Looks interesting. I'd be willing to try them out to see how they feel.

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I don't & won't buy it.

interesting!
could be total bs
but interesting

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My impression as well.

135s over 40K?

Ummm...that would require a difference of >30W, and I don't think they're claiming aero gains...

<cough...bullshit...cough>

Then there is this: "Feedback ranging from casual riders to professional riders is that within only a few minutes they adjusted to the new motion."

That sounds to me like the quick accommodation one has with non-round rings, which is just the body figuring out how to fire/coordinate ancillary muscles so that the major moving muscles can do their job the way they prefer. Just adds to my skepticism.

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

...not to mention that the premise was to imitate a speed skating motion which is off to the side...but isn't that the case just because you can't push straight back with a skate?

Wouldn't it make more sense to imitate the motion of running or walking, which is basically in-line?

I'm not buying the premise alone.

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

As far as I know, running is not in a straight line. There is a slight outward push and I'm pretty sure out hips evolved to accommodate/promote that (I could be wrong but I'm 90% on that). I'm sure there's literature out there on muscle recruitment in different sports. From my own experience, skating recruits the glutes a lot more. So long as this isn't done at the expense of other muscles, theoretical peak power should be higher though, obviously, the aerobic system will have to adapt.

One flaw I see is that to maximize this affect the toes should flare outward slightly as the foot moves out.

Look at Olympic power lifters and the way their legs are oriented: not in a straight line but flared out.

Ok then, if that's true then they should start from that and show how it's a more "natural" movement for our legs...but they didn't. As they explain, the idea was to mimic a speed skating motion. That doesn't pass the "smell test". But, maybe that's just me...

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

I don't know...the push phase of a running gait (where power is produced) looks pretty darned linear to me.

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

To expand on this, in a former life I spent a lot of time with a professional golfer who happened to be really into fitness. I was his training and practice buddy. Anyways, long story short, said golfer's trainer also trained a lot of Olympic skiers. One interesting exercise he had us do was back squats with each foot on a lazy susan/turntable... I tried typing out and explaining the motion but honestly just try to rig up something similar and do it yourself if you're interested/bored with free time. You'll see where I'm going with the idea.

Also, some Olympic power lifters:





Here's a video demonstrating the slight outward push of running. It's the best I could do with a quick search but it's also funny :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUReSKU7uKo

Granted this is extreme and somebody is probably going to come in and rip me a new one "strength doesn't translate into blah blah blah" but the point is, as far as I know, we are bio-mechanically more efficient more efficient pushing out slightly and there may be power gains to be had from integrating this into cycling. IMO, this strikes me as far more plausible than asymmetric rings.

With that said, I do have some reservations about these pedals:
-the foot doesn't seem to rotate in concert with the outward push. This could lead to knee problems and also probably doesn't maximize the potential of that motion.
-friction losses could be high
-could adversely affect bike handling (I don't see myself riding rollers with that motion, maybe I'm wrong though)
-holy stack batman.

"Test results of nearly 2/3rds of the male riders showed a range of performance improvements in net efficiency or peak power."

All very interesting. But what does this sentence mean exactly?

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I'm not seeing that "outwards push" you're talking about even in that sprinter video..."Pas Auf!!" ;-)

The weight lifting is a totally different situation than a cycling motion since they need to account for sideways balance of the weight.

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

Put another way: Almost half showed no gains.

There is little doubt that we are evolved to run. And to run long. So, biomechanically, if one wanted to improve another motion (not running), logic would seem to dictate that we would want to somewhat follow/simulate the running motion. But looking at sprinters for a model of running motion is not that helpful, as they use a considerably different technique than do endurance runners. And we are talking about road cycling, which is essentially an endurance activity.

The lazy susan idea is interesting, but if we are indeed more efficient with our feet splayed out when we repeat the pushing motion thousands of times (as in cycling), why aren't 95% of very fast cyclists riding with their feet splayed out? Cleats can be adjusted for this, or if not, they can be modified. But riders aren't doing it.

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Agree re: mimic running but don't totally agree regarding sprinting being radically different from distance running.

Regarding cleats, I don't know, I'm way in over my head already on this subject to be frank. That said, I'm not willing to assume that the heard is always right.

Edit: added below


I would take it to mean that the data is probably noisy and not statistically significant. There's probably a reason that they didn't actually present said data (marketing). That said most studies usually aren't with large enough samples and over long enough periods of time to observe subtle improvements (or the reverse) in a statistically significant way (uhh... words!).

It's not just for balance, it's for power. If it were for balance alone every power lifter would flare their feet 45 degrees to balance the force vectors. That's not the case, however, as each power lifter adopts a slightly different foot positioning.

The outward push is pretty clear to me in the video of the sprinter. I don't know, maybe I'm just used to seeing subtle motions (I grew up playing golf and analyzing tiny movements on video). Another way to see the push for yourself is to go run on some fresh sand. If possible, run maybe 100m on very soft sand and then 100m on firmer sand. If you measure, you'll notice that the distance between your left and right foot is wider along the Y axis (assuming travel along the X axis) than hip width. This width will be slightly wider in soft sand than in firm sand. Also, alter the speed at which you run. Try running at 6mph for 100m and then try sprinting from a stop. We actually did this with Bill Knowles (long explanation as to why it applies to golf).

I've reached out to a few running experts (below) and asked them to chime in on the matter as I am, honestly, really out of my depth on this subject and have probably already said more than I should.
-The Gait Guys (Dr. Ivo Waerlop and Dr. Shawn Allen)
-The Natural Running Center (Dr. Mark Cucuzzella)
Hopefully they'll chime in.

A running sprinter's leg muscle force application ends at the ground, a cyclist's leg force application does not end at the pedal, it has to travel through a fast moving crank and will only be most effective when this force is applied tangentially to the crank turning circle,

That stance is driven by:

1. The need for stability while balancing a heavy object over your head
2. The ability to get your ass closer to the ground so you don't have to lift the aforementioned heavy weight as far with your arms (i.e dropping your body down further means you don't have to lift the weight as far with your arms). You can catch the weight "lower."

Another reason this pedal is a load of BS: any outward movement (i.e sliding) can't produce torque in the direction that creates power.

These pedals were probably designed to be used in conjunction with these cranks:

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Why was the women in the video wearing cotton socks? From Nike no less.

How am I supposed to trust the pedals when the feet attached to them violate so many written and unwritten cycling etiquette rules?

I am skeptical, like you. They say 2.1% increase in efficiency, but I would like to see how they define efficiency and how they measure it. Using a cam to convert outward force to angular force is going to introduce mechanical losses that do not currently exist. The fuzzy math on 135 seconds of gain in a 40k does not inspire confidence in their competence. And they basically do not explain anything about how/why they claim this thing works, nor was I able to find the data or protocol from that study on their website.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
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