[Alexander_J]

Greetings people of MTBR

I'm a masters student within mechanical engineering and I'm currently working on a report where the goal is to analyze (and hopefully optimize) mountain bike suspensions. This by numerical analysis and software simulations.

I'm in need of data from mountain biking, which seems to be close to impossible to find online. So I'm asking here, if someone would be so kind to send me some data. Together with the accelerometer data I will need bike setup and weight, and general body weight as well. I will also need to know where to accelerometer is mounted. Trail names would be great if possible, but it's not critical.

The report is a part of a class I'm enrolled in this semester, so the report will not be published anywhere. It will be written in English, so if wanted it can be sent when finished. Although, it will be quite technical.

Contact me on email: [email protected], or by PM.

Best regards, Alex

 

[Harold]

So, um, how is anyone supposed to supply you with accelerometer data?

Sure, my phone has an accelerometer in it, but my phone isn't recording anything when I ride (I record my ride with an older Garmin GPS, which does not have an accelerometer). Even if I were to use Strava on my phone to record my ride, it doesn't record anything from the phone's accelerometer into the file that gets saved.

The new Garmin Edge 530 and 830 models have accelerometers (and lots of people may not even be aware of that, since even I had to look it up to see what Garmin said they used as a sensor for its "mtb metrics"), but I'm not sure exactly what gets recorded in the data file. It's entirely possible that it may not be raw accelerometer data, that the computer may be processing the raw data before recording anything.

 

[Alexander_J]

So, um, how is anyone supposed to supply you with accelerometer data?

Good point, let me clarify. This is mainly aimed at those who have data acquisition (or data logger) setups. Either if it's a system from a manufacturer or a DIY-solution. As far as I'm aware, the Edge 530 and 830 does not store raw accelerometer data by default.

 

[Harold]

Good point, let me clarify. This is mainly aimed at those who have data acquisition (or data logger) setups. Either if it's a system from a manufacturer or a DIY-solution. As far as I'm aware, the Edge 530 and 830 does not store raw accelerometer data by default.

I know exactly 0% of riders who have used any sort of accelerometer setup as you describe.

The only thing I've ever seen pictures of that sounds similar to what you describe is industry testing equipment that they've equipped some of their sponsored pro riders with as they've been developing and testing new products.

For a master's thesis, I could see something like this being a worthwhile project since you'd likely have some sort of budget for equipment and a longer timeframe for testing and analysis. But for a term paper? I'd pick another subject unless someone in your department has the kind of testing equipment you need that you could strap to a few volunteers (or even to yourself).

 

[HuffyMan]

No one rides with a datalogger...

You might be able to use an accelerometer logger phone app with the phone rigidly taped to the bike frame. Might not be great for the phone though.

But what use would it be anyway? You don't know the input to the system so you can't determine a transfer function.

As alluded to above, you'd be better off analyzing one bike on a shaker table (where you can input known waveform/spectrums) with proper accelerometer logging. Limiting to an independent front or rear suspension system would likely yield more meaningful results as well.

Example: You could analyze two different rear suspensions. Study and model their motion ratios, then their dynamics with the shock/spring added in Matlab. Then put 'em on a shaker and see if it it matches your simulation. Compare and contrast the two designs.