Expensive light bicycles do not get you to work faster

[gbb]

Not sure if the articles writer was expecting to get to work faster, or he just realised it doesnt get you there appreciably faster.
i have an 8 speed steelie, still a well functioning bike, and a 10 speed Bianchi, very light compared with the steelie. I found my 35 mile circuits are done in almost exactly the same time, give or take a few minutes. But you (i) feel so much better on a modern, light bike.

A guy at work had an old 7 speed bianchi he was commuting on, 30 miles total every day. He wanted a new Boardman roadbike...and thought he's be faster. i said you wont neccessarily get there any faster, you'll just have a bigger grin doing it, along with a smoother spread of gears. As i explained...12T on the cassette is 12T, whether its a 7 or a 10 speed.
A few weeks after he'd got his Boardman...he agreed. It didnt make him instantly faster.

 

[Downward]

Absolute twaddle.

 

[fossyant]

Not rocket science is it......................

Ignoring TT bikes..... and the associated riding position...............(and the specific conditions)...etc....... (yes I've done it - TT bars, aero helmets then aero wheels are the biggest gains..)

If I put lightweight slicks on my MTB, it's not much slower than a road bike......... any half decent bike is as quick as another. Yeh, a few kg's off the frame helps, but you are better off dropping that off the body. It's the engine that counts.............

But, it's nice riding a Top spec machine............. or indeed a 'better spec' machine than you normally do - will it make you faster...not really (TYRES excluded) - only training will.

My 20 year old hand built race machine (with DA of it's time) is no slower than a new carbon beastie, yeh, it's a kg heavier, but that's it....... I'd be better off losing a few kg's..........

Had no issues passing £6k Carbon luvlies on the Cheshire Cat and Manchester 100 last year with my 20 year old expensive beastie.......

Legs, not bike.

 

[BlackPanther]

I bought my hybrid mainly for comfort and reliability. I have double panniers and carry work clothes, lunch box, waterproofs, tools etc. I weigh 12 stone, so to spend money on lightweight components would be ludicrous unless they improved reliability. The only thing that makes my bike go faster are my leg muscles. As I ride 20 miles a day, I can breeze past the 'occasional' rider on his road bike. Likewise a Tour de France rider on a mountain bike would blast me into the weeds. If you want to ride faster, save your money and improve your pedal power. Or, if you just want to go fast, spend just over a grand and whizz along at 30mph on lithium ion power. http://www.alienbikes.co.uk/page29.htm And, yes, I'm considering one for when my knee plays up.

 

[Cheule]

They should be looking at the time it takes to get home from work, not to. I know I'm twice as fast going home as I work in hell. :-)

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

A bit of a silly article really.

Where's the matching article pointing out that a Ferrari will not get you through rush hour traffic quicker than a Polski Fiat?

 

[DrSquirrel]

A bit of a silly article really.

Where's the matching article pointing out that a Ferrari will not get you through rush hour traffic quicker than a Polski Fiat?

Aye - now you come to mention it, im going to sell the 'rari.... mk2 diesel golf will suffice me... yup!

Wish someone mentioned that sooner

 

[brokenbetty]

We live in a culture where a lot of effort goes into persuading us that just good enough isn't good enough, and that solutions are things you buy not things you create. It's very easy to internalise that, and it's very good to have people stand up and say "you know what? I don't need the specialist optimal tool to get the job done, I just need the tool that does the job as well as I can."

 

[Peter10]

After reading the article I can only think, he obviously didn't put enough work into cycling. If I cycle on a mountain bike one day and then my road bike the next I get to work considerably faster. My average speed on a mountain bike is about 13mph and my road bike about 17mph. Not a massive amount, but if you consider the time it takes to get up to a good speed on a heavy bike compared to a light one then that is where I make up time. I can coast at a faster speed on my road bike than I can at times pedalling on my mountain bike. My maximum speed on a road bike going to/from work on one road is over 35mph far quicker than on the mountain bike.

It seems like they chose a Doctor to do the "study" as if it gives him more credibility. Maybe next time they should ask an amateur tri-athlete to do it.

Of course, going out and spending £5000+ on a Team Sky road bike isn't going to get you to work any faster than most other road bikes, unless you do the training to back it up.

 

[trio25]

The thing I picked up on was that the carbon bike obviously didn't fit him. He commented that it wasn't comfortable. Maybe a bike that fitted would have been faster?

 

[MontyVeda]

After reading the article I can only think, he obviously didn't put enough work into cycling. If I cycle on a mountain bike one day and then my road bike the next I get to work considerably faster. My average speed on a mountain bike is about 13mph and my road bike about 17mph. Not a massive amount, but if you consider the time it takes to get up to a good speed on a heavy bike compared to a light one then that is where I make up time. I can coast at a faster speed on my road bike than I can at times pedalling on my mountain bike. My maximum speed on a road bike going to/from work on one road is over 35mph far quicker than on the mountain bike.

It seems like they chose a Doctor to do the "study" as if it gives him more credibility. Maybe next time they should ask an amateur tri-athlete to do it.

Of course, going out and spending £5000+ on a Team Sky road bike isn't going to get you to work any faster than most other road bikes, unless you do the training to back it up.

the comparison or mountain bike vs road bike doesn't wash... the article compared standard road bike to up market road bike. I could put heavier wheels on my mountain bike but with slick tyres instead of nobblies and go significantly faster.

also, 'they' didn't choose a doctor to the study... the doctor chose to do the study out of pure curisiosity.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

People ... it's a lighthearted article designed to be skim read and raise a wry chuckle or two. It's not a scientific study and it's not designed to make people sell their carbon rockets. And the most important bit - which everyone seems to have missed - is that he says he enjoys riding his old steel bike more. It really doesn't matter wjhich one is faster, given that.

 

[400bhp]

What a no sh1t sherlock article.

 

[2Loose]

Over the last two years the time to and from work (11 miles return) on my Defy versus my slicked up mtb are...within a minute and a half, on average. The road bike has the absolute best time but by less than a minute.

Traffic has more to do with it than the bike he used. The Defy feels easier to ride though.

 

[Dan B]

People ... it's a lighthearted article designed to be skim read and raise a wry chuckle or two. It's not a scientific study and it's not designed to make people sell their carbon rockets. And the most important bit - which everyone seems to have missed - is that he says he enjoys riding his old steel bike more. It really doesn't matter wjhich one is faster, given that.

^ This.