What ever happened to.....

[Greg]

Does anyone remember Bio-Pace chain rings? What ever happened to them? they don't seem to exist anymore......or were they just a fad that died out 20 years ago?

[LordOnOne]

Rotor (http://www.rotorbike.com/nueva/ingles/productos.htm) makes elliptical chainrings. A few racers seem to think they make a difference, I’d be interested in trying them…but not if I have to pay to do that.:loling:

[Tokyo Drifter]

Very pricey and their crank is not very good, so you would be better off mating the rings to regular cranks.

I have mixed feelings about them. Most people seem to have had good experiences with them, but I think that for the most part they work by making you weak at a point where your pedal stroke is already at its worst.

[Inzane]

I have mixed feelings about them. Most people seem to have had good experiences with them, but I think that for the most part they work by making you weak at a point where your pedal stroke is already at its worst.

no... that was the problem with the setup of the bio-pace. The ellipse was orientated slightly wrong which meant it really did not work. The newer elliptical chainrings are supposed to be very good. There are a number of good European pro cyclists that are using them.

[ukalipt]

there was an article in a recent mag i had about them. mark fenner (http://ftptraining.wordpress.com/)
[who i might add is a blood good rider/ trainer/ etc]
did a fairly comprehensive test on them and found he didn't really produce more power
but did find with the same amount of effort he had actually traveled another 2-3km longer
than the same effort on standard circular cranks.

calos sastre rides with them and won the tour dé france last year.
they aren't cheap but do seem to be working by all accounts.

there is apparently a smallish learning curve for pedal stroke from what
is the normal "complete" stroke. by all accounts it doesn't take long
to re-train your stroke to get the most out of them

[Inzane]

there was an article in a recent mag i had about them. mark fenner (http://ftptraining.wordpress.com/)
[who i might add is a blood good rider/ trainer/ etc]
did a fairly comprehensive test on them and found he didn't really produce more power
but did find with the same amount of effort he had actually traveled another 2-3km longer
than the same effort on standard circular cranks.

calos sastre rides with them and won the tour dé france last year.
they aren't cheap but do seem to be working by all accounts.

there is apparently a smallish learning curve for pedal stroke from what
is the normal "complete" stroke. by all accounts it doesn't take long
to re-train your stroke to get the most out of them

That sounds about right. I think Thor Hushovd rides on them as well.

I looked at getting some, but was told you should really put them on all the bikes you ride... which would add up to a lot of money!!