Aero//lightweight for big guy

smythy82

Hi all,

I have been riding a Specialized Allez sport for the last 2 years and am to buy a higher tier bike. The Allez was a good bike but I need more! Traditionally all I have heard was light, light, light in regards to bike choice. About 3 months ago, I was taking to a well respected ex-pro, who`s opinion I highly respect, who very bluntly that I stupid for chasing a light weight machine and to go with the latest trend and get myself a road aero bike. He then proceeded to tell me that if I am 100kg and 6ft 3in, with not a stick of fat a light weight bike was pointless.

I can see the sense in his thinking? My latest bike visits have me looking at the Argon 18 Nitrogen.

Any comments please...particularly interested in aero road bike owners and big lads!

sirmol

What do you want from a new bike? Easier to climb? Speed? Or is it just a nice new shiny

ayjaycee

What Sirmol said. But, in addition, I would suggest that no bike would be very 'aero' with a 6'3" 100kg human being on board - at least not enough to make any difference in the real world. IMHO your ex pro was talking ballocks (or had a new range of 'aero bikes' to sell). Sorry for the negative response.

napoleond

Have to agree here, a light weight/aero road bike is like pi55ing in the Atlantic for us bigger guys. Get as aero position as you can on the bike you have, that will make a difference.

meanredspider

There's probably some sense to what people are saying about aero and weight. That said, a nice bike is nicer to ride if not significantly quicker. Occasionally I jump on my original Focus Variado 105 aluminium framed bike and it just underlines how much more enjoyable my better bikes are to ride. And if they encourages you to ride further and more often, you will get faster.

PTestTeam

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19769060#p19769060]smythy82[/url] wrote:

Hi all,

I have been riding a Specialized Allez sport for the last 2 years and am to buy a higher tier bike. The Allez was a good bike but I need more! Traditionally all I have heard was light, light, light in regards to bike choice. About 3 months ago, I was taking to a well respected ex-pro, who`s opinion I highly respect, who very bluntly that I stupid for chasing a light weight machine and to go with the latest trend and get myself a road aero bike. He then proceeded to tell me that if I am 100kg and 6ft 3in, with not a stick of fat a light weight bike was pointless.

I can see the sense in his thinking? My latest bike visits have me looking at the Argon 18 Nitrogen.

Any comments please...particularly interested in aero road bike owners and big lads!

Take notice of your mate – he's got much more experience than 99% of people on here!

If you're a big guy and putting a lot of power out then a lightweight bike is no good for you. A lot of them do have weight restrictions.

If I were you I'd look for a custom carbon frame that's built with your weight and riding style in mind. My carbon frame is sort of aero, is over 1kg but built for me and because of that it rides superbly.

cougie

Just look at the profile of you on a bike head on. The bike frame is tiny by comparison to you. So any aero benefits are very very minimal



Just get a bike that rides well and you like the look of. Aero won't make you measurably faster.

Grill

The fastest bike is the one you enjoy riding the most. Get whatever makes you happy.

kajjal

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19769094#p19769094]NapoleonD[/url] wrote:

Have to agree here, a light weight/aero road bike is like pi55ing in the Atlantic for us bigger guys. Get as aero position as you can on the bike you have, that will make a difference.

I agree, I am 6ft7 and 100KG, the biggest gain I got appart from fitness and eating fairly healthily was to ride in the drops more. Once I had adjusted my bike setup correctly this meant I was going faster with no additional effort. For bigger riders wind resistance is a big thing to overcome at speed.

Also wear tighter fitting clothing as being a large sail makes it hard work at higher speeds.

Another thing I found was 25 / 28mm tyres helped as well to smooth out the road more. I would be concerned about having a very light weight bike as it would take a real pounding from me, especially the wheels. This is why I ended up with a Diverge as it goes well off road as well.