Wiggins/Froome - Paid to use Elliptical Chain Rings?

bahzob

It seems some folks on this forum are somewhat cynical and set in their ways.

Someone doing something different from the norm kicks off defensive reactions like
- they are paid to do it
- they only do it to have something they can ascribe the benefits of drugs to
- they are stupid, the science clearly shows it doesn't work even though they perform much better than their competitors (and are in a different universe compared to the cynic)

Ofc people do learn eventually. I have been posting here long enough to remember any suggestion that training with a power meter might be a good idea was treated with derision.

Anyway with this in mind.

One obvious thing about the TDF was that the 2 best riders both used elliptical chain rings. I have an open mind on these, I tried one for a while while at a training camp but it was hard to come to a firm conclusion as to whether it was better than the standard one. I think in order to make up your mind its probably necessary to use one for a fair period of time, which implies a fair amount of faffing about + money.

So I want to ask if anyone here has any useful information they can contribute as to whether elliptical chain rings are worth trying.

However before doing so I'd like to give the cynics a chance.

So question is:

Do Bradley Wiggins/Chris Froome get paid to use their O-Symmetric rings?

Alex_Simmons/RST

Have you done a read through of the research?

For the record, I put them in the same category as crank length. i.e. no significant evidence either way to suggest a performance benefit/detriment.

Ride them if they feel good to you and you like them. A happy athlete is usually more motivated. But don't expect a performance improvement, and make sure you account for the artificial increase in reported power when using them with crank based power meters.

and yes, I have tried them, not that that really matters.

I have no idea if they are paid to use them.

Alex_Simmons/RST

bahzob wrote:

One obvious thing about the TDF was that the 2 best riders both used elliptical chain rings.

That's true, but then there are plenty who have won without using them too (e.g. the TdF winners over the past decade). And no-one ascribes poorer or under-performance to use of certain equipment, typically it's only when someone wins that people shout about it.

bahzob wrote:

I think in order to make up your mind its probably necessary to use one for a fair period of time, which implies a fair amount of faffing about + money.

They are dear that's true. I was loaned a pair and did my measurements with a Powertap to remove the crank based power meter bias. It's very hard though as an individual to do sensible testing on yourself, and be able to control for all the other factors (e.g. training effect, bias) that can muddle the results.


These rings and their cousins are not new. Their use is, well, cyclical.

Girya

Interesting the front page of the website says (http://www.trainsharpcyclecoaching.co.uk/ )

10% more power output for the same efforts!  
10% increased efficiencies and speed
10% less muscle acidity 

Sounds great, then when you click into the Poducts section this becomes " Gain up to 10% more power and speed!"

I haven't tried them, and unless you are at peak performance and looking for every single possible gain......

Alex_Simmons/RST

Girya wrote:

Interesting the front page of the website says (http://www.trainsharpcyclecoaching.co.uk/ )

10% more power output for the same efforts!  
10% increased efficiencies and speed
10% less muscle acidity 

If true (the claims) I would put into the false claims basket and would make me even more suspicious. Like Frank Day's claim of a 40% improvement from using his cranks.

Girya wrote:

Sounds great, then when you click into the Poducts section this becomes " Gain up to 10% more power and speed!"

They need to make their minds up. Is it 10% more power of 10% more speed? These two claims are worlds apart.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Girya wrote:

I haven't tried them, and unless you are at peak performance and looking for every single possible gain......

Well the reality is, this is exactly the sort of thing they are trying to seed in people's mind. "OK, maybe if it's only 2%, it's worth it" when there isn't any substantive evidence one way or the other.