Anyone know how weight affects the power:weight ratio?

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OP
OP
Panter

Panter

Just call me Chris...
Thanks Garz, thats what I'm doing TBH, it was purely a hypothetical question.
Anyway, I'm going to assume that I was right and if I was 10% lighter, I'd be 10% faster :rolleyes:

I've done my 32mile commute today and I'm back out again at 20:00 to do another 15 or so in the woods on the MTB :wacko:

Thanks for the encouragement :rolleyes:
 

Garz

Squat Member
Location
Down
Nice one mate, keep the momentum going! :biggrin:
 

I am Spartacus

Über Member
Location
N Staffs
If you continue to 'train' i.e. ride the bike and for example drop the body fat % from 20 to 10 (hypothetical) you relative 'speed' gains will be greatest in the 25 miles or so region.
You will still be quicker over a 100 miles, but not that much quicker.
 

jimboalee

New Member
Location
Solihull
Garz said:
It is clear. Same power but less mass to move should mean that over the ten mile distance some time will get shaved off.

Now put this thread under the carpet or behind the door before jimbo sees it! ;)

Aha... Seen it :laugh:

Weigh your vehicle in kg ( that's the whole package. You, your bike , everything you are heaving up the hill ).
Measure the vertical distance in m.

Convert the kg to N by multiplying by g ( 9.81 ).

Joules is m x N. That's the energy you will be needing.

Watts = J/s.

Transform this equation to get s if W = 400.


Now it really does get complicated when we consider the forward motion AND the vertical climb.
You have to do several itterations to get the two to figures which add up.


Try the CTC's 'Powercalc.xls' sheet.
 

weevil

Active Member
Location
Cambridgehsire
Panter

To answer your simple question simply, yes. Well, more or less.

If you're ignoring friction, air resistance and all other losses, then the only factors to consider are mass (m), gravity (g), height of hill (h) and time (t), which are related to power (P) thus:

P = mgh/t

Transposing gives

t = mgh/P

Since the height of the hill and gravity are both constant*, and assuming no change in power, then time is proportional to mass. Drop the mass by 10% and you'll drop the time by 10%. As jimbo pointed out, it's the total "vehicle" mass which matters, not just your mass.

So, is this simplistic view valid, i.e. do the losses we ingored really matter? Well, I'm afraid they do. If they didn't, then, when riding on the flat, it would take no effort to achieve any speed wished. Which is absurd.

On a well maintained bike, most of your energy is spent battling air resistance. Calculating this is rather trickier, especially as it depends upon your drag coefficient, which is hard to gauge without a wind tunnel!

Luckily, you can make a rough approxiation without this info. Assuming that you're wearing the same gear and on the same bike, then all you need to know is that air resistance is proportional to the square of the your speed.

That means that your 10% mass saving will only be worth about 5% in terms of speed. In fact, unless you start losing ridiculous amounts of weight, the %-age reduction in speed will be about half the %-age reduction in mass.

And disregard all of the above unless the wind is constant across all your rides. :thumbsup:

All very approximate, but at least it's a direct answer to the question you actually asked. ;)


Cheers
weevil

* For the pedants, yes, I know gravity varies minutely around the world, but the hill in question is undoubtedly static.
 
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