Is it really 95% the Rider and 5% the Bike...

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fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Upgrading is always worth doing.. always. You won't go faster, but it's nice.... Those Ritchey Comp bars that got bent in a crash needed some Ritchey WCS bars as replacement. They are the same.......

Cost 3x more and are 100g lighter. Needed. Don't tell the wife.
 

Seryth

Well-Known Member
Location
Bristol
Well I've been looking at some options for a new bike to upgrade from my Reynolds 531 tubed trusty steed, and now I just feel like it'd be a waste of money. Thanks a lot guys! :sad:;)
 

jowwy

Can't spell, Can't Punctuate....Sue Me
Well I've been looking at some options for a new bike to upgrade from my Reynolds 531 tubed trusty steed, and now I just feel like it'd be a waste of money. Thanks a lot guys! :sad:;)
Its never waste of money if might makes you happy and fuzzy inside seryth.......just ignore the idiotic ravings of some and make your own decisions on your wants, needs and desires

The rest is just forum clap trap
 

Citius

Guest
Well I've been looking at some options for a new bike to upgrade from my Reynolds 531 tubed trusty steed, and now I just feel like it'd be a waste of money. Thanks a lot guys! :sad:;)

To be fair, if you think that, then you haven't really understood what the thread has been about...
 

Justinslow

Lovely jubbly
Location
Suffolk
I did a practice team TT the other night over 21.7 miles with 3 other riders, chain gang style. A mix of bikes from full on TT carbon wheels etc etc to my ventura (sorry to keep harping on about it). We are all fairly similar riders based on our 10TT times irrespective of our bikes, and guess what we all rode fairly similar and completed the ride at the same time in 53.37 @24.3mph.
We are all amateurs obviously, and we worked as a team slowing where necessary to bring the group back together, mainly after the hills. But at no point did anyone on a cheaper less specced bike get dropped, least of all me!
I think at an amateur level the kit makes less of a difference, for gawds sake I even use £25-30 Rexton shoes, doesn't make me slower than someone wearing £200 shoes. However at a pro level I think you have to be on top level kit to compete with other top level athletes.
Everything I've just written is pretty obvious isn't it?
 
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Citius

Guest
However at a pro level I think you have to be on top level kit to compete with other top level athletes.

Still not sure I agree with that, although I do agree with everything else you said. There's been plenty of pro teams over the years who have specced Ultegra rather than DA, or Record rather than Super Record, Force rather than Red, etc, etc. Pro team kit has much more to do with sponsorship than it does with any competitive advantage. If you're on Ultegra and you lose a race to someone on DA kit, then it's likely you would still have lost the race if you'd both been on DA.
 

Justinslow

Lovely jubbly
Location
Suffolk
Still not sure I agree with that, although I do agree with everything else you said. There's been plenty of pro teams over the years who have specced Ultegra rather than DA, or Record rather than Super Record, Force rather than Red, etc, etc. Pro team kit has much more to do with sponsorship than it does with any competitive advantage. If you're on Ultegra and you lose a race to someone on DA kit, then it's likely you would still have lost the race if you'd both been on DA.
Yeah agree, and why someone on a good £1000 TT bike can win a national race.
Having just bought one of the popular magazines for a group TT test I was dismayed to see they only compared uber expensive models, something which I will never buy. Similar with shoes, well everything really.
 

Hacienda71

Mancunian in self imposed exile in leafy Cheshire
Yeah agree, and why someone on a good £1000 TT bike can win a national race.
Having just bought one of the popular magazines for a group TT test I was dismayed to see they only compared uber expensive models, something which I will never buy. Similar with shoes, well everything really.
That is going to be because that is what the manufacturers send them to test foc. I wonder why? :whistle:
 

tyred

Squire
Location
Ireland
Bollox to all this.

Just get on your bike(whatever it may be) and enjoy the ride:okay::bicycle:
rusty+bike.JPG
 

Seryth

Well-Known Member
Location
Bristol
Its never waste of money if might makes you happy and fuzzy inside seryth.......just ignore the idiotic ravings of some and make your own decisions on your wants, needs and desires

The rest is just forum clap trap
It makes me feel happy and fuzzy just thinking about it, so I'm sure it'll be a heightened effect after I've bought it! (Until I look at my bank balance, of course :laugh:)

To be fair, if you think that, then you haven't really understood what the thread has been about...
I was joking, Citius.:okay:
 

Hacienda71

Mancunian in self imposed exile in leafy Cheshire
Yeah I get that, but it's not helpful to me!
If you look at how the guy built his bike to win that TT he relied upon second hand and generic parts rather than shelling out for a high end bike. You might be better looking at reviews from a couple of years ago. A guy I know came second in the BBAR a couple of years ago on a generic Chinese TT frame. He came lower down the next year when his sponsor supplied him with a high end bike. It wasn't down to the bikes it was down to him on the day, the difference in the bikes was minimal. If I was in the market for a fast TT bike I would go down the s/h and generic copies route for the kit and spend some of the money I saved getting a really good fitting done. Most of the testers will tell you position is more important in percentage terms than the bike. You ride the bike too upright and too open chested and you have a big wind brake on. Even the type of way you hold your head will have a bearing on what type of aero helmet works for you. If you ride with your head down a lot then a pointy one may not be the answer. Anyway I am sure you know this already. :okay:
 

Justinslow

Lovely jubbly
Location
Suffolk
If you look at how the guy built his bike to win that TT he relied upon second hand and generic parts rather than shelling out for a high end bike. You might be better looking at reviews from a couple of years ago. A guy I know came second in the BBAR a couple of years ago on a generic Chinese TT frame. He came lower down the next year when his sponsor supplied him with a high end bike. It wasn't down to the bikes it was down to him on the day, the difference in the bikes was minimal. If I was in the market for a fast TT bike I would go down the s/h and generic copies route for the kit and spend some of the money I saved getting a really good fitting done. Most of the testers will tell you position is more important in percentage terms than the bike. You ride the bike too upright and too open chested and you have a big wind brake on. Even the type of way you hold your head will have a bearing on what type of aero helmet works for you. If you ride with your head down a lot then a pointy one may not be the answer. Anyway I am sure you know this already. :okay:
Thanks, yeah I've heard most of that before, but all good stuff never the less, cheers.
Most of the club TT riders have cobbled together stuff from ebay or the time trial forum, hardly any bought new stuff, maybe a couple of Planet X Exocet's. Probably our quickest guy uses a secondhand Argon 18 -the basic spec one (with upgrades) but he has a coach and trains on the turbo nearly every day :okay:
 
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