Quote:
Originally Posted by Bicycle Bob
However, I also disagree with DWL, as long as one stays away from throttle openings that go to a rich mixture for power, abandoning economy. Bike racers work hard going uphill, but rest when they would only be fighting the air.
Perhaps someone with a scan gauge will do a comparison between total consumption going over a hill using DWL vs constant speed to the same average speed.
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Appreciate the thoughtful response Bob. Intuitively I figured going up a hill quickly on a bicycle is efficient. I would imagine a racer who dominates the uphill portion of the race will likely win. What is DWL though? I hope to get a splitter for my OBD2 port and then pick up a scan gauge soon. This will certainly go on my list of things to test.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CapriRacer
But aerodynamic losses at slow speeds are pretty small - which probably why people are arguing the point (the principle doesn't manifest itself clearly). I think you'll find that it becomes easier to understand if you think about going DOWN the same hill. Clearly, using the brake to limit the speed ALWAYS results in energy loss.
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I tried to isolate the concept by ignoring certain factors such as wind resistance. How one goes down a hill seems mostly with respect to how to most efficiently go up a hill. For the purposes of my concept, I imagine a hill of infinite height. The question then is how do we get up the hill the furthest with the least amount of spent fuel.
Obviously this is a complex question, as many sources of drag must be taken into consideration.