rotorcranks ...

thoughts?

http://www.rotorcranks.com/i1-q-rings.shtml

I think a good test is, if they were any good, pro’s would be using them.

no.

i believe they may be pointless on a fixed gear anyway, for most of the benefits they mention seem to be based around the idea of a dead zone at the top of the pedal stroke, where you have to push harder. fixed gear cranks just keep on going round and round, it all comes down to how smooth your rotations are

that’s what i was thinking. i figured if they were that revolutionary people would be jocking them.

i wouldnt discount them outright… though i see them as a band-aid type solution to a problem of bad technique. a far better investment from my point of view would be length adjustable powercranks. put em on whatever bike you like and improve your pedaling before selling them to ANYONE cos they can be adjusted from stoopid short to stoopid long. i reckon you’d lose less than $100 in the whole process.

yes, rotor cranks do get rid of the dead spot, and fixed pushes you through it, and thats why i reckon riding fixed on a big gear offers little to no technique benefit. i find that i pedal freewheeled bikes a lot rougher than usual after long stints of exclusively fixed riding. riding fixed on a small gear that spins you stupid offers benefits for conditioning your nervous system to activateco-ordinate muscle groups faster (so long as you power through the stroke). i think a lot of people cruise fixed on a 75 inch gear and “let” their legs roll around when going downhill and think theyre improving their technique. i dont buy it at all.

Good point JP.

False. Shimano don’t make them.

Shimano - been there, done that (ovalised chainrings- or some fancier name?)

Spot on. One of the main reasons I started riding fixed was the belief that it would improve my technique for longer road rides. After getting back on the roadie after over a month over exclusively fixed, I discovered that there were dead spots in my stroke, especially when climbing in the saddle. It didn’t take too long to correct it again but it really was a wake up call. That said, I found that my overall strength, speed and hill climbing ability had significantly increased as a result of riding fixed.