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International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 23 (1999) 95100

An ergonomic study on the optimal gear ratio


for a multi-speed bicycle
Chang K. Cho, Myung Hwan Yun*, Chang S. Yoon, Myun W. Lee
Department of Industrial Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, South Korea
Dept of Industrial Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang 790-784, South Korea
Arthur D. Little International, Inc. 13th Floor. Kyobo Building, 1-1 Chongro, Chongro-ku, Seoul 110-714, South Korea
Received 15 September 1996; received in revised form 22 January 1997; accepted 25 June 1997
Abstract
With respect to human performance and power eciency, the gear systemin typical multi-speed bicycles is often biased
and redundant. A preliminary user survey in this study reveals that the average utilization of each shift for a multi-speed
gear system is less than 40%. This study attempts to measure the optimal pedaling rates for given power output levels as
well as design the optimal number of gears and the corresponding gear ratios.
Heart rate, ratings of perceived exertion and electromyogramof quadriceps femoris for ve male subjects are measured
at three dierent power output levels (40, 80 and 120 W) and four dierent pedaling rate levels (40, 60, 80 and 100 rpm).
Various riding conditions including slope gradient and cruising velocity are also converted to the equivalent power
output level.
The optimal pedaling rates for the given power output are 40 rpm for 40 W power output level, 40 60 rpm for 80 and
120 W power output levels. By using a heuristic rule which nds the least number of gears and the most ecient gear
ratio under the given physiological condition, a four speed gear system with the ratio of 0.260.38, 0.380.53, 0.530.7 and
0.71.0 is recommended as the most ecient gear system. Based on the optimal gear ratio suggested in this study, an
ergonomic gear system using a novel/unique type of planet gear sets (US patent No. 5 378 201) is developed.
Relevance to industry
A bicycles gear system is frequently designed without ergonomic expertise in terms of performance and eciency. This
study provides guidelines, design specications, and performance measures to design an ecient bicycle gear system. This
study also contributes valuable nding regarding the optimal performance during bicycle riding, thereby facilitating the
eciency and eectiveness of human exercise using a bicycle. 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Gear ratio; Bicycle riding; Ergonomic design; Human performance; Multi-speed bicycle
*Corresponding author. Tel.: #82 562 279 2207; fax: #82 562 279 2870; e-mail: mhy@vision.postech.ac.kr.
0169-8141/99/$19.00 Copyright 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
PII S 0 1 6 9 - 8 1 4 1 ( 9 7 ) 0 0 1 0 4 - 2
1. Introduction
In accordance with the growth of bicycle market,
multi-speed gear systems have become increasingly
popular. In Korea, more than 60% of the bicycles
sold in 1995 had a multi-speed gear system (Korea
Bicycle Industry Institute, 1995).
A preliminary user survey revealed that the aver-
age utilization of multi-speed gear system is less
than 40%. Fig. 1 displays the nominal gear values
in commercialized multi-speed gear system and
their actual gear ratios. Gear ratios in Fig. 1 are
biased and even redundant. Thus, with respect to
human performance and power eciency, current
design of gear system is inecient and hard to
use because of the many number of unnecessary
shifts.
This study not only measures the optimal pedal-
ing rates for given power output levels, but also
designs the optimal number of gears and corre-
sponding gear ratios.
2. Background
During the bicycle riding, the power generated
from human muscles is used to overcome the roll-
ing, air, acceleration and gradient resistance. Whitt
and Wilson (1982) calculated the required power
output relevant to the given bicycle velocity and
slope gradient [(Eq. (1)].
"
C
4

mg

C
0
#
s
100
#
a
g
1#
m

m
#0.5C
"
A(C
4
#C
5
)

, (1)
where is the power required on pedal, C
4
the
bicycle velocity, the transmission eciency, m
the weight of bike and man, g the gravity accele-
ration, C
0
the rolling resistance, s the slope gradi-
ent, a the bicycle acceleration, m
5
the moment of
inertia, C
"
the air resistance, A the frontal area,
the air density and C

the head wind.


