What’s your preferred cadence?

[Chargeride]

Pedalling an e-bike at the cadence of 90 is not tiresome at all once you have got used to is. The leg power delivered to the bike is (simplifying) torque (how hard you are pushing the pedals) times crankset rotational speed (cadence). You may mash your pedals at low speed (like those roadies who stand on the pedals on steep climbs) or spin the cranks with a way less torque.

High cadence:

• Knees are not strained
• Blood circulation is better
• The drivetrain is not stressed that much
• The motor is a way more efficient: a longer battery range
• Building certain types of leg muscles
• Easy to accelerate
• Easy to climb

With the regards of acceleration, I often demonstrate this to my riding buddies: I ride in ECO and keep my fingers far from the handlebar remote. I downshift and then start really spinning the cranks. Momentarily, my mates are left in the dust The point is, it is easy for me to produce my peak leg power at a high cadence. Regarding the climbing: I dramatically downshift and then start spinning. My e-bike carries me uphill like it were a lift!

Now I may understand Chris why you so often ride in Turbo and use so much battery on your rides...



I'm sure @stompandgo will explain why the pros ride at high cadence but I just need to mention the first pro cyclist to demonstrate the benefits of spinning was one L. Armstrong (forget his doping: we ride e-bikes)

Thats the very example the article uses and how its become the urban standard

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Thats the very example the article uses and how its become the urban standard

I have named several reasons to ride at a higher cadence and none of them mentioned a higher speed

The article mentioned some random "tri-athletes", their dropping performance, and also made a difference between the pros and casual riders. Specifically "above 90" was mentioned. Please find a place in my post where I encouraged anyone to pedal over 90 rpm (Stomp is another kind of animal coming from professional cycling).

If you want to convince me, hit the road and make 62 miles one day. I do that distance often, so probably have something to say about the pedalling efficiency.

 

[mschwett]

I have wondered if anyone has done any testing on how much energy is wasted on spinning fast verses a slower rate. It just seems to me that fast spinning would use and waste considerable energy just keeping the spin fast.

many studies! technically it is true, of course, but the difference is nowhere near as significant as the 50% increase in power you get going from 60 to 90 at the same torque, or the endurance potential of going from 60 to 90 with, say, a third less torque, so pretty much every serious cyclist trains to be able to sustain reasonable power at high cadence.

it does depend a bit on your muscle type as well, what kind of cyclist you are, how hard you’re riding… if you’re working your fast twitch muscles to keep up high torque, you’re not going to last long. on the other hand, if you’re just dawdling along at a power level that doesn’t require that kind of muscle at 60rpm, nbd!

 

[RunForTheHills]

Everyone is built different, so their preferences will be different. Mashers use fast twitch muscles like sprinters. Spinners use slow twitch muscles like endurance runners. It is more of a cardio-vascular workout.

 

[fooferdoggie]

the thing is the faster you can peddle the more torque you can supply.

 

[harryS]

I always figured keeping it over 60 meant I was spinning my bikes. That was never much fun on fat tires, which is why I don't ride them much,

 

[Chargeride]

I always run the highest gear possible on the flat, but on tech climbs I keep it at 70% of max motor cadence to allow for momentum bursts over pedal strike parts.

 

[BEC111]

Pedalling an e-bike at the cadence of 90 is not tiresome at all once you have got used to is. The leg power delivered to the bike is (simplifying) torque (how hard you are pushing the pedals) times crankset rotational speed (cadence). You may mash your pedals at low speed (like those roadies who stand on the pedals on steep climbs) or spin the cranks with a way less torque.

High cadence:

• Knees are not strained
• Blood circulation is better
• The drivetrain is not stressed that much
• The motor is a way more efficient: a longer battery range
• Building certain types of leg muscles
• Easy to accelerate
• Easy to climb

With the regards of acceleration, I often demonstrate this to my riding buddies: I ride in ECO and keep my fingers far from the handlebar remote. I downshift and then start really spinning the cranks. Momentarily, my mates are left in the dust The point is, it is easy for me to produce my peak leg power at a high cadence. Regarding the climbing: I dramatically downshift and then start spinning. My e-bike carries me uphill like it were a lift!

Now I may understand Chris why you so often ride in Turbo and use so much battery on your rides...



I'm sure @stompandgo will explain why the pros ride at high cadence but I just need to mention the first pro cyclist to demonstrate the benefits of spinning was one L. Armstrong (forget his doping: we ride e-bikes)

You are touching upon my understanding of how cadence and gearing affect how a bike feels to ride. I believe that most bikes have a “happy” pace. It’s where your cadence not only feels natural but also effortless. Little or no stress on legs and body. For my previous Cannondale, that speed was 12 mph at 75 rpm. On my SL1, it was 14-15 mph at 85 rpm. On the new SL2, it seems the happy pace is about 16 mph. In all cases, the gearing was a cog or two harder than the middle position.

