Perceptual Thresholds for Vibration Transmitted to Road Cyclists

In this article, we seek to determine how sensitive road cyclists are to vertical vibration transmitted while riding a road bicycle and to propose metrics for the evaluation of dynamic comfort.

Road cyclists are exposed to random-type excitation due to road roughness. Vibration transmitted affects dynamic comfort. But how sensitive are cyclists to vibration level? What are the best metrics to measure the amount of vibration transmitted to cyclists? Previous studies used sinusoidal excitation with participants on rigid seats and measured acceleration.

We use a psychophysical estimation of Just Noticeable Differences in Level (JNDL) for vertical vibration transmitted to cyclists on a road simulator. In Experiment 1, we estimate the JNDL for whole-body vibration using vertical excitation on both wheels simultaneously (20 male cyclists). In Experiment 2, we estimate the JNDL at two different points of contact by applying the same signal to only the hands or the buttocks (9 male cyclists).

The JNDLs are expressed in terms of acceleration and power transmitted to the cyclist. We compare the JNDLs expressed with these 2 metrics and measured at different points of contact.

Using these two metrics and at all points of contact, vibration magnitude needs to be reduced by at least 15%, for the change to be detectable by road cyclists.

A road bicycle needs to transmit at least 15% less vibration for male cyclists to detect an improvement in dynamic comfort. Dynamic bicycle comfort can be measured in terms of a new metric: power transmitted to the cyclist.