A little experiment

[mg6682]

Recently got back into rowing and signed up for my first competition this summer. I've been casually rowing my home model D/PM4 over the last year or so. I've always felt if rowed a little "stiff", if you will, but chalked it up to newness (250K). I went to work yesterday and did my first real workout, some intervals another member suggested I do to get a feeling where I stood on my 2K. The rowing seemed easier than the home model and produced times I thought were much faster than the rower at home 5s or more per avg 500.

Checked the forums and read similar threads, which generally ended in lack of knowledge or experience with the rowers and how to use them. Couldn't really find anything that showed one rower, with a similar set-up, rowed different times than another.

Emailed Concept 2 and immediately got a response back from one of the engineers, Jon Williams. I wont bore you with the several emails we exchanged, but I can say, Mr. Williams was a rock star in helping me with questions about the rower. He encouraged I try an experiment and eagerly waited my results.

Went home, picked up my rower, and took it to work. Lined up all four, cleaned the rails, and set the DF to 130 on each one. My plan was to have several co-workers help, but I couldn't wait. Only had time for all-out 100m (not what Mr. Williams suggested) with about 5 mins rest between rounds. All of the rowers were Model D's with 750k - low 1 Mil K on them).

Results:

Work 1 - 15.8s, 39sm, 1:19.0 avg/500
Work 2 - 15.5s, 40sm, 1:17.9 avg/500
Mine - 15.4s, 40sm, 1:17.4 avg/500

Obviously, no need to do the fourth. The only difference was when I rowed at home, the rower sits directly on the living room carpet with a thick pad. Maybe that and the fact the machine is pretty new makes me "feel" a difference, but I doubt it. The main point was the thank Mr. Williams and to let others know that if they think there's a problem, there probably isnt.

[jackarabit]

Obviously, no need to do the fourth.

I trust the untested fourth machine was not the one which appeared to register a faster time for a similar effort than did your home erg. I do give you credit for loading, or unloading, the dice (depending on the relative influence on performance which one attributes to warmups) by putting your machine third in the order rowed.

What test protocol was suggested by C2Jon?

Jack

[mg6682]

Jon suggested a much more rigorous test: random marking of machines, environment, partially covered screens, longer distances, HR monitors etc - I just didn't have the time to deal with that. The fourth machine was not the faster time, the first one was.

[Carl Watts]

Essentially all the rowers are the same out of the factory.

What changes things is wear and tear and when they get so bad there is simply no way you can row on it let alone "Race" on it. These machines can be found at a gym near you.

Small improvements could be made in efficiency like changing some of the bearings and optimising the bungee return force but the difference would be minimal.

What is really the problem is the rower themselves, you simply cannot compare one Erg to another using a person as your consistency is all over the place from one row to the next and from day to day by a far bigger percentage than the machines.

If you keep your own Erg in tip top shape mechanically, it can make a difference.