What is the real speed difference between high to low end road bikes?

[mattobrien]

I do very little in the way of unstructured cycling with the vast majority of my riding being training sessions. Depending on the session and weather I will take different bikes. When training on the road ine of the biggest factors that helps me is having electric gears. It makes changes quicker and more accurate and means I can better hit my target power numbers.
the only bike I train on without electric gears is my Cervelo P2, although being a TT bike it is lever shift rather than a road brifter so it is pretty precise. The P2 is a much slower bike than my P5 and that is largely down to aero and tyres used. I don’t have racing tyres in my training bike. The other factor that would make my P2 quicker is a bigger chainring, it’s currently on a 52 and I’d quite like to change to a 56. The P5 has a 58 and 60 depending on course that I’m riding on.

 

[bonzobanana]

Thanks for all the interesting responses and looks like Shimano 105 has run away with the best level of bike for overall mix of performance and value which I have to say I'm not at all surprised by. I was a bit surprised by how well the entry level bike has done. I was expecting Claris level to do better in comparison.

 

[vickster]

Thanks for all the interesting responses and looks like Shimano 105 has run away with the best level of bike for overall mix of performance and value which I have to say I'm not at all surprised by. I was a bit surprised by how well the entry level bike has done. I was expecting Claris level to do better in comparison.

Claris is pretty much entry level for modern roadbikes

 

[Ming the Merciless]

It isn't quite what was asked, not being a comparison between two road bikes.

But a few weeks ago I went from riding a Boardman MX sport hybrid (48/36/26 chainset, 11-32 cassette) SRAM X5 groupset (equivalent of Tiagra at the time, Sora now) which weighed 13.9Kg, to a Cube Attain GTC race, a road bike with 50/34 11-32 Shimano 105 groupset, weight 9.4Kg.

And I reckon my speed has increased by around 10% overall - the weight difference (rider plus bike) is about 4-5%. Part of that is bound to be down to the difference in position, part of it will be 28m tyres instead of 38mm, and I'm sure some of it is down to the increased stiffness in the BB area.

You can get that 10% improvement just by changing to fast tyres like GP5000 from touring tyres. Pretty much all of the increase you’ve seen will be the tyres. Assuming your average speeds are in the 10-20 mph punter range.

 

[Grant Fondo]

Bit of an anomaly with this question? Some awesome frames (Colnago) come with quite low-end groupsets. The reverse is true with some dog rough frames adorned with 105/Ultegra?

 

[bonzobanana]

Claris is pretty much entry level for modern roadbikes

Claris is typically with a freehub and cassette and carbon fibre forks but below that you have the freewheel based road bikes, much slower high gearing (freewheels typically start at 14T not the 11T of cassettes), they could be high tensile steel or more basic unbutted aluminium frames and steel forks. This sort of thing which is a sub £200 Argos bike;

I think a Claris road bike now would be £350 or more. There is the Carrera Virtuoso, not sure there is anything cheaper than that. I think the entry level Decathlon bikes use Microshift components which are a little cheaper and a bit more plasticky. Some Claris road bikes that were £550 pre pandemic like the Giant Contend are now more like £750 I think. So I see the Claris road bikes as a step up from the very entry level freewheel based road bikes. Even more so with the pandemic effect.

 

[vickster]

I said pretty much, there are few non bso options with a ‘lower’ groupset than Claris. Afaik anyhow, it’s not a market I pay much attention to nowadays. I use Sram, lowest available road groupset is 10 speed Apex, Tiagra equivalent

 

[Grant Fondo]

Claris is typically with a freehub and cassette and carbon fibre forks but below that you have the freewheel based road bikes, much slower high gearing (freewheels typically start at 14T not the 11T of cassettes), they could be high tensile steel or more basic unbutted aluminium frames and steel forks. This sort of thing which is a sub £200 Argos bike;

I think a Claris road bike now would be £350 or more. There is the Carrera Virtuoso, not sure there is anything cheaper than that. I think the entry level Decathlon bikes use Microshift components which are a little cheaper and a bit more plasticky. Some Claris road bikes that were £550 pre pandemic like the Giant Contend are now more like £750 I think. So I see the Claris road bikes as a step up from the very entry level freewheel based road bikes. Even more so with the pandemic effect.

Hate to admit it, but i quite like the look of that Argos bike! Not sure I would enjoy riding it up the Clwyds near me, its 12.6kg

 

[freiston]

Claris is typically with a freehub and cassette and carbon fibre forks but below that you have the freewheel based road bikes, much slower high gearing (freewheels typically start at 14T not the 11T of cassettes), they could be high tensile steel or more basic unbutted aluminium frames and steel forks. This sort of thing which is a sub £200 Argos bike;

I think a Claris road bike now would be £350 or more. There is the Carrera Virtuoso, not sure there is anything cheaper than that. I think the entry level Decathlon bikes use Microshift components which are a little cheaper and a bit more plasticky. Some Claris road bikes that were £550 pre pandemic like the Giant Contend are now more like £750 I think. So I see the Claris road bikes as a step up from the very entry level freewheel based road bikes. Even more so with the pandemic effect.

Like others, I would also consider (generally speaking) a new entry level road bike to be equipped with Claris (if the bike has a Shimano groupset); I would also expect it to have a freehub rather than a freewheel.

I would consider a new bike with freewheel and Tourney (or below) to be a sub-entry level budget bike: they will be built primarily as cheap as possible, often with gas-pipe frames and scant regard for their riding characteristics or quality but will be made to "look the part" to anyone not in the know.

I've got nothing against Tourney but I do consider it to not be in the same league as Claris and above. If you search for Shimano road groupset hierarchy, just about every result will show Claris as the bottom/entry level groupset and not even mention Tourney.

 

[Grant Fondo]

I put Tourney Revoshifts on the wifes bike. Pile of crap.

 

[Pumpkin the robot]

Of the seven (road) bikes I have used on strava since 2013, they have varied in average speed between 15 and 17mph. The fastest has been my carbon bike, that I have done over 30k miles on. The slowest, is the steel frame bike I have owned for 30 years. All of them (since 2013) have dura ace or ultegra of varying years (7800-9000) and I have always used Conti gp4000 or 4 season tyres whenever possible.
The fastest bike is the one I use the most, it has done long audax rides, commutes and everything in between. It also has had the most component changes. I think the only original parts left are the brifters, frame and forks! I have done 200mile rides on all of them with a similar average speed (between 14.5 and 15.5mph)

 

[Grant Fondo]

Of the seven (road) bikes I have used on strava since 2013, they have varied in average speed between 15 and 17mph. The fastest has been my carbon bike, that I have done over 30k miles on. The slowest, is the steel frame bike I have owned for 30 years. All of them (since 2013) have dura ace or ultegra of varying years (7800-9000) and I have always used Conti gp4000 or 4 season tyres whenever possible.
The fastest bike is the one I use the most, it has done long audax rides, commutes and everything in between. It also has had the most component changes. I think the only original parts left are the brifters, frame and forks! I have done 200mile rides on all of them with a similar average speed (between 14.5 and 15.5mph)

What's the saying? A bad workman blames his tools .... my average speeds are exactly the same for:
1. 8kg road bