Me, Caad9 or Wheels ?

rozza28

After 12 months of grinding the wife down , she finally gave in to the pressure and let me get a new bike . So after much tyre kicking and review reading with a budget of £1000 snapped up a Caad9 105 after a short test ride.
Only ridden it a couple of times about 20 miles (trying not to get it wet ) , the frame is lovely and smooth with nice smooth gear changes and comfortable but it does'nt seem to roll very well or climb easily.
I have only been riding about 3 years and only ever had 1 bike a used and to small Massi master with campag mirage groupset and a set of Mavic aksium wheels.
Now when I got the Caad9 which is the right size, lighter, better groupset I was expecting it to be faster and easier going up hills than my Massi but it is'nt .
So all the reviews I've read cannot be wrong which means its either me or the wheelset RS10's slowing it down or does it take a few miles for bearings to loosen off on a new bike ?

Anonymous

Check the brakes aren't rubbing when you climb!

jibberjim

I'm afraid there's almost no difference in bikes, a couple of kilo's off the bike is just not worth a noticeable difference when climbing. Same with stiffness, there's just nothing that's really making the difference up the hill.

Position effects more on the flat than the bike too - so if you were more aerodynamic on the old bike you'll likely be faster.

Tyres and tubes actually have a bigger effect than any of the other things - you may well simply have slow tyres on the new bike - but even then the differences aren't massive.

jeepie

I found a massive difference when I changed my tyres, pedals and wheels so don't despair. They were expensive, but I got some Mavic open pro rims, hope hubs and sapain spoke hand builts and boy that made a difference when climbing, so if you like the frame that's the main thing - start the campaign on the missus for new wheels.

My bianchi came with heavy wheels that I never liked and upgraded them three years later when I could afford it.

Headhuunter

I noticed a difference when I changed from Shimano WHR550 (or something like that) wheels to RS80s. The RS80s are MUCH stiffer, when you hammer down on the pedals, the bike accelerates so quickly, whereas I could feel the WHR550s flexing and if I pushed up hills the wheels would touch the brakes...