How much more speed for £1.5K

eoin1982

Hello All,
I currently have a dawes galaxy, but I am very tempted by an all-carbon road bike (maybe a trek madone or giant TCR etc). I havent ridden any racing bike yet - but before I do, I'd like to know; how much of an increase in speed am I likely to gain by simply jumping on a lighter bike and putting in the same power as on my Dawes (which weighs ~13kg). Am I going to jump on a trek madone and think - oh jeezus, what a thrill; will climbing up a hill become a breeze? Or is it just a lot of hype and should I keep my money in a savings account gathering dust (and no interest!). Thanks for your thoughts. (FYI - I certainly want to develop my road riding/racing, and eventually take part in some races - understandably racers must offer an advantage, otherwise they wouldnt be on sale, but I'd like to get some feedback on your experiences!)

Best wishes,

Percy Veere

I too have a Dawes Super Galaxy that I use for touring, and recently purchased a Trek Madone 4.5

The speed increase is good, probably shaving about 15 minutes off a 2 hour ride. But that's only one reason. You get a more responsive bike (can be twitchy until you get used to it being much lighter) and you can certainly accelerate better and climb faster.

Not to say the Dawes is bad, I wouldn't use my Trek for touring.

What you may end up doing is the same speed on the Trek, but using less energy to do it

alfablue

Riding a lightweight road bike after a tourer...it feels so lively, fantastic fun!

Bhima

I thought the Dawes Galaxy was a racing bike? My neighbour was a cat.3 racer and raced on one in the early-90s...?

You'll notice a difference up hills and you'll be able to control the bike a bit better, especially round corners.

Once you go beyond £999 on a road bike, the differences are really hard to notice, unless you're really really fit, in my opinion.

jibberjim

eoin1982 wrote:

Am I going to jump on a trek madone and think - oh jeezus, what a thrill; will climbing up a hill become a breeze?

I added a Cervelo RS to my stable, to go with a Dawes Galaxy that was already there. On a pretty fast flat circuit of 21km, I was only a km/h faster, so roughly a minute knocked off a roughly 40 minute ride.

So not a huge deal, however, when hills came into play, the hills what a lot easier, less taxing, and more enjoyable.

The biggest and most fun thing though was the accelleration.

A road bike is a lot more fun, and I'd encourage you to try it.

il_principe

Lightweight roadbikes are enormous fun, but remember it's the engine that counts most of all!*

*this has never stopped me from spending silly money on bike porn.