Baseball Doesn’t Exist just dropped a video about [ the rise and fall of Power Balance Bracelets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZq3X4D7Ogg&t=625s). It reminded me of the phenomenon circa 2017 when [professional mountain bikers](https://www.pinkbike.com/news/cross-country-tech-vallnord-world-cup-2017.html) were putting “[anti vibration](https://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/features/PIT-BITS-Val-di-Sole-World-Cup-Downhill,11248/Commencal-with-Anti-Vibration-Stickers,117013/sspomer,2 )” stickers with circuits(? or magnets?) on bikes’ hubs, tubes and forks. They are apparently [still for sale](https://wizardstickers.li/index.php/en/pictures-in-action/)
Has anyone here had experience with either bracelets, stickers, or other performance enhancemers? I was living in the Emerald Triangle during the Power Balance boom and I completely missed it. No one I knew wore, or even mentioned them. If I saw people in Portland or San Francisco wearing them, I must have assumed they were the Lance Armstrong “charity” bracelets that were popular. Thats a whole different scam…
I do remember the vibration stickers, was living and riding in NYC and then Colorado, and met and rode with a lot of people. No one had them. Were they ever popular in your area/among your riding crew?
by Clapbakatyerblakcat
8 Comments
I recall another company selling this snake oil. There were a few photos that had popped up on the DH world cup circuit using them, I assume purely for the sponsorship money.
When I first heard about it/saw those photos, I went to their website where there were all sorts of fantastical claims. Even my smooth brain with a highschool knowledge of physics knew it was complete BS meant to sound alluring to the even smoother brained folk. I’m surprised to learn there are actually others doing the same thing.
My biggest curiosity now is, do the people selling these things actually believe they work, or are they just shitty scammers? Difficult to tell these days.
Edit: found the [company ](https://axxios-tech.com/product/?lang=en) I was referring to, Axxios.
I work on material science and can confirm that this is snake oil.
I worked for 16 yrs as a test/design engineer for a consulting firm that specialized in shock and vibration isolation and structural dynamics. We’re talking whole satellites to components on a circuit board. All this crap, including the crap that goes in the ends of your handlebars is useless! The link in the comments had a line about every material has a resonance, which tells me these people know absolutely nothing about vibration. Every structure has resonances and the material’s mechanical properties and shape determine what those are. To reduce vibration in a structure like a bike frame or handlebar there is really only one effective way that can reduce the amplitude of vibration across multiple frequencies, that is constrained layer damping. Trying to implement that in a bike frame would be damn near impossible but would be fun to try!
The only thing that reduces vibration is stuff like Vibrocore in Spank’s handlebars and rims, but the difference isn’t dramatic, just in certain frequency ranges and the items are designed around that core (ie: the bars are more flexible to work with the core) and you need a super stiff stem, IME, to get any benefit.
Sounds like a scam.
BUT…
A tuned mass damper might work to stabilize a bike and reduce arm pump. I hope when Rimpact comes out with one, it’s not the price of a new bike, because I’d like to try it.
Awesome, this reminds me of a K2 ski from the mid 90s that had a little red light to use the electricity that supposedly came from a shock damper in the ski.
Wow, what a bizarre thing. Never heard of them, but obviously total snake oil. The fact that two of the worlds best XCO racers (Mathias Flückiger and Alessandra Keller) are quoted on their website endorsing them is wild. And sure enough, the company is listed as an official partner on their team’s (Thoemus Maxon) website.
I sure hope this whole thing is some sort of elaborate Swiss money laundering scheme, because those stickers are $350 for 12.
Maybe stop carrying your vibrator everywhere