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14th Oct 2015
Breakthrough in kid’s bike design
Frog Bikes has been working with independent scientific researchers to study the impact of Q factor (pedal spacing) for children, the company has hit a 'breakthrough' in children's bikes.
Frog said it was surprised to find that reducing the Q factor of a child's cycle decreases lateral forces by much more than for adults, i.e. it makes the bike significantly easier to pedal.
Frog has taken Brunel University research and has worked with Dimitris Katsanis of Metron Advanced Equipment (the man behind the GB Team track bikes) to design new cranks that reduce the Q factor by between 27mm and 36mm depending on the Frog model. These cranks are on all new Frog bikes available in the market since June 2015.
According to Frog, the new cranks deliver a more comfortable ride and improve the efficiency for kids - who have much a narrower pelvis than an adult. So, for a child riding a bike with pedals conventionally widely spaced, the child's legs are splayed outwards to the left and right sides of the longitudinal axis of the cycle. This results in poor conversion of the work performed by downward movement of the child's legs into the rotation of the chain.
Frog said it was surprised to find that reducing the Q factor of a child's cycle decreases lateral forces by much more than for adults, i.e. it makes the bike significantly easier to pedal.
Frog has taken Brunel University research and has worked with Dimitris Katsanis of Metron Advanced Equipment (the man behind the GB Team track bikes) to design new cranks that reduce the Q factor by between 27mm and 36mm depending on the Frog model. These cranks are on all new Frog bikes available in the market since June 2015.
According to Frog, the new cranks deliver a more comfortable ride and improve the efficiency for kids - who have much a narrower pelvis than an adult. So, for a child riding a bike with pedals conventionally widely spaced, the child's legs are splayed outwards to the left and right sides of the longitudinal axis of the cycle. This results in poor conversion of the work performed by downward movement of the child's legs into the rotation of the chain.
