A Cycling & bikes forum. CycleBanter.com

Go Back   Home » CycleBanter.com forum » Regional Cycling » UK
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Efficiency of Road v MTB _On the Road_



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old November 15th 17, 05:45 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Bret Cahill
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 875
Default Efficiency of Road v MTB _On the Road_

Guessing wildly I'd say a road bike is almost 2X more efficient, i.e., 60 on a fully sprung mountain bike burns as many calories as 100 on a road bike.

Any real studies on this?


Bret Cahill



Ads
  #2  
Old November 15th 17, 10:40 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
TMS320
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,875
Default Efficiency of Road v MTB _On the Road_

On 15/11/17 04:45, Bret Cahill wrote:
Guessing wildly I'd say a road bike is almost 2X more efficient,
i.e., 60 on a fully sprung mountain bike burns as many calories as
100 on a road bike.

Any real studies on this?


Only anecdotal. I had a bike where I swapped wheels for road and off
road. My reckoning was that when running the off road tyres on
"pavement", the extra effort required me to go two sprockets lower than
with touring tyres. So roughly speaking, the speed difference was 16/20
for the same effort.

The gain in using a road bike was not enough to notice except up hill
where the steeper angles seemed to put me in a better position over the
pedals. But it gave me less confidence to go as fast downhill.
  #3  
Old November 15th 17, 10:47 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Peter Keller[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 8,736
Default Efficiency of Road v MTB _On the Road_

On 15.11.2017 17:45, Bret Cahill wrote:
Guessing wildly I'd say a road bike is almost 2X more efficient, i.e., 60 on a fully sprung mountain bike burns as many calories as 100 on a road bike.

Any real studies on this?


Bret Cahill



A quick google produced:
https://physics.stackexchange.com/qu...-mountain-bike

(one person's calculations involving a road bike and some suppositions
about mountain bikes)

https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/q...ad-bike-speeds

Neither of these seem to be "real" studies, but the consensus seems to
be that mountain bikes require about 15% more power from the rider than
road bikes.

Maybe if I had the time a slow google may find more appropriate results.
  #4  
Old November 16th 17, 05:48 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Bret Cahill
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 875
Default Efficiency of Road v MTB _On the Road_

Guessing wildly I'd say a road bike is almost 2X more efficient, i.e., 60 on a fully sprung mountain bike burns as many calories as 100 on a road bike.

Any real studies on this?


Bret Cahill



A quick google produced:
https://physics.stackexchange.com/qu...-mountain-bike

(one person's calculations involving a road bike and some suppositions
about mountain bikes)

https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/q...ad-bike-speeds

Neither of these seem to be "real" studies, but the consensus seems to
be that mountain bikes require about 15% more power from the rider than
road bikes.


It would be higher than 15% even if you weren't dragging a brake w/ under inflated tires on fluffy sand.

I know this from the additional meal I need to eat the day after riding the MTB. I'll try another MTB. If no improvement then I'll start photographing the machines with IR in the dark after a ride.

The waste heat is going somewhere.


Bret Cahill



  #5  
Old November 19th 17, 12:47 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
RJH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 104
Default Efficiency of Road v MTB _On the Road_

On 15/11/2017 09:47, Peter Keller wrote:
On 15.11.2017 17:45, Bret Cahill wrote:
Guessing wildly I'd say a road bike is almost 2X more efficient, i.e., 60 on a fully sprung mountain bike burns as many calories as 100 on a road bike.

Any real studies on this?


Bret Cahill



A quick google produced:
https://physics.stackexchange.com/qu...-mountain-bike

(one person's calculations involving a road bike and some suppositions
about mountain bikes)

https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/q...ad-bike-speeds

Neither of these seem to be "real" studies, but the consensus seems to
be that mountain bikes require about 15% more power from the rider than
road bikes.


Anecdotally, I'd say that's a bit low, using low-mid range bikes as
examples.

I recently bought a s/h Specialised Cirrus 'hybrid sports' bike after
using a mountain bike (mainly Specialised Rockhopper) for about 10 years
on my 2 mile hilly commute. Seems like a lot less effort for the same
speed - maybe 25%.

--
Cheers, Rob
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Shimano & Campagnolo Road Brake efficiency BobT[_3_] Techniques 2 November 22nd 09 05:58 AM
Shimano & Campagnolo Road Brake efficiency Chalo Techniques 0 November 19th 09 11:48 PM
Shimano & Campagnolo Road Brake efficiency Norman Techniques 1 November 19th 09 10:15 PM
Bumps and efficiency SYJ Techniques 16 July 3rd 06 10:21 PM
Improving efficiency Ray Heindl Techniques 10 January 25th 05 03:04 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:23 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 CycleBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.