Tuning you straight: On fat and thin mountain bikers

Thin fit cyclists go faster for further
- that's kilo-Watts.

WE have finally found a use for weekender mountainbikers: they can help us explain why engine power is shown as “torques” and kilo-Watts.

We all know them — those people who spent lots on a hardcore mountain bike, which they then mostly park in the bedroom. Next time you are trapped behind one, watch the thighs.

Torque is the combined power made by length of the lever and the size of the force pressing down on it, or in plain English: fat cyclists with thick thighs can pedal much harderthan thin cyclists.

Fat cyclists can always push the pedal harder that's "torques".

Kilo-Watts shows the rate at which energy is transmitted. In plain speak: it tells you how fast the parts can move before the forces at play will break things. While thin, fit cyclists cannot pedal as hard as us fatties, they can pedal faster for much longer without stretching something or gasping for air.

An engine’s torque then, shows you how big the engine’s muscles are, and the Watts tell you how fit the engine is. You cannot have one without the other, but in a truck, you want more torgues, in a sportscar, more Watts.