Expensive light bicycles do not get you to work faster

[ultraviolet]

heres an interesting article in the telegraph:




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/h...les-do-not-get-you-to-work-faster-doctor.html

 

[MontyVeda]

interesting indeed, with not surpising results... a £1000 bike doesn't make an instant athlete

 

[numbnuts]

"The purchase of the carbon bike made me feel good

well that's a lot faster then and the smile is bigger

 

[GrasB]

I think the way you ride to work will have a much bigger impact on how fast you are on a bike. Most people aren't pushing that hard but riding along at a comfort level of their choosing & to that end it'd be interesting to see the heart rate between the carbon & the steel bike.

For me I know that riding to work on my road bike does make a 3-4% difference to my speed. There are several reasons for this, one is that I'm riding mostly on open roads with very little to impede my progress. Also as I tend to ride quickly & push quite hard & the more aggressive body position I can get into on the road bike means on the long sections, especially into a head wind, I can be going noticeably faster. The final big one is the stiffness of the BB area & chain stays, basically the road bike knocks my commuter bike for 6 in this regard, having used a PowerTap hub & Quarq power meter cranks you can see that when I put the big out of the saddle power in the commuter bike transmits less power into the rear wheel, so going up hills or accelerating very hard I'm travelling faster/accelerating harder for the same effort

 

[kevin_cambs_uk]

That was a very interesting article, I liked how he flipped a coin to decide which bike to take !

Having been a 'carbon man', since 2002, I recently borrowed my mates Trek 1000 ( i was going to swap my golf clubs for it) , a bike I sold to him when I bought my Trek 5200 carbon.

I had the idea that in the bad weather I would take his bike, anyway after cleaning it up and servicing it I took it out for a spin, and decided within 10 yards it was too heavy and would be like dancing with anne widdicombe on Strictly, instead of one of the other beautiful ladies on there !, so the deal was off and I returned the bike to him

So I found his article very interesting ...

 

[gaz]

The real question is, do people buy carbon bikes to get to work faster?

I've recently swapped from a carbon bike to a steel bike for commuting to work. I can say that i get to work in a similar amount of time but i know which one is easier to use 10 times a week.

 

[palinurus]

Cock.

If I ride to work on my normal commuter bike I'm slow.

If I ride to work on my (relatively) expensive, lightweight TT bike I'm quicker.

But I don't care how long it takes to get to work. If it's nice and I average 12 mph and get there 10 minutes late that's fine by me.

 

[DrSquirrel]

Really if they wanted to test it well - do some Time Trials on each bike and then see.

interesting indeed, with not surpising results... a £1000 bike doesn't make an instant athlete

What I also hate is that some how if you have the money to buy a nice bike, yet you're "not that fast" or don't use it often you're "all the gear..."

Surely if you have enough money - you shouldn't be limited to a cheaper bike just because "your not all it".


This kind of elitism I hate, its just jealously - if someone wants to spend, let them.

 

[MontyVeda]

Really if they wanted to test it well - do some Time Trials on each bike and then see.

MontyVeda, on 11 December 2010 - 11:28:35, said:
interesting indeed, with not surpising results... a £1000 bike doesn't make an instant athlete
​

What I also hate is that some how if you have the money to buy a nice bike, yet you're "not that fast" or don't use it often you're "all the gear..."

Surely if you have enough money - you shouldn't be limited to a cheaper bike just because "your not all it".


This kind of elitism I hate, its just jealously - if someone wants to spend, let them.

it's not elitism or jealousy... it's a response to this statement in the article...

Dr Groves bought the new bike thinking it would mean he could get to work faster but in a randomised trial he conducted over six months he found this was not the case
​

 

[DrSquirrel]

I'm saying it in general rather than blaming you for anything

 

[handsome joe]

This has been known in Denmark and Holland for donkeys. It doesn't make sense spending that amount of money just to get to work a....... bit quicker? I mean who wants to get to work any earlier than they have to? And if you want to do that just leave home a bit earlier. Thereby saving yourself extra an £1000 and the stress of keeping an eye on it all the time.

Reminds me of people who spend thousands of pounds on a top of the range sports car. They've probably seen it on Top Gear being raced around Nevada or the French Riverea and then decided they've get one. Only it doesn't feel or look the same in London. Racing from traffic light to traffic light, struggling to get over 40mph. Its like buying a sleek Ocean Sailing Yaght only to take it up and down the local canal.

I can see the advantage of saving a minute or two if your a racing your bicycle for a club or doing a time trial. But commuting is different. There is so many other factors like road suface, traffic lights, the weather and the volume of traffic itself. These factors will effect your journey. I'll rather use my Marin MTB and get some enjoyment out of my ride to work. I've got enough clock watching to do when i am at work.

 

[MacB]

I like the idea of a workhorse style bike for commuting, an equally workhorse like bike for general duties and a snazzier bike for the weekend. Nothing to stop you riding any of the bikes though, for any purpose, depending on conditions and how you feel. We all have parameters we're comfortable with and, implicit within that is a relationship to costs, convenience and comfort. Though I may think it foolishly wasteful to ride an expensive, lightweight, racer through the Winter chewing through parts. I still consider it admirable compared to someone choosing to drive instead. In the same way that I recognise my own belt and braces, bullet proofing approach to commuting would be anathema to some. Equally I'd hope that they'd also recognise my approach as still being better than another driver on the road.

 

[DrSquirrel]

Why is it assumed that a nicer bike is souly to make you get from A-B(/work) faster?

 

[trio25]

For a lot of people commuting can make up most of their hours on the bike. Maybe they are not looking for speed on a more expensive bike but something that is comfortable and a joy to ride?

 

[MontyVeda]

I'm saying it in general rather than blaming you for anything

Apologies... although the fact you quoted me did make your post appear personal