How much difference does your road bike make?

[SwissVan]

Hi guys I just want to ask out of your own experiences how much of a time difference can a better lighter bike really make? I ride a entry level Al-frame how much faster would I be on a good carbon bike?

 

Uncle LAnce said it's not about the bike.

 

Many years ago i did a test of this lighter bike issue by doing 2 x 40 km TT at a fixed HR with the same bike and on the same course, same conditions ect....

 

First TT was with 2 full water bottles (+/- 1.4 kg) and the other was with no water bottles.

 

The 1st TT was marginaly quicker by about 20 seconds, which probably could be attributed to HR drift during the 2nd TT.

[Ispeed_V]

It's not about the bike, but the person on the bike. Scenario 85KG guy on a 80's retro Alpina or a 130kg guy on a 100k plus Pinnarelo Dogma . Food for thought

[Bos]

My old aluminium Bianchi is lighter than a rather expensive new carbon Bianchi.

 

As every one says spend money on the wheels, that will shave off some time.

 

I rebuilt an old carbon to see there was a difference in road buzz, both bikes are from around 2005 era.

 

no real difference in ride, the carbon is actually a bit hevier, but feels lighter.

 

Its cause its stiffer.

[tri69]

Get a training program and a coach. will be cheaper. You'll go faster.

 

+1 Take your old Alu frame and stap a 10kg weight to it and train for a month or 2, on race day remove the weight, that will amke a huge differance!

[DaLoCo]

Get a training program and a coach. will be cheaper. You'll go faster.

 

This is true....I worked out a halfbaked program based loosely on the time crunched cyclist and some ideas chucked around here on the hub...it added 3 km/h in two week

[Cyclewizz]

Don't think you'll go much faster if you swap the frame but once you go carbon I doubt you'll go back.

The ride / comfort is just so much nicer.

 

Viva CARBON FIBER !!!

[Raceface]

well...loads of other factors

 

Upgraded from a 8.4kg Alu Trek - 2010 Argus time 3h16, windy and group D, I weighed 78.5kg

Madone to a 6.85KG Carbon Trek Madone - 2011 Argus time 2h53, windless and started in A. I weighted 73kg

 

So the 23 minutes could be explained by 1) bike; 2) wind 3) group 4) my weight. So it actually looks pretty even.

 

But, big difference is that i was overseas in 2011 and did not do any training. Only did one 90km ride and spinning 2 times a week. Whereas in 2010 I did 2 months of hard training.

 

In my opinion, bike probably made a 5 - 8 minute difference on Argus, its definitely quicker to accelarate and slightly quicker up hills, so more difficult to get dropped - but its sort off same on downhills and flats (especially if you ride in groups).

 

The new one is also more comfy and nicer on the eye!

[Jeepdude]

WE always want to know if bikes will make us faster. sometimes they do , sometimes they don't. you WONT turn into a PRO if you buy a Carbon bike...but if a PRO turned up at le Tour with a 10kg ALU/Steel roadie he won't be gunning for the win. On their level the boundaries get pushed to eek out miniscule percentages of improvement to have the upper hand ...hence Lance's statement give me the SH%t that kills em.

TRAIN hard. that will make you lots faster and train smart. NO need for overtraining.

still Carbon is soooooooo beautifull. so are models...would i be a better lover if i traded up my lovely dependable wife? i would probably umm prematurely blow up

Edited April 20, 2011 by jeepdude

[Jeepdude]

Don't think you'll go much faster if you swap the frame but once you go carbon I doubt you'll go back.

The ride / comfort is just so much nicer.

 

Viva CARBON FIBER !!!

 

My KArbin Ryperd.....yepie yepie yup

[Giant]

NO Difference at all,

most road times are related to the group you are in, and going carbon will not make you cabable of staying with a group that would have dropped you on your steel.

Anyway Burry won a road race in Pmb last weekend on his 29er, so clearly the bike counts for little

[AndreZA]

WE always want to know if bikes will make us faster. sometimes they do , sometimes they don't. you WONT turn into a PRO if you buy a Carbon bike...but if a PRO turned up at le Tour with a 10kg ALU/Steel roadie he won't be gunning for the win.

 

Dan Craven won a race on a BEN bike. He only replaced the stock pedals with clipless. Steel frame , downtube shifters and no atomically correct saddle.

[CharlV]

From personal experience it made next to no difference to me. I went from an Alu framed cheapo road bike to a blinging carbon bike and didn't get any faster. The difference came in comfort as I was properly fitted for my new bike plus carbon frames are meant to dampen road vibrations alot more than alu. However because I had a nice bike I started enjoying my riding more, hence rode more, hence got faster that way.

 

I think that unless your alu bike is ultra heavy or very unaerodynamic you'll notice precious little extra speed. It's all about the engine.

 

 

Agree here ,made no difference in my times except the peeps stoped laughing at my yellow 10 year old alu giant shimano 600 , now replaced by a 906 merida ultegra -R 20 000 biggest mistake Ive made so far . Stick with your alu !!!!!

[Weight Weenie]

My road loop has a bit of very rough tar and rode it a few days apart a while back. 1st time it was nice as the bike hadnt been ridden for a bit so tyres were softish, 2nd time I pumped the tyres to 100/110psi and I thought I might chip a tooth, was very rough !

 

So maybe have a look at tyre pressure before you dump money on a carbon bike. Mine us alu btw.

[Jeepdude]

Dan Craven won a race on a BEN bike. He only replaced the stock pedals with clipless. Steel frame , downtube shifters and no atomically correct saddle.

ja TRUE he was also wearing a shirt and tie.... were there any other EURO pros... missing the point but good comment

[Ceres]

Personally I believe if you have lighter rims with better hubs than you will see a difference on your times.But yeah the best way to be faster is to have stronger legs and be fitter.

 

I agree wheels will make the biggest difference.

[LeTurbo]

On the other hand, there's no end of personal satisfaction in cruising uphill past a Pinarello, Orbea or whatever when the rider is standing and pumping the pedals - and you're sitting on your 1970s steel bike with downtube shifters and riding the middle of the 6-speed cluster. Bwahahahahaha!