Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Horsepower! You need more! Trust us!

An open mind collects more riches than an open purse - Will Henry

The best thing you can do is keep a open mind on the subject of horsepower & motors. Keep reading! A good reference of an engine is it's size, 350, 4.8-liters, V8,V10,V12, you name it. Your body is a motor and it's the ratio dynamics that make a difference. There are many sizes and you can't just say the cleats, or move the rise of the stem, slide the saddle this way or that are the same for a given V8. That is what makes this so fun, as you can have a samll block kick the heck out of a large block, provided its been blue-printed.

Most people want high-performance from their cycling and that requires a good motor, plus understanding it. Horsepower does make the game more fun. But on the same note, most cycling fans hate motors, nor do they wish to work on them (theirs). Even going to the point of name calling people "gear heads", etc...? The game of NASCAR, F1, NHRA, etc... , require a strong motor. Like it or not, you are a motor, it needs fuel, and you turn gears!

If you haven't done the math, the engine you're building or driving probably has less power than you think. You can't trust a basic eyeballing and ideas on what everyone needs. To take a device and say you fall into a green or red range is not blue-printing your needs. What about the shape and size of your hips, sit bones, the angle of the neck of the femur.

Blue-printing the engine requires you to know things like fuel lines, piston size, chamber size, gaskets, deck clearance that best tells the story of what suits your needs. No engine block is typical, even the materials vary like body size and that is why a basic fit, just looking at the outside is not best to alter you needs. You need to go within the motor to blue-print it. Even using video to view your stroke is not enough! What about the timing? The firing of the muscles! Are they working against each other? Perhaps the same as riding with your brakes on?

Let's just exchange a few parts of the human motor for a "Hot Rod" engine. A high performance motor is anything over 10.0:1 of compression or greater. Note: high performance means things can wear out quicker and need constant attention to details. That high combustion engine requires that the fuel lines can send fuel. You don't need a bend that reduces that fuel that makes you go! Many in the fitting don't reliaze that you can rob power from a leg just by having the saddle, your sit bones in the wrong location affecting the hip angle, perhaps reducing the flow of blood (fuel). Horsepower means you need fuel and fast!; Being more aero is not going to always make you faster and you can even damage your fuel lines. Think of a garden hose and you grap it and bend on-too itself, "the flow doesn't go". Ha! Now think about the pumping in your hips!
Not to point out the wiring that lies within the body! Stetching the wiring is not good thing!

Compression ration defined is the total volume with the piston at bottom (BDC)divided by cylinder volume with the piston at the top dead center (TDC). Look at the muscles in your legs as pistons and how they fire.

Next, look at the bore, in which most people understand that bore size, or diameter of a cylinder (muscle cross section)affects the total displacement. An after-affect is that, all other things being equal, a larger bore (cross section)will create a higher compression ration (more fibers firing) than a smaller one.

Now for the stroke! The stroke is the distance the piston (bone joint)travels from BDC to TDC. Increasing the stroke and making no other changes will raise the compression ratio(throw)for the same reason that bigger bores (cross section mm) raise compression.

Then you have other things like changing connecting rod length(upper ratio w/ lower leg). Then you have small-block vs large-block (body size)therefore has an affect on the compression ratio. The weight of the motor now starts to come into play for low-end vs. top-end speed.

Even the head gasket specs can alter compression (muscle firing). To perform work, you have to have the muscle fibers in the correct timing. This helps with the throw!

Then come the control systems to run everything (integration and control systems). Without the function organization of (nervous tissue) wiring coordinating all those sensations and activities dialed, the best monitor (powermeter) will not make a difference. You will still be making low rpm/horsepower.

Perhaps you know the term "motor division" of the brain that drives the "motor unit", a single neuron and the muscle fibers it innervates.

If the "motor division" is not open to their truths, the game is over! You can't program it! With that, teach the brain, improve the game!

The cool thing here, is we have the tools to blue-print your motor. You just have to want to be a "HOT ROD". Understand that a "Hot ROD" can use more fuel when you press the gas and the motor that has little horsepower will never make it. Yes they might get better fuel mpg, but can't drag race!

Adding it all up, each example above shows you how you can build on your small block or large block. But don't forget that each of the elements described can be combined with others to make more significant gains.

So if you want a typical smog engine(basic fit)don't come to us, because we are going to "blue-print" your motor and change your computer chips "brain". You will get more O2 to that motor and throw more into your game.

You are responsible for the type of gas and your mileage and speeding tickets.

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