Performance advantage of road bikes

milton50

Hi guys,

I've recently really got into road cycling and I'm going to be joining my local club in a few weeks. In the meantime I've been comparing my times to that of the average club riders over the same time trial routes (around 11 miles). I've found that I'm about 3 mins behind the bottom riders and a good 6-7 mins behind the top riders.

Now at the moment I'm riding a Carerra gryphon which has horizontal handlebars and, to my untrained eye, a fairly poor frame.

So my question is this: if I bought a full road bike, let's say a Specialized Allez 27 2008, how much extra performance would that give me than my current bike?

Now obviously some of the time is down to physical performance (I've only been riding a couple of months) but I'm just trying to get some idea of how much quicker a road bike would be than a 'hybrid' bike.

Thanks

Tom Butcher

I don't really know what your current bike is like but a road bike will be minutes faster - and a number on your back should be worth a few minutes too. I imagine the top guys are on time trial bikes and maybe using aero lids, skin suits etc - if so there's another minute or two there.

milton50

Yeh, I've looked at the photo gallery on their website and some of the guys are riding Trek Tarmac's so £2000+, so I haven't got the budget to compete with those guys but hopefully a new road bike will make me competitive with the midfield.

Thanks for your input.

chuckcork

I'd suggest a number of reasons for difference in times, the most obvious being that they are fitter and stronger from having been at it longer.

The less obvious is that they ride in a different way, e.g. the cadence on the particular gears may be more efficient (if I drop a gear and go for a faster cadence when I'm knackered, I find I go faster); they have a better regime dietwise and what they drink when on the road (makes a hue difference); or simply the are using a computer that gives them feedback e.g. heartrate with speed, so they know what they are doing and how their responding and put more effort in accordingly.

On the last, I find it a psychological boost to see what my body is doing objectively, I may feel for example that I'm struggling to move, when in fact I'm putting a lot of effort in and moving at a fairly snappy pace. Seeing that enourages me to keep it up, or to try harder.

Could also be as simple as riding a road bike with good wheels and tyres (less rolling resistance to overcome)

Where are you seeing their times? It would be interesting if only for comparison.

Oh, and there would be a difference, but I think it would be hard to know exactly how much, but a road bike is designed around going fast, a flat barred bike just isn't.

Phixion

A Carrera Gryphon is a road bike only with flat handlebars rather than drops.

So the only thing you're lacking is drops - unless the other guys are on CF frames.

carl_p

With a flat bar bike you will have the aerodynamics of a bus compared to the guys on drops and aeros. If the whole time thing is important to you then you need drops end of.
However it is impossible to be precise on how much quicker you would be, possibly 3mph average speed faster?? What makes a bike fast is you - how fit and strong in the leg you are, how effective you are with the gears and to some extent how brave you are.

Also allow for the transition from flat bars to drops as they take some getting used to. Gear shifting is different and needs to be mastered. The brake levers are also some distance away when riding on the hoods which is spooky at first. Even with a full spec roadie it could be a while before you really fast.

jezcc

... for me riding a 20km route my average speed goes

Specialized Sirrus +0mph
Specialized Allez on the drop bars +2mph
Specialized allez on tri-bars +4 or 5 mph

So drops will help a lot, as for rolling resistance etc... hard to tell. Certainly my sirrus has no more rolling resistance than the Allez I've used.

jezcc

in less than a week I'll have a 56cm ribble which I expect to ride faster than the 54cm specialized I've been borrowing... we'll see.

stabilised

Buying big increases in speed is actually pretty difficult to do, in my opinion.

Someone, somewhere once said something like, 'It's not about the bike,' and he was right about that (if perhaps not too much else). If you are looking for big increases in overall average speeds (like 4 or 5 mph) then time on the bike is going to be the biggest contribution you can make to going faster and it doesn't come easily. What good club riders have over most of us is time and commitment. Sometimes it's raw talent, sure, but 200 miles a week isn't unusual, and over the months and years that just makes a massive difference and can't be replaced by chucking money at things.

£2k+ bikes are lovey (so I'm told - I've never ridden one costing even £1k) and having something that feels taughter, works more smoothly and responds to your inputs quicker will help at the margins, sure, but at the margins.

