How much does the bike matter ?
JamesB
Posts: 1,184
Coming to the end of 2012 and I`ve been reviewing my riding logs since 2010
Well hopefully this is the right section for my practical observations which may be of use
in the eternal debates about what bike, does weight matter??
Over last three years I`ve used four different road bikes, two stripped down light road bikes, one carbon (viner) , one Ti (Lynskey) --both weigh in at about 8 kg, both were run with Campag Chorus + light clinchers 1500-1800 gm / pair (Hope / Open Pros, Tune / RR415).
The other two bikes were set up for all weather riding, full mudguards at all times, Campag Centaur Hope / Open Pro wheels mostly. the Ti bike, a Van Nic Yukon, comes in at c 9 kg, the Cotic X steel at 11 kg
My weight is 78 kg and my riding is for enjoyment, training, a few sportives. I`ve worked out some stats for UK rides only (Continental Raids were much slower events and would have distorted the figures I think)
So I`ve got the following:
Lynskey 2424 UK miles, avg 16.08
Van Nicholas 7445 UK miles , avg 15.61
Viner Mitus 3071 UK miles, avg 15.88
Cotic X 680 UK miles, avg 15.23
This to me appears to show that the two lighter, stiffer bikes do give a quicker ride. BUT a caveat is that neither of these bikes were used during poor weather or winter, so they were `best conditions` only , ie wearing lighter, less restrictive clothing, and under better weather conditions.
So does this really show that the bike matters ??
Well hopefully this is the right section for my practical observations which may be of use
in the eternal debates about what bike, does weight matter??Over last three years I`ve used four different road bikes, two stripped down light road bikes, one carbon (viner) , one Ti (Lynskey) --both weigh in at about 8 kg, both were run with Campag Chorus + light clinchers 1500-1800 gm / pair (Hope / Open Pros, Tune / RR415).
The other two bikes were set up for all weather riding, full mudguards at all times, Campag Centaur Hope / Open Pro wheels mostly. the Ti bike, a Van Nic Yukon, comes in at c 9 kg, the Cotic X steel at 11 kg
My weight is 78 kg and my riding is for enjoyment, training, a few sportives. I`ve worked out some stats for UK rides only (Continental Raids were much slower events and would have distorted the figures I think)
So I`ve got the following:
Lynskey 2424 UK miles, avg 16.08
Van Nicholas 7445 UK miles , avg 15.61
Viner Mitus 3071 UK miles, avg 15.88
Cotic X 680 UK miles, avg 15.23
This to me appears to show that the two lighter, stiffer bikes do give a quicker ride. BUT a caveat is that neither of these bikes were used during poor weather or winter, so they were `best conditions` only , ie wearing lighter, less restrictive clothing, and under better weather conditions.
So does this really show that the bike matters ??
0
Posts
However I truly believe the bike does matter. 1mph difference in speed is the difference between getting dropped and staying with a group. Once you are dropped the gap then widens inexorably and is very difficult to recover, by the time you get back you are exhausted and then can't keep up.
I have ridden 3 bikes recently. One was a 1996 bike in good condition. The frame is flexy and the overall weight was around 9kg. I found keeping up with my usual club run very hard work on this bike.
The other two are about 8kg and stiff as anyone needs (one alu the other carbon). They handle superbly and I have no problem keeping up, more often told to slow down!
Obviously not, given what you've just stated. Of course a lighter bike requires less energy to go a given distance, but the difference is almost certainly less than those numbers suggest, and the data is pretty worthless since there's no controlling for variables.
I don`t think data is worthless though as it does cover a great deal of miles, and I could also filter out winter months riding to compare say Van Nic against Lynskey for use May - Oct only.......
all summers 3499 @ 15.52
all winters 3946 @ 15.68
Most of my riding is in moderately hilly terrain, reckon on 15-20m climbing per mile cycled.
which to me may indicate a flat fitness rate over the whole year and that the extra 0.5 mph for the Lynskey (Lynskey 2424 UK miles, avg 16.08) is significant, but then I`m not a statistician !
How else do we justify our bling bikes?
Now go away and take your tedious, if accurate, posts with you!
PS:- Merry Christmas.
LIfe is too short to never have had a good bike. Too often people put up with sheit bikes. But we spend so much of our time riding, why ride sheit?
Riding a nice bike feels great and you can totally experience the design and engineering put into a top range bike. I commute and train on a Giant TCX, race a Giant TCR Advanced ISP, and my "best" bike for Italian sportives is a Cervelo R5 VWD. When I take the TCD Advanced on the same training rides as the Alu TCX I destroy my virtual self when I look at the training stats later.
You do go faster on a lighter, stiffer bike. In my long experience that is a fact.
Check out blowout deals on the outgoing Ribble Stealth or the Canyon SLX carbon, both of which have been superseeded. Try a BB30 crankset set up as well which was a real eye-opener to me.
Having ridden all my bkes on sportives, I'dd double pb21's estimates above (Do you really live in Djibouti? That takes balls).
agree , that is what my calcs do suggest even though host of other variables. But I think also a lighter bike and wheelset has a big `feel good` factor to it that makes one want to ride faster
Somehwere a thread exists that based on a pro climbing Alpe d`Huez at a standard power output (and taking about 50 min for the climb) found that an extra kg = one minute added per hour of climbing, weight being added to frame or wheels for these expt
Lol - you are way behind on this forum but never mind!
From 4 weeks ago (on this thread - http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40020&t=12890634&p=17996005&hilit=average+%26+speed+%26+dawes#p17996005:
So there you go - it doesn't make that much difference - and certainly not between modern carbon bikes.
That might be so, but if so, a £1000 bike would also be about 5-10 minutes quicker over the 100km route than the £500 bike
Have we ever seen a season where one bike make swept all of the races ?
Interesting stats there- really makes it look like there's not much difference.
oh well , comes of living out in the semi-sticks (where sheep outnumber humans 50 :1
Small African country Olympic cycling team turn up with old fashioned sit up and beg bikes. They are loaned modern bikes by another team. It's all about the bike.
Scenario 2
Make all the top pros race for one season on the same bike. The only things they can change are the stem and saddle. It has nothing to do with the bike.
Scenario 3
Ask the same pros if it is about the bike. Who pays their mortgage? It's all about the bike
How many 'marginal gains' = 1 'gain' ?
If you are working on your fitness, losing weight etc to make marginal gains then why not get a lighter/stiffer bike to make another marginal gain? Assuming of course that you have the cash to spare.
That's an interesting concept, "marginal gains", catchy. It would be interesting to set up a cycling team with this philosophy and see if they get anywhere with it.
It'll never catch on GG