Bike-Fitting-Guru, John Howard
talks about the SMp
on

Title of clip: John Howard Bike Fitting Part 5/5
(05:02 minutes)
—posted on YouTube: May 05, 2007

"The SMp is a very edgy product,
but in terms of power production,
it is way ahead of everything else...
once you get used to it,
it is an amazing product!"
John Howard
2007

 

See who rides with the SMp Christian Valenzuela Zamudio Born: October 20, 1978 Hometown: La Paz, Mexico Residence: La Paz, Mexico / Pasadena, California • International Cycling Classic - Superweek - NE, USA, July 7-23, 2006 1st Stage: 1st Place 5th Stage: 8th Place 6th Stage: 4th Place 10th Stage: 13th Place • Tri-Peaks Challenge: 6th Overall • Schlitz Park Endeavour Cycling Challenge, Milwaukee, Wisconsin -- July 14, 2006: 5th Place • Tour de Nez, 2006: 4th Stage, 2nd Place • Beverly Hills Cycling Classic, California, July 7, 2006: 1st Place • Conquer the Canyons Stage Race, April 22-23, 2006, Westlake Village, California Overall: 1st Place Stage 1, TimeTrial: 3rd Place Stage 2, Circuit Race: 23rd Place Stage 3, Road Race: 3rd Place • Los Angeles County Cycling Classic, April 14-16, 2006: 6th Place • 1999 Pan American Games Silver Medalist • 1998 Mexican National Time Trial Champion • 1998 Commerce Criterium: 1st Place Christian Valenzuela and Steve Lubanski at Open Road Bicycle Shop, Pasadena, CA, 2007. John Howard • 3 Time Cycling Olympian • 10 Years on the US National Team • 14 Time USCF and NORBA Elite and Masters National Champion • National Titles in: Road, Time Trial, Cyclo-Cross and MTB • 2 Time UCI World Championship Medallist • Ironman Triathlon World Champion • Cycling 24-Hour World Record Holder - 539 miles • Cycling World Absolute Speed Record Holder - 152.2 mph • American Canoe Association 24-hour Record Holder - 104.6 miles • Competitive Cycling Magazine's Cyclist of the Decade - 1970's • Author of: The Cyclists Companion, Multi-Fitness, Pushing the Limits and Dirt Jim Donaldson Born: Toledo, Ohio January 28, 1944 Home town: Sylvania, Ohio • Been competing in the sport of Triathlon for 26 years • Competed in over 350 triathlons • Ten time Member of Team USA at the triathlon World Championships • Five time Ironman Triathlon finisher • Many time USAT All American • 2006 record (on Side Mount pedals) 5 first place and 3 second place finishes • Current member of USAT Board of Directors • PowerMan Ohio, 1st Place in the 60-64 age group, May 21, 2006, Malabar Farm State Park, Ohio • USA Triathlon Duathlon National Championship, 12th Place in the 60-64 age group, May 6, 2006, Mason, Ohio

 

