Bio-Pace makes come back...... Sort of

Ran accross this company over on MTBR, their Q rings are basically a new improved version of the old Shimano Biopace stuff. Apparently a large group of the top pros are using these rings with great results. Next year all Cervello bikes with come standard with rotor cranks and elliptical Q rings.

The rings on my road bike will need to be replaced with fall / winter and I am seriously thinking of giving these a try.


http://www.rotorbikeusa.com/products.html

So the question that posed to the Rotor rep, Philip Lucas, was "what's the difference bewteen the old Bio-pace that never quite caught on and the new stuff put out now by Rotor". I'm paraphrasing the question but that's the essence of the question. Philip got fancy with the analogies but never answered the question, besides saying that what they have is "different".

I had a Bio-pace crank on an old and really heavy mountain bike and I could not tell any difference between that carank and a couple of other bikes that I rode at that time. The issue was probably with the weight of the bike and the advantage that the Bio-pace was (or not) delivering, had little effect, given the "plumbing iron" that the bike was made of. Yeah, I understood the theory just fine, but did not feel I was getting the benefit.

So, I guess I really wonder what is different now and if an average recreational cyclist like me who is not racing, doing time trials or even showing off at club rides, will actually see any difference with what looks like a retread of an idea.