You are right, there are many potential variables. We are lucky to have two riders who weight the same, have the same height and the same power output: Mark and me. So if we ride next to each other on identical bikes, we ride at exactly the same speed. If the bikes are different, and one is faster, then we switch bikes. If the same bike still is faster, then it's faster. If the other bike now is faster, then one of us is having a bad day.
This technique factors in wind, temperature, fatigue, etc., since it's the same for both bikes and riders. More on the Rando bike vs. Ti study is here: https://janheine.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/laws-of-physics/ Jan Heine Editor Bicycle Quarterly www.bikequarterly.com On Wednesday, June 15, 2016 at 5:19:23 PM UTC-7, Lungimsam wrote: > > Thanks Jan, > > Did you test the Rando vs. Ti bikes by powering the bikes with riders? I > know some of your studies have used small samples with human riders > powering the vehicles. > > Is it possible that a study involving a human rider powering the bike will > be reliable and valid in light of the fact that the state of the engine > changes moment by moment? I am by no means a scientist, so forgive my > ignorance. Sometimes when I read about the studies all these other ideas > pop up in my mind to explain away the findings and I don't know if they > matter. I don't know if the ideas would really have any type of meaningful > effect on the results. > > Also all the other extraneous factors like the fact that the bikes weren't > ridden exactly on the same line, subjected to different air movement > patterns, minor grade changes in the different lines, different > components/frames, etc. > > I think it is really difficult to test bike performance because there are > so many variables. And while one may be explained away as noise in the > data, all the elements, taken as a whole must have a profound effect on the > movement of the bikes. > > Is this true or is it not so difficult to get reliable data in bike tests? > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