I have also found that my heart rate over my typical routes is a bit lower for similar speeds than it was on the SL1, demonstrating that the happy pace on this bike will encourage endurance.

 

[PedalUma]

I am not one of those studs who rides a fixie with no brakes other than your legs in San Francisco. My cadence is all over the place depending where I am headed and the terrain. I pedal at anywhere from 60 rpp to 120, normally at about 90. My prefered motors like more than 70 and start paying dividends at that point.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I have wondered if anyone has done any testing on how much energy is wasted on spinning fast verses a slower rate. It just seems to me that fast spinning would use and waste considerable energy just keeping the spin fast.

Lots of research on this topic, but mainly on elite cyclists with performance and training goals that few of us share.

Self-selected cadence
Cadence is a very personal thing. It's very clear, just from feel, that MY motor and body are both happiest at 90-95 rpm, including my knees, so that's where I ride — whether it's physiologically efficient or not.

And not just consciously. If I've been pedaling along for a while at a clip that just feels good and happen to glance down at my cadence, guess what I usually see? About 90-95 rpm.

This 90-95 rpm is my personal self-selected cadence (SSC) — the one I gravitate to without thinking. It's the balance MY body's struck between muscular and cardiovascular loads in cycling. And since my knees are onboard with it, I just go with the flow.

Your SSC may be substantially different, and that's fine. Do you what YOUR body's telling you. Studies have shown that your SSC is usually pretty close to your own cadences for max power and efficiency. So how far wrong can you go with SSC?

A buddy who's a much stronger cyclist than I am was once fond of unassisted 50-100 milers on serious mountain roads. He usually averaged 60 rpm — because that's what felt right to him. Made it hard to keep up with other riders at times, but he was OK with that.

It's useful to build some cadence flexibility for unusual circumstances. But between gearing and assist, I can usually stay pretty close to my SSC in my terrain. And I think it generally pays — at least for my mix of pleasure and fitness riding.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I always run the highest gear possible on the flat

This is highly non-optimal for many reasons. Your choice, though.

You are touching upon my understanding of how cadence and gearing affect how a bike feels to ride. I believe that most bikes have a “happy” pace. It’s where your cadence not only feels natural but also effortless. Little or no stress on legs and body. For my previous Cannondale, that speed was 12 mph at 75 rpm. On my SL1, it was 14-15 mph at 85 rpm. On the new SL2, it seems the happy pace is about 16 mph. In all cases, the gearing was a cog or two harder than the middle position.

I have also found that my heart rate over my typical routes is a bit lower for similar speeds than it was on the SL1, demonstrating that the happy pace on this bike will encourage endurance.

I've always wondered why pedalling on my big Vado was so smooth. Turned out, it was the Deore XT 11-46T 11-speed cassette. Shimano designed that specific cassette for "great pedalling dynamics" meaning several high cassette cogs were equally geared (two sprocket teeth apart). For this reason, I'm not changing this drivetrain to anything else!

I totally support an old Specialized motto: 'Cadence is the King (or the Queen)'. I am a slow but rather endurant rider. A constant and meticulously maintained cadence in my optimal range allows me riding metric centuries in gravel rallyes without making me overly tired and in a good time. Now, with the 12-speed electronic Shimano XTR drivetrain on my Vado SL, I discovered something that gave me thinking. Turned out, I was constantly riding in middle gears with big jumps between the gears, making my cadence varying much. It is not what you are buying a 12-speed drivetrain for!

So I have found the solution good for me (but it is not something I would recommend to other riders). The Shimano 8200 cassette is geared:
12th: 10T
11th: 12T
10th: 14T
9th: 16T
8th: 18T

I did calculations for my cadence at speed and chose a 32T chainring, making my gearing pure MTB. Did I need the low range? Not. I needed equal cadence in five top gears, and have got it. Now, my Shimano E-Tube app tells me my principal gear is 9th. The 8th is for starting the ride, the 10th is when I need to ride faster. The 11th is used rarely, and the 12th gear is for riding with a massive tailwind and/or downhill.

Someone would say I would damage my small sprockets fast. Well, the Shimano cassette is serviceable, so I might want to replace from a single to 3 sprockets maximum when needed.

As I said, my solution is specifically good for me and not necessarily good for anyone else.

 

[Aushiker]

This is outside of my area of eh "expertise" but this is the first article that pops up in a Google Scholar search. It might be of interest to some.

Effect of applied cadence in repeated sprint cycling on muscle characteristics - PMC

This study aimed to investigate physiological responses, muscle–tendon unit properties of the quadriceps muscle, and mechanical performance after repeated sprint cycling at optimal and 70% of optimal cadence. Twenty recreational cyclists performed ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[stompandgo]

I use high rpm during a chase or sprint, or if my legs are loading up with acid, to help clear the muscles. The downside is that high rpm raises your heart rate. It's a tradeoff. Just rolling along, analog or under power, 85-95 rpm.