Study on evaluation factors of cycle trainer by evaluation grid method

Abstract

In recent years, the importance of exercising habitually began to be recognized, then the number of people riding a bicycle is increasing. In such a situation, cycle trainers are popular as Equipment to ride a bicycle indoors for training. Cycle trainers that fix both wheels are widely used. Also, as cycle trainers that can ride with confidence and feel realism, front wheel fixed type have been developed. Developers are pursuing realism based on trial and error in consideration of experience about fixing method of front wheel fixed type. The design of the fixing method affects the movement of the bicycle and the human motion and is directly connected with the evaluation of the cycle trainer. Therefore it has significance that understands the relationship between the human motion and the sensibility which changes according to the fixing method of the cycle trainer. Furthermore, it is difficult to realize optimal design for each person to consider human diversity. In order to establish design guidelines on realism at the time of riding, it is necessary to understand the factors that users are evaluating and to consider the evaluation factors of cycle trainers in the design. An evaluation grid method is used to understand the user's evaluation factor. This design method is aiming at extracting the part related to evaluation from the cognitive structure of a person by the subject's own words. Questionnaires of Evaluation grid method was performed for three kinds of cycle trainers with different functions. As a result conglomerate evaluation tree was gotten.