Vibrations in cycling, state of the art and future outlook

Engineering of Sport 15 - Proceedings from the 15th International Conference on the Engineering of Sport (ISEA 2024) Road cycling is an endurance sport that requires athletes and enthusiasts to cycle for long time. Thus, comfort plays an important role in the design of bicycles and cycling garments. Vibrations represent one of the most common cause of discomfort. Famous cycling competitions, such as the Paris-Roubaix, are characterized by uneven road surface that induces vibrations, thus increasing the difficulty of the race. On a physiological level, Sperlich et al., demonstrated that the presence of vibrations in cycling lead to an increased oxygen uptake at higher loads. Besides downgrading performances, long-term exposure to vibrations can lead to disorders. Therefore, it is of fundamental importance to investigate vibration and their transmission to the bicycle and the cyclist. This work aims to review the state of the art in the field of cycling vibration and identify the need for future studies. </p

A sensor-based test methodology to investigate the effect of vibrations on the cyclist

Engineering of Sport 15 - Proceedings from the 15th International Conference on the Engineering of Sport (ISEA 2024) Road surface induced vibrations during cycling impact general parameters such as comfort, fatigue or control. Skilled cyclists appear to adopt their riding style to different surface conditions by e.g. adjusting position, the way of grasping the handlebar or the pedalling style. Investigating the effect of vibrations on a cyclist in the field is limited by the need of invasive measurement equipment and by the difficulty to repeat a test without minute deviations. To this end, replicating relevant road surface patterns in a controlled environment is indicated. In this pilot study, a laboratory stationary treadmill is used to simulate two different road surfaces to observe, by mean of wearable sensors, the effect of vibrations on a cyclist. </p