Bruce Dawson;1158480 wrote:
Therefore the steepest hill that can be climbed if you apply just your
weight to the pedals with 6" cranks on a 36" wheel is somewhat less than
a 2/3pi grade or 21%.



I realized today that the physics is a bit more complicated than I made
it sound. The 2/3pi grade calculation assumes that you are applying your
full bodyweight to the forward pedal at all times. You can,
surprisingly, do better than that. If you effectively 'jump' from one
pedal to the other then you can apply several times your body weight to
the pedal when it is horizontal, and not waste any body weight when the
pedal is near vertical. This averages out to being equivalent to always
applying your full weight to a horizontal pedal. This means that the
maximum grade that can be climbed without pulling on the seat, assuming
a zero-weight unicycle and perfect riding skills, is 33%.

I'd love to hook up force meters to the pedals and the handlebars and
see what actually happens when an expert rider climbs a steep hill.


--
Bruce Dawson
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View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/58221


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