some tests. On the Spinscan and all...

 

I'll test those Q-ring jobbies from a purely unbiast point of view. Since i have to do 4 test - why not 2 of them with and 2 of them without the rings?

 

Do you have a set that fits Campag?   ;-)

 

_C50_2007-08-03 03:41:03

[fandacious]

I'm in the middle of tests @ SSI @ the moment. When I get my Q-rings, I'll have myself retested and see if there is any major improvements...

[Marius]

Sorry BikeMax, I was talking k@k, was just thinkinmg, a PowerTap is like a HRM, they just show you what you are doing and let you train in zones. The Q-Rings actually offers you somehting more, power, if it can be proven..

[FanieFiets]

ag willehond - ek is altyd opgewonde! Jy moet my sien as ek 'n paar brandies gedrink het!

Gee vir die manne wat SSISA toe gaan dan kan ons mos sien.

 

[Neutron]

I fitted a set just before the Delvira 9-5 Relay. I immediately felt a noticeable difference in low end power.I felt I was able to power out of corners & over rocks much easier than without them. At speed I felt no difference whatsoever. I'll stick with them!

 

[FanieFiets]

demmit, wat is jou avatar se cadence?

[Willehond]

Surely you can't produce more power, only apply it more efficiently?  So if you fit a powermeter that displays pedalling efficiency and you compare ooutputs it should improve for the Q rings IF they are better?  I can't for the life of me figure out how you can get more power if you use the same two legs.

 

It might FEEL like you are getting more power because you apply it better due to an imprved pedalling efficiency, but you can't produce more power. Give us the stats

[bruce]

Ivanb I have been reading the last 9 pages with some interest.  The only way that Q-rings could have a positive effect on power output is if they reduce the power losses in the drive train in some way.  The important principle that nobody has referred to is the law of conservation of energy.  (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy

).  It is not possible that the Q-Rings are providing more energy into the system, to enable more work to be performed and hence more power to be produced.  So, the only possible explanation could be that they somehow change the efficiency of the drivetrain. 

By drive train I mean all the mechanical points from where the body makes contact with the bike, to where the wheel makes contact with the road.

Any user of a power meter knows that power = cadence x torque.  So, by altering torque through the pedal cycle (by effectively changing the gearing in the dead spots), the Q-Rings would also be altering the angular velocity (or cadence) through the cycle.

 

How this could possible change the efficiency of the drivetrain in my mind would violate the law of conservation of energy.

 

I ride a Computrainer - and do a timetrial once a week on it.  I would be happy to give the Q-Rings a go and try to understand what their effect is.  My disclaimer would be that I am sure that they will have no effect - but maybe the numbers would tell us otherwise, and we would need to understand why Q-Rings change the efficiency of the human/bicycle interface.

[fandacious]

Surely you can't produce more power' date=' only apply it more efficiently?  So if you fit a powermeter that displays pedalling efficiency and you compare ooutputs it should improve for the Q rings IF they are better?  I can't for the life of me figure out how you can get more power if you use the same two legs.

 

It might FEEL like you are getting more power because you apply it better due to an imprved pedalling efficiency, but you can't produce more power. Give us the stats

[/quote']

 

I think if you average it out over a full pedal revolution your power output will be higher. On normal round chainrings you would for example push 400 watts at one positiono and 350 at another position, averaging out 375watts for the full revolution. All these power meters are taking readings once every second or so. As far as i know, none of them are reading every 1/100th of a second (unless your power meter has a few hundred Megabytes to store all the data).

 

With a q-ring its more likely that you will still only push a max of 400, but for longer so your avg power throughout a full revolution will most likely be higher.

 

Or am i talking sh*t?

[FanieFiets]

bruce - Is it possible if you pedal more efficiently, using more muscles that new energy gets introduced into the system that way? More into the system, all else stay the same more speed out of the system?