Quote:
Originally Posted by dd74
Seriously. IMO it's the same with compact cranks. Whatever happened to the notion of strengthening one's self to get up a hill instead of losing chainwheel teeth and now, the idea to put a tiny motor inside the bottom bracket?
This is why I respect fixie riders, especially when going uphill. It's all about personal strength with them.
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Not anywhere close. I have a fixie, and ride it in the hilly Lehigh Valley. Also, have a compact on one of my bikes. Watts is watts, its just easier on the knees and legs to increase cadence, not necessarily any less "strong". Just shifts a bit of the load from the legs to the cardio system. The compact doesn't make a given hiller any "easier"
at a given speed but can leave you with legs to ride longer. Not cheating by a longshot, unless you're going to standardize bike weight, aero and gearing across the board.
The Gruber assist thing has been debunked at least as far as Cancillera goes
Fabian Cancellara's 'so called' motorized doping debunked | VeloNation Cycling News and Reference
Pretty definitive that it wouldn't fit in the seatube. Interesting article by Chris Boardman, however, on cyclingnews wherein he argues that its more useful in tt's, and mentions KERS technology as well.