Good technique (pedalling in circles, keeping the cadence up, knowing how to climb efficiently and that sort of thing) can be learned and practiced and will help, too, but going from a flat bar road bike like your Gryffon to an Allez is not likely to produce a big leap in performance. What might be the most important thing about a newer, nicer bike is that you will enjoy riding it more, so you will ride it more and that will make you faster. It just takes time but if you keep on riding - and joining a club will be a big help in motivating you to ride, giving you people to talk to and learn from - then you'll get faster. The Allez will make sure you have the advantages that come from proper road bikes, especially the variety of riding positions and better aerodynamics, so is a sensible move to make.

I swapped my old road bike (and I mean old - circa 1991 531 steel frame, various bits of 105 from that era, MA2 on Specialized wheels) for a Ribble 'special edition' three years back and my times for my standard ride improved by about 5%. The pleasure of riding it, though, made the money worthwhile and I have ridden more as a result, and am probably a bit quicker than I was then (at my age, maintaining performance is the goal!)

salsarider79

stabilised: It was Lance Armstrong who said that.

Anyway Lighter frames, lighter wheels, more aerodynamics are all good ways to cut time and be amoungst the best. The specailized will cut time off your ride as the bike will be lighter and more aerodynamic. But if you really want to get faster, ride. Sorry but it's as simple as that. I am as fast this year over 50miles on my single speed, as I was last year on a geared bike. I aim for about 200 miles a week, but often get 100-150miles in per week. Yoga and meditation are also good because they allow muscles to work more efficiently and allow your mind to be in right place. Study has shown that mental strength can improve your time by up to 10%.
So yeah, go out and ride. Focus on what you want and aim for that. Ride as much as you can. You can do it.

Boxster

Hi,

Does anybody have any knowledge or experience of the Raleigh 400? I currently ride a Cannondale mtb and would like to move to a road bike. My local dealer has Dawes and Raleigh and I am looking for something to help me build up to shorter sportives or audaxes. I'm 55 and in good health! The delaer showed me a Dawes Audax Sport but also said that lots of guys are buying Raleigh now. I've looked for a test on the Raleigh 400 but found nothing.

Can anybody out there help?

stabilised

[stabilised: It was Lance Armstrong who said that.]

Irony really doesn't work in non-verbal forms, does it?

milton50

I can assure you guys I wasn't looking for a quick way to gain speed or 'buy myself some time.' I'm out riding basically every day. I just love cycling.

What I was getting at was if the same rider in the same conditions and on the same route set a time first using my current bike and then a racing bike what kind of performance advantage would he have gained.

Anyway thanks for the input. I'd better step up the training

Juju_uk_68

I think you will find an initial big increase in speed, and slow gains from that point on.

I have been cycling to work occasionally, a 20 mile round trip, over the last few years. I had only been doing perhaps a dozen journeys a year like that, as we dont have changing facilties and I was doing it on my Orange p7 mtb.

At the start of the summer, the journey would take me ages - perhaps in excess fo 50 mins. (there were hills).

However, I just bought a Bianchi c2c alu nirone with Xenon,, and my first ride in was about 15minutes quicker than the previous week no the mtb - Its now always under 40 mins even in a head wind, and when it comes to the gentle slopes, I'm no longer clacking down to very slow speeds to keep the cadence up, but still measurably going up the hills a at a speed that makes you feel your getting somewhere, (which makes them shorter and psychologically easier). I'm no longer knackered at work after cycling in, and I am not stopping for a breather, and basically cycling harder and faster.

I have to cycle in to justify £600 on a new bike, let alone owning two, when I cant afford to keep my car working, but the thrill of the new purchase, and the gains in fitness I am feeling, make it the opposite of a vicious cycle - This morning I'd not planned to cycle in, I am still doing it say 3x pw just to give my fat little legs a rest from time to time, but thought "what the hell, its a lovely morning". -

So from my calcs, I was getting into work at about 10miles for 50 minutes effort. I am now doing 10 miiles in 37. a rough calc is that I am nearly 1/3 faster for the new bike. And enjoying it more on the right "tool" for the road. Indeed on a weigh in, without addressing dietry concerns, I have lost almost half a stone over the summer and people are just beginning to notice, which reinforces the committment, and makes it feel worth it.