In the above equation, air and acceleration
resistance tend to be ignorable for the non-com-
petitive cyclist. Thus, bicycle velocity and slope
gradient can be considered as major factors in
Fig. 1. Gear ratio distribution of the commercialized multi-
speed gear system.
Fig. 2. Forcevelocity relationship on the bicycle.
determining the power requirement during the nor-
mal, non-professional level, bicycle riding.
Power output during bicycle riding can be ex-
pressed as the product of pedaling force and pedal-
ing rate. This nding suggests that a trade-o exists
between pedaling force and pedaling rate for
a given power output. The physiological character-
istics of human muscle and power output, called
forcevelocity relationship can explain the trade-
o (Sj+gaard, 1978; Faria and Cavanagh, 1978).
As Fig. 2 indicates, under the same power level,
a human can either pedal fast with a small amount
of force (high-speed gear), or pedal slowly with
a large amount of force (low-speed gear). Thus,
the main function of multi-speed gear system
can be considered to provide the shifting mecha-
nism that a human can select his/her own combina-
tion of pedaling force and rate under certain degree
of power output (Kyle, 1988; Whitt and Wilson,
1982).
96 C.K. Cho et al. / International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 23 (1999) 95100
Therefore, the optimal gear ratio of a bicycle can
be dened as the most physiologically ecient
combination of pedaling force and pedaling rate.
Previous studies revealed that the optimal pedaling
rate exists for non-competition cyclist between
4080 rpm [(Grosse-Lordmann and Mu ller, 1936;
Brown, 1944; Japanese Bicycle Product and Tech-
nical Institute, 1968; Seabury et al., 1977; Carnevale
and Gaesser, 1991)]. Above studies used various
physiological measures such as oxygen consump-
tion, heart rate, and EMG as well as riding perfor-
mance.
3. Methods
Five male undergraduate students participated
in this study. (age: 2324, height: 165180 cm,
weight: 5973 kg).
To obtain the optimal gear ratio, three dierent
power output levels (40, 80, and 120 W) and four
dierent pedaling rates (40, 60, 80, and 100 rpm)
were used as independent variables. (Russel and
Dale, 1986). Heart rate, ratings of perceived exer-
tion, and electromyogram of quadriceps femoris
were measured at three dierent power output
levels. The experimental design was 3 by 4 factorial
design without repetition.
Ergometer and Pulsemeter (Tunturi F250) were
used to provide a constant power level and measure
the heart rate. Metronome (TAKEI MP50) was
also used to provide the signal relevant to the given
rpm. EMG was measured by surface electrodes
(S&W) and a telemetry system (SANEI, medical
telemeter 270) and digitalized to IBM PC through
an AD converter (UEI 200).
4. Results
Table 1 summarizes the analysis results of vari-
ance (ANOVA) for the eect of power output and
pedaling rate on the heart rate, RPE, and EMG,
respectively.
According to those results, power output and
pedaling rate signicantly inuence heart rate and
RPE, but not EMG. Although EMG does not
signicantly change, the root mean square values of
EMG increased with power output.
Table 1
Analysis results of variance (ANOVA)
Heart rate
Source DF SS F-value P-value
Power Output (A) 2 2237.9 10.64 0.0001
Pedaling Rate (B) 3 5056.8 16.02 0.0001
A*B 6 245.9 0.39 0.8821
RPE
Source DF SS F-value P-value
Power Output (A) 2 0.6705 5.99 0.0048
Pedaling Rate (B) 3 1.7775 10.58 0.0001
A*B 6 0.2029 0.6 0.7255
EMC
Source DF SS F-value P-value
Power Output (A) 2 0.0081 0.63 0.5383
Pedaling Rate (B) 3 0.0271 1.41 0.2519
A*B0 6 0.0286 0.74 0.6191
Fig. 3. Optimal range of pedaling rate for the given power
output.
Results obtained from Duncans grouping for
heart rate and RPE indicate that the physiolo-
gically optimal pedaling rates are 40 rpm for 40 W
and 4060 rpm for 80 and 120 W, respectively.
Fig. 3 depicts the area of optimal pedaling rate for
the given power output.
By using the above statistical analysis result, the
optimal pedaling rates for the given power output
level can be derived. To obtain the optimal gear
ratio based on the results of optimal pedaling rate,
additional factors should be considered (De Groot
C.K. Cho et al. / International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 23 (1999) 95100 97
Fig. 5. Power output relevant to the riding condition in terms of slope gradient and cruising velocity.
Fig. 4. Procedure to determine optimal gear ratio.
et al., 1994; Patterson and Moreno, 1990; Raine and
Amor, 1991). Fig. 4 presents the related factors and
procedure for determining the optimal gear ratio.
By using Eq. (1), various riding conditions in-
cluding slope gradient (015) and cruising velo-
city (05.5 m/s) were converted to the equivalent
power output levels (see Fig. 5). Above riding con-
ditions are realistic because the average capacity of
human engine on the bicycle is about 0.1 hp if we
conne attention to the non-competition cyclist
(Whitt and Wilson, 1982; Burke, 1986).
By applying the calculated power requirement to
the result of this study, the optimal pedaling rate for
each riding condition can be calculated. And with
Fig. 6. Optimal gear ratio for given riding condition in terms of
slope gradient and cruising velocity.
wheel revolution relevant to the cruising velocity, it
can be converted again into the optimal gear ratio
for each riding condition, (see Fig. 6).
The optimal gear ratio in Fig. 6 has both an
upper and lower boundary, implying that any gear
ratio between this range is physiologically optimal
for the given riding condition in terms of slope
gradient and cruising velocity. Therefore, by using
the heuristic rule in Fig. 7, the least number of gears
and most ecient gear ratio can be derived.
For example, when we conne the gear ratio
equivalent to the customized 18-speed gear system
(0.261.0), only four gear ratios of 0.260.38,
98 C.K. Cho et al. / International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 23 (1999) 95100
Fig. 7. Heuristic procedure to nd the least number of gears and
the most ecient gear ratio.
Fig. 8. Recommended optimal gear ratio for four-speed gear
system.
0.380.53, 0.530.7, 0.71.0 satisfy the condition of
the physiological optimum (see Fig. 8).
5. Conclusions and discussion
This study has presented the optimal pedaling
rates for the given power output. Heart rate and
RPE are used as a physiological criteria. Although
the change of power level and pedaling rate does
not inuence EMG, root mean square values of
EMG increase with power output.
While direct measurements of energy consump-
tion, such as VO

, were not used in this study, it is


argued that heart rate and RPE can be a sensitive
measure of energy consumption under the control-
led conditions (Astrand and Rodahl, 1970).
Results in this study imply that a fewer number
of gears which are optimal can provide a perfor-
mance equivalent to the multi-speed gear system.
As expected, reducing the number of gears without
a loss of physiological eciency would result in
easier gear shifting.
By using the results in this study, an ergonomic
gear system by Lee (1995), (U.S. Patent 5.378.201)
has been developed. Until now, initial consumer
response to the prototype has been favorable.
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100 C.K. Cho et al. / International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 23 (1999) 95100

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