Bicycle drive system dynamics: theory and experimental validation

Bicycle pedaling has been studied from both a motor control and an equipment setup and design perspective. In both cases, although the dynamics of the bicycle drive system may have an influence on the results, a thorough understanding of the dynamics has not been developed. This study pursued three objectives related to developing such an understanding. The first was to identify the limitations of the inertial/frictional drive system model commonly used in the literature. The second was to investigate the advantages of an inertial/frictional/compliant model. The final objective was to use these models to develop a methodology for configuring a laboratory ergometer to emulate the drive system dynamics of road riding. Experimental data collected from the resulting road-riding emulator and from a standard ergometer confirmed that the inertial/frictional model is adequate for most studies of road-riding mechanics or pedaling coordination. However, the compliant model was needed to reproduce the phase shift in crank angle variations observed experimentally when emulating the high inertia of road riding. This finding may be significant for equipment setup and design studies where crank kinematic variations are important or for motor control studies where fine control issues are of interest.