This dataset contains post-processed data from an experimental study investigating whether bicycle handling quality is a matter of personal preference or an intrinsic, measurable property of the vehicle. Nineteen cyclists performed a controlled riding task on an instrumented cargo bicycle with four adjustable configurations (A, B, C, D), modified by changing the position of a 3 kg mass on the steering assembly. This alteration affected the steering inertia and handling dynamics while remaining visually concealed from participants.
The experiment took place indoors on a flat surface using a predefined track including straight-line riding, a U-turn, and a slalom. Each participant completed 8 trials, experiencing all pairwise transitions between configurations in a balanced order. They were instructed to maintain a constant speed of 5 km/h and to ride as straight as possible, minimizing deviations of the front wheel contact point.
Performance was objectively measured using three inertial measurement units (IMUs) embedded in smartphones (Nokia 3.4), sampling at 200 Hz.
The performance metric, normalized front wheel path length, was computed using ground plane kinematics and bicycle's parameters.
Workload was assessed using a relative version of the NASA-TLX questionnaire, focusing on five dimensions: Mental Demand, Physical Demand, Temporal Demand, Effort, and Frustration. After every two consecutive trials, participants reported perceived changes and estimated percentage differences, later normalized per participant to reduce inter-subject variability.
Participants were 19 adults (4 female, 15 male) with varying self-assessed cycling expertise (Medium: 6, High: 5, Very High: 7). All provided informed consent. The study was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of TU Delft.
The dataset includes performance metrics, workload assessments, trial sequences, and configuration parameters.
" authors: - family-names: Ronné given-names: Jules - family-names: Moore given-names: Jason K. orcid: "https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8698-6143" - family-names: Dubuis given-names: Laura orcid: "https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0851-0844" - family-names: Robert given-names: Thomas orcid: "https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6502-7082" title: "Supplementary data for the article: Personal Preference or Intrinsic Quality? A Study on Bicycle Handling Quality" keywords: version: 1 identifiers: - type: doi value: 10.4121/3268cec4-be6e-4be3-863e-41ba1e0b20af.v1 license: CC BY 4.0 date-released: 2025-10-07