Another question asked before...Sherer

Jeff Grippe said:

Has anyone checked out this site?

www.SHERERUSA.com

He sell a trike with a human powered drive train that he claims is far more
efficient than chain rings.

I don't believe him. His main selling point is more leverage, but
leverage is a two-edged sword: if you can move the thing anyway then
ISTM that more or less leverage is just fiddling with the gearing, which
it's easy enough to fiddle using chainrings.

*Efficiency" will be about the losses in various linkages and
biomechanical limitations, and I can't see he's got anything special
there. Furthermore, since the *efficiency* won't actually be better
AFAICT, the fact that one can easily push out one's aerobic limit
through a conventional crank makes fiddling with the effective gearing moot.

Anyone using these to coast to victory in HPV races with "3.5 times the
power" of everyone else? If they aren't then I suspect snake oil is
being sold.

Quoted message said:

I have some interest in this because it can also
be adapted to someone whose right and left side are radically different in
strength and endurance (which is my case exactly).

Have you tried a shorter crank on one side? Might help... If you're
not doing so anyway, clipless pedals will let you use more power more evenly

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:52:00 -0500, "Jeff Grippe" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

He sell a trike with a human powered drive train that he claims is far more
efficient than chain rings. I have some interest in this because it can also
be adapted to someone whose right and left side are radically different in
strength and endurance (which is my case exactly).

I'd be curious what all of you think about this thing.

Well, it doesn't get rid of chainrings, it gets rid of crankarms. I
would be careful before I purchased it. First of all, he is not the
first to use lever action instead of crank arms. You can find trikes
and quads from the 1800s with levers (mostly the early Sociables).

Most didn't go to the literal lengths this person does because they
don't seem to fit the efficiency of the average human being. And lever
arms don't solve imbalance better (although they may fit a certain
person better). Crankarms on a trike with clips allow better
compensation and smoother travel than fiddling with different lever
lengths - especially as you travel over varied terrain.

If you can try one over varied terrain, fine. Otherwise, talk to the
trike and quad people. All just my opinion.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...