Mechanical doping

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Is there anything in this mechanical doping. I found it hard to believe in the beginning but I've raised a few eyebrows since they started testing the bikes. They'll be ducking the riders to see if they float or sink soon.
 
OP
OP
themosquitoking
Location
Spain
Is there anything in this mechanical doping. I found it hard to believe in the beginning but I've raised a few eyebrows since they started testing the bikes. They'll be ducking the riders to see if they float or sink soon.
I'd like to try a bike that had been doping.
 

Hont

Guru
Location
Bromsgrove
I can't imagine a motor could produce enough advantage at all really.
When this first became mooted (after Cancellara's dominant Flanders win) an ex-rider tested a unit that was capable of producing 50 watts. That's the difference being dropped and being able to attack.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
When this first became mooted (after Cancellara's dominant Flanders win) an ex-rider tested a unit that was capable of producing 50 watts. That's the difference being dropped and being able to attack.

Canch has been world TT champ a number of times so riding off the front was no surprise
 

MisterStan

Label Required
When this first became mooted (after Cancellara's dominant Flanders win) an ex-rider tested a unit that was capable of producing 50 watts. That's the difference being dropped and being able to attack.
The unit in the linked article is said to be capable of producing double that.
 

MisterStan

Label Required
Rated at 200w, 250w being the Australian limit for electric assist.
Sigh....

The Vivax assist motor is rated at 200 watts (the maximum for e-bikes in Australia is 250W, beyond which they are classified as motorbikes) but in reality, we were told, the unit provides somewhere in the vicinity of 110W to the driveshaft. This is in addition to whatever the rider is pushing through the pedals.
 

oldroadman

Veteran
Location
Ubique
Two words: Gruber Assist. Check it out. The commissaires can do random scans now on bikes, and so far all the scans have produced - nothing.
 

HF2300

Insanity Prawn Boy
Two words: Gruber Assist. Check it out. The commissaires can do random scans now on bikes, and so far all the scans have produced - nothing.

I think Gruber Assist and Vivax Assist are the same thing - either Vivax have taken over Gruber or they are marketing it as Vivax.

Never mind scans, the commissaires stripped a lot of bikes after one of the classics - seatpost out, pedals and crank out - and found nothing


It doesn't seem to me that the 'stealth' kit as advertised would really hide the equipment to the level necessary for mechanical doping - some details would still be visible to an interested party even on just a close look round the bike. It wouldn't be difficult to genuinely stealth it though, particularly if you have tame frame makers etc.

Looking at the kit I wonder how reliable these would be (for a leisure rider) in the long term, and whether you'd run out of battery if using it a lot in one day - the motor mounting doesn't seem particularly secure, and the batteries aren't big. Still, won't be long before someone adds regenerative braking or finds a way to charge it on the downhills...
 

HF2300

Insanity Prawn Boy
Why would you have to finish on the same bike though!

They also quarantine and strip down spare bikes, or at least have in the past, and I suppose on a major event it'd be difficult to drop out of the caravan enough to quietly lose a bike.
 

The Couch

Über Member
Location
Crazytown
I posted some info on this earlier on here
The link to the Dutch tv report is still active for anyone interested in seeing it in work (and tested by an ex-pro *kuch* doper *kuch*)
 
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