OK, my intent here is to keep this as short as possible while covering the basics of how Rotors work, for those of you looking for a simple answer:
1. Rotors eliminate the dead spot in the pedal rotation by slowing the drive leg (apply more power) and speeding the recovery leg (apply less power) through the dead spot. This allows for a lower heart rate (my racing HR on Std cranks is 175) and lower blood lactate levels (no dead spot to overcome) and allows the cyclist to pedal a higher gear because they will not "get stuck" on the dead spot of the bigger gear.
2. Now that the cyclist can pedal a larger gear (slightly lower cadence) at a much lower heart rate (for me it lowered my HR by 10 beats to 165 at my race speed) the cyclist can then move to adaptation, strengthening the leg muscles and adapting them to the new power outputs that Rotors allow.
3. After adaptation (3 months) the cyclist can now ride at his normal race HR (back up to 175 for me) and be pedalling a higher gear at the same cadence (90 RPM for me) and ride faster (2 mins over 40k).
That's it.
-g
1. Rotors eliminate the dead spot in the pedal rotation by slowing the drive leg (apply more power) and speeding the recovery leg (apply less power) through the dead spot. This allows for a lower heart rate (my racing HR on Std cranks is 175) and lower blood lactate levels (no dead spot to overcome) and allows the cyclist to pedal a higher gear because they will not "get stuck" on the dead spot of the bigger gear.
2. Now that the cyclist can pedal a larger gear (slightly lower cadence) at a much lower heart rate (for me it lowered my HR by 10 beats to 165 at my race speed) the cyclist can then move to adaptation, strengthening the leg muscles and adapting them to the new power outputs that Rotors allow.
3. After adaptation (3 months) the cyclist can now ride at his normal race HR (back up to 175 for me) and be pedalling a higher gear at the same cadence (90 RPM for me) and ride faster (2 mins over 40k).
That's it.
-g