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Old 03-11-19, 12:30 PM
  #34  
Ericoschmitt
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Originally Posted by BlazingPedals
I don't know if there is any study that I could find to post. It was a LOOOONG time ago.

Linear drives have the disadvantage of the rider's legs completely stopping and then reversing direction twice for every power stroke. Lots of wasted energy, big dead spots in the stroke. There have been some schemes to make the pedal cycle more ellipsoid, and they can increase the length of the main power stroke, but only at the expense of magnifying the dead spot at the top and bottom. (There's that stopping and reversing direction thing.)
Could be... Or maybe people in the past missed some outside the box thinking to make the drivetrain work better.
BTW indoor rowing is linear, and they also have power meters indoors. As far as I've checked (quite a long time ago) they managed to put equivalent power figures to cyclists when comparing HR and oxygen consumption. I also remember a guy mentioning he did both sports and his FTP, maxHR, and VO2 were about the same when tested indoors for both sports. Not a scientific comment at all, I wont bother researching that all over again, but if you are curious...
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