Turning my bike into a race machine.

nicklong

Or, if you're interested in going faster rather than upgrading your bike, get a Stages Power Meter and spend the rest on a 2nd hand fluid turbo trainer and a TrainerRoad subscription.

In fact, that would be a great experiment / mag article - take 2 'untrained' beginner riders, give them both £1000 and see who is faster after 3 months - the one spending it on better kit versus the one spending it on coaching, training equipment etc!

JesseD

thecycleclinic wrote:

You don't have to spend much to have a bike fit for racing. to be honest if you are quick you'll be quick on your current steed. Conti GP4000's with latex tubes are about as good as it gets for a clincher.

Yeah you're probably right, not the answer I wanted to hear but still needs must and all that, plus trying to sneak a couple of hundred quid instead of a couple of grand past the wedding accountant is a lot easier.

From the wheel thread do Kinlin to the XR31t in 24/28 configuration with the 28 spoke rear being offset, might be slightly overkill but for a couple of extra grams they would be stiffer if my train of thought is correct?

JesseD

nicklong wrote:

Or, if you're interested in going faster rather than upgrading your bike, get a Stages Power Meter and spend the rest on a 2nd hand fluid turbo trainer and a TrainerRoad subscription.

In fact, that would be a great experiment / mag article - take 2 'untrained' beginner riders, give them both £1000 and see who is faster after 3 months - the one spending it on better kit versus the one spending it on coaching, training equipment etc!

That would be a good study, I'm in if someone wants to give me a grand!

I do think the coach idea is a good one though, I think we are all guilty of training without a proper plan or much of clue of what to actually do to make ourselves faster.

DeVlaeminck

I think here is more benefit in a half decent set of carbon wheels than some on here do - that said I don't actually race on them myself but a few years back i did some TTing and some second hand corimas made a noticeable difference - OK so TTing isn't road racing but at some key points in a road race you will be in the wind - trying to bridge, attacking and if you want to win the sprint! I'd go wheels over a power meter unless you are already quite structured in your training - some pms end up as glorified bike computers.