Pasadena Star News Tuesday, October 5, 2004 Invention may revolutionize cycling by Kevin Felt PASADENA, CA - Steve Lubanski is out to change cycling. Lubanski, president of newly formed Pasadena Bicycle Manufacturing Co., invented and patented the SMp, a unique side-mount bicycle pedal system that he will official launch Wednesday at the InterBike expo in Las Vegas. The longtime owner of Open Road Bicycle Shop in Pasadena claims that pedal and cleat, designed with competitive amateur and professional riders in mind, has the ability to impact the cycling world the same way radial tires changed the auto industry. "Radial tires changed the way cars were designed,' he said. "This could change the way bikes are designed.' Whereas competitive cyclists have used "clipless' pedal systems for the last two decades, Lubanski said the new system makes pedaling more efficient by putting the ball of the cyclist's foot more than an inch closer to the pedal's center axis. "Every single-pedal system in the world talks about getting as close as you can to the ball of your foot,' said Lubanski. "I obliterate everything they do. Other pedals are still under the foot, but mine is next to it.' By making the path the foot travels closer to a circle than the ellipse resulting from traditional pedals that work like "1- inch stilts,' pedaling becomes three to four percent more efficient, said Lubanski. That may not sound like much, but when winners are often determined by tenths and hundredths of seconds, it could have a significant impact. "Three-to-4 percent is huge,' said Lubanski. "The difference between first and last place at the Tour de France is about three percent.' A side benefit of the 370-gram system is that riders can use a bicycle that is an inch or two shorter, which reduces weight and drag. The difference is apparent by looking at the device: the pedal is a short titanium stub, which attaches to an interlocking titanium cleat that attaches to a rider's shoe. While Lubanski, who has run the Open Road since 1987, has given a few of the pedals to serious riders to test them, he said he won't sell the product at the store because he doesn't want to undercut other retailers. Instead, he will distribute the product directly to independent bicycle retailers. Lubanski said he hopes to capture 10 percent to 15 percent of the high-end pedal market, selling the pedal and cleat system for about $250, which is comparable to many "clipless' systems. By 2008, he projects the company's annual sales could top $11 million. Eight-time Ironman Triathlon world champion Paula Newby-Fraser, who has used a prototype of the pedal in competition called it "a great invention in an area that has not evolved much in the past decade.' Tom Estabrook of El Monte, ride coordinator for the Foothill Cycle Club said he tried the pedal during one of his visits to Open Road. "I'm really quite impressed,' he said. "It makes you more efficient and enables you to ride a bike with a little bit smaller frame. It really sounds promising, everybody I know who has tried it seems to like it.' While he only saw an early prototype, cyclist Charlie McTaggart of Alhambra also said he likes the idea. "I don't know how popular it will be,' he said, "but prices are so expensive these days, if he brings it in at a good price, he might be able to do something with it.' From the Pasadena Star News www.pasadenastarnews.com Kevin Felt can be reached at (626) 962-8811 ext. 2703 or by e-mail at kevin.felt@sgvn.com       Steve Lubanski, president of Pasadena Bicycle Manufacturing Company, holds his newly patented side-mount bicycle pedal at his retail store, Open Road Bike Shop in Pasadena on Monday, October 4, 2004. (Staff Photo by Caleb Vandenberg)

BikeBiz (website of the monthly UK trade magazine BicycleBusiness) Friday, October 15, 2004, England   US bike shop owner designs new pedal system by Carlton Reid Steve Lubanski of Open Road Bicycle Shop in Pasadena launched his Side Mount Pedals at Interbike. He said he hopes to capture 10 to 15 percent of the high-end pedal market. The SMp pedal is a tiny oreo-biscuit shaped disc, the cleat as clunky as most others on the market. Lubanski says the SMp system gives a four percent pedal-stoke efficiency advantage and allows cyclists to be fitted to smaller —and therefore lighter —bikes. Radical new pedal system designs are launched frequently. The Ramsey Swing pedal from 1898 was advertised as having an "automatic ankle action, no dead center . . . money refunded if Ramsey pedals do not enable you to ascend hills with 25% less energy." The first 'clipless' pedal was invented in 1895. It didn't catch on. Most pedal innovations fail because of low or no take-up. Even a brand as big as Cinelli couldn't make a success of the first modern-day clipless pedal system, introduced in 1973. Richard Bryne, the founder of Speedplay, spent years gaining market acceptance for his minimalist pedals, the last 'system' to make it into the mainstream. Bryne's online 'pedal museum' is a fascinatng scroll through the history of pedals and the clipless designs that failed to capture the cycling public's imagination, or dollars. http://www.speedplay.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.history Open Road's Lubanski hopes to be the next Speedplay. He has formed the Pasadena Bicycle Manufacturing Company to make and market his 370-gm titanium SMp float-or-no-float system. Patented in June, the Side Mount Pedal system will cost about $250 for pedals and cleats. "Other pedals are still under the foot," said Lubanski. "Mine is next to it." The SMp pedal is hardly there, a deterrent to thieves. "There's nothing for them to pedal with," said Lubanski. But it's the performance gains that Lubanski believes will be his system's main selling point. By making the path the foot travels closer to a circle than the ellipse resulting from standard pedals, Lubanski claims SMp users are pedalling three to four percent more efficiently. For across-town-to-the-post-office use this is no great shakes but in road races won or lost in seconds, such performance gains can make all the difference. The SMp system allows a user's seatpost to be lowered by up to an inch and a half, lowering the rider's centre of gravity, and lowering a rider's height on the road, "an advantage when drafting," said Lubanski. The titanium cleat is said to allow near-normal walking, doing away with precarious clip-clopping. Lubanski has wanted to improve on current pedal systems for some time. He relates how fifteen years ago, five times Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault visited Open Road Bicycle Shop in his capacity as a consultant for the LOOK pedal system. Lubanski said Hinault agreed with his view that whilst good, the LOOK system could be bettered. Three years ago Lubanski had his light-bulb moment: into his head popped the oreo-biscuit pedal design. The current system is the eighth version. Not short of chutzpah, Lubanski's press release promoting his presence at Interbike in Las Vegas was headlined: "A better pedal: aims to change industry, history." Time will tell. From the Bike Biz Website www.bikebiz.co.uk (Bikebiz.co.uk is the website of monthly UK trade magazine BicycleBusiness.)

Houston Chronicle October, 13, 2004 Cycling club excels in junior achievement Southern Elite puts emphasis on young riders by Steve Sievert If a city's cycling community can be measured by the number of its bike clubs and teams, Houston is pedaling near the front of the pack. With dozens of clubs and teams, including such notables as Houston Bicycling Club, Northwest Cycling Club and Gulf Coast Cycling Association, the Greater Houston area boasts one of the most active club scenes in the country. Without the countless hours turned in by club cyclists and volunteers, many of the area's organized rides and related cycling events simply would not happen. Clubs and teams are the lifeblood of cycling in a community. It's a fact that one Houston-area club has taken to heart. While perhaps better known for its cadre of racers and a lengthy list of championships its riders have won, the Southern Elite Cycling Club also has been a vital contributor to recreational and youth cycling in Houston. "The club was founded by Bill about 20 years ago," said Southern Elite's Richard Lamb, speaking of longtime cycling Houston coach Bill Edwards, whose instruction and insight have left an indelible mark on the city's cycling scene. "We're now a nonprofit organization helping to develop cyclists of all ages and abilities." While the club is involved in virtually all aspects of the local cycling community, including organizing and supporting recreational tours, its primary focus over the past several years has been on turning budding young cyclists into formidable racers. Influx of young members The youth movement is very evident in the club, with more than one-fourth of the club's 90 or so members between the ages of 10 and 18. "Supporting our junior program is the No. 1 commitment of all of our members," Lamb said. "In fact, before anyone becomes part of the team, we have them sign an agreement that states they will support our junior program and help these younger riders excel in the sport." The help comes in the form of serving as a partner during a workout or just being there to lend an ear to a kid who wants to talk about the finer points of pedaling a bike. "Many of us have become proud second parents to our juniors," Lamb said. "We spend a lot of time with them and have each junior complete a goal statement every year, which provides direction for their season. They're then paired up with a mentor." The mentor-junior partnership ensures that the younger cyclists always have someone to lean on for support and another rider by their side on the track, road or trail. This hands-on approach has produced several junior champions. Garth Blackburn, Carlos Vargas, Ryan Nelman and Shelby Reynolds are among the past and current junior racers who have an impact on the junior cycling scene. And, interestingly, the juniors aren't the only ones who are reaping the benefits of Southern Elite's game plan for success. "In every case I've seen, the mentor has always improved his cycling right along with the kid," Lamb said. "They develop each other. It's a very good growing experience for both." New cycling toys Tis the season for companies of all shapes and sizes that develop cycling products to hype their latest offerings in advance of the annual holiday shopping season. Hundreds of these products compete for the visibility at Interbike, the industry trade show held earlier this month in Las Vegas. True innovation can be hard to find at the show, but there are always a handful of products that catch my eye. The GravityDropper Seatpost and the SMp made the cut this year. The GravityDropper is a device that allows a mountain-bike rider to raise and lower the bike seat while riding. It was invented by two cyclists who live in Polson, Mont. — Wayne Sicz and Arlen Wisseman. They set out to create a product that would allow mountain bikers to adjust seat height according to the terrain they encountered to improve efficiency and increase safety. They also believe the product gives a mountain biker better control of the bike and improved balance. Two versions of the seat post that can be adjusted on-the-fly were developed. One allows seat height to be altered three inches with the use of a pin on the seat post. The other enables the seat to be adjusted from a switch on the handlebars. Both products replace the existing seat post on a mountain bike. I have not personally tested either seat post, but the premise of the invention seems valid if a mountain biker is doing some hard-core off-road riding. The aforementioned SMp has possible benefits for the roadies among us. The acronym stands for side-mounted pedal, which was developed by California cyclist Steve Lubanski. He has been tinkering with this invention for the past three years and received a patent on the technology in June. The concept behind the SMp is to position the foot closer to the center axis of the pedal. This supposedly increases speed and power and virtually makes the foot an extension of the pedal spindle. "This way, one would be truly pedaling a perfect circle," Lubanski said. As with the GravityDropper, there appears to be some scientific rationale behind the creation of this cycling accoutrement. It is up to the cycling market tetermine if that equals commercial success. Steve Sievert covers cycling for the Chronicle. He can be reached at 713-876-4424 or cycling.notebook@earthlink.net

Bike.com Thursday, October 7, 2004 Viva Las Vegas Interbike opens to an eager cycling audience From: Mark Yujimama Shimahara SMP introduces the first and only side mounted pedal. SMP (Side Mount Pedal) SMP debuts the first and only side mounting pedal. The pedal consists of a nut with a completely round, disc-shaped head which screws into the crank. The cleat attaches to the pedal via a mount located on the inside of the foot, which lies atop the round-shaped nut. The pedal allows for the bottom of the foot to be practically parallel to the axle. It's the first of it's kind that I have seen, but the Q-factor (distance between your feet) is increased by the side mounting cleat. From the bike.com Website www.bike.com

Adventure Cyclist Magazine November/December 2004 CYCLESENSE INTERBIKE 2004 What happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas. A look at the bicycle industry's annual North American trade show. by John Schubert First, the annual disclaimer. With fifteen acres of floor space, the Interbike trade show has too much stuff to see in three days. Mere mortals will see a lot, but miss a lot too. Second, the two most interesting things I saw at the show were not products. Third, as always, I can report that touring bikes and accessories are alive and well, although still occupy a small niche in the marketplace. The most interesting thin I saw was a new program launched by the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). ITDP is a sometimes-lonely voice urging less developed countries to create transportation policies that make sense, particularly given their lack of economic power, instead of rushing to motorcars and repeating all the mistakes that more developed countries have made. ITDP launched a project they call California Bike, to sell good quality mountain bikes to Africa. They started small, because the idea was to learn how to make the process work. They got some good partners in the process and they have indeed learned. ITDP got Trek to design a simple six-speed mountain bike that would be both a good utility bike and fun to ride. They got Giant to build two thousand of them in China. And they instituted programs to sell them in Ghana, Senegal, and South Africa. After tariffs, the bikes sell for roughly $100. The results have been encouraging and educating. Only in Senegal can they successfully sell the bikes in bike shops. In the other countries, they need a variety of sales strategies, such as employee purchase programs and school programs. Bikes are sold mostly in the harvest season, when people have more money. The bikes are highly prized and , you already knew this, very useful. While two thousand bikes won't transform a continent, the project can be expanded and copied by the private sector. The private sector needs guidance in this direction: a bicycle sometimes seen in Africa is a $20 full-suspension mountain bike made in India— That falls apart after a week. The other interesting thing I saw? The dominance of trek in the American marketplace has reached a new level. You may have noticed that most bike shops either look like Trek factory outlets with happy owners, or stores full of other brands, with not-so-happy owners. The non-Trek store owners will sulk a little more now, because the well-known SuperSale program, which delivers an enticing catalog full of goodies on sale to your door, is now open only to Trek dealers. The dominance of trek in the marketplace is similar to that which Schwinn enjoyed forty years ago. Of course, Trek has earned that dominance with good products. One example of that, which caught my eye, is a new rear suspension system on their road bikes. The suspension involved a telescoping monostay seatstay, with appropriate elastomers inside. Visually, it's terrific: you wouldn't know it's there unless you knew what you were looking for. You get about a half nice of suspension travel, enough to smooth out bumps and vibration. It comes on high-performance skinny-tire road bikes from $1,700 to $3,000. A version with more race-like geometry is sold under Trek's Klein brand name. I'd love to see Trek try it out on their 520 touring bike. The coolest product at the show was a tent from Topeak. Aimed at mountain bike tourists, it uses your bike and removed front wheel in lieu of tent poles. The front wheel holds up one end of the tent; the bike's handlebars hold up the other end. A dummy ale that you put into your front dropouts has a stake you drive into the ground, so the bike stays upright. The touring bike count at a glance: There are some new entries in the lineup. Canada's DaVinci (not to be confused with Colorado's DaVinci) has a touring frame called the Caribou Optimum 61 Cyclo Cross Touring and Hybrid frame. They displayed it in its touring configuration and in its cyclo cross configuration. Barely entered in the touring bike business this year with two welded steel frame models, the Vagabond and the Hudson. The Hudson is the fancier of the two, with a gorgeous green metalflake paint job. Giant has discontinued its touring bike the one with the hub-mounted disk brakes, due to poor sales. Koga-Miyata displayed an exceptionally stout European-style "trekking" touring bike, with upright handlebars, no suspension and everything very heavy duty. Fuji's America touring bike, the one with carbon fiber front forks, no longer has threaded bosses for low-mount pannier racks on those forks. I was charmed by Ortleib's new luggage-style rack trunk. When it's off the bike, its telescoping handle and smallwheels allow you to tow it, not carry it. Some other items of interest: Want to say "heck no" to punctures? From Steamboat Springs, Colorado, 3T manufacturing offers the Thorn Terminator, an aluminum belt tire liner. Their testing machine showed it warding off test punctures that penetrated mere Kevlar belts. Good news for folding bike lovers: the excellent but hard-to-find Birdy folder has a new United States distributor, who believes it's thoroughly silly that a bike that sells fifteen thousand pieces per year worldwide would only sell three hundred in the United States. Look for more aggressive marketing from birdy. This full-suspension folder has much to recommend it. There are three models between $800 and $1,500, plus the over-the-top version with its Rohloff hub at $3,000. DaHon, the folder king, has among its many models a motorized electric folder, the Rue EL. It's $1,600, weighs 37.4 pounds, offers five speeds, all with a claimed range of up to fifty kilometers. Inventors never quit, and Canada's Go Bike folder was on display to challenge the established brands. The Go Bike was displayed nesting comfortably inside a medium size cubby hole. Go bikes range from $1,250 to $1,800. Did you ever wonder how much force it takes to disengage your shoe from an SPD pedal? A hands-on demonstration at the Fit Kit boot gave the answer. They had a Shimano pedal mounted on a test stand, and a torque wrench attached to an SPD cleat. The answer: about 50 inch pounds (which is roughly the same as four foot pounds). Speaking of pedals, the invention of the year was a work in progress called the Side Mount Pedal (SMP). Inventor Steve Lubanski envisions doing away with pedals as we know them. At the end of the crank arm, there would simply be a donut-shaped steel fitting, which spins freely on its ball bearings. Your shoe would have a slot on the side, to slip over this fitting, plus an appropriate internal structure to carry the pedaling force from the ball of your foot to this fitting. It's a work in progress because not all the parts exist yet. But the abbreviated pedal exists, as do drawings of the imagined shoe. As an interim step, Lubanski has a titanium piece that attaches to his abbreviated pedal and bolts onto the fittings on the bottom of your shoe. From Adventure Cyclist magazine www.adventurecycling.org John Schubert, Technical Editor can be reached by e-mail at schub ley@aol.com

VeloAllegro.org 10/06 - 10/08/2004, Long Beach, California Interbike 2004 Trade Show Sands Convention Center - Las Vegas, NV 10/06 - 10/08/2004 Stock Photo Courtesy of SMp Pasadena Bicycle Manufacturing is also looking to revolutionize your cycling experience with their SMp pedal system. The inventor is Steve Lubanski of Open Road Bicycle Shop in Pasadena, CA. He says the SMp system gives a four percent pedal-stoke efficiency advantage and allows cyclists to be fitted to smaller - and therefore lighter - bikes. The pedal is simply a disk (about the size of a quarter) at the end of the crank arm. The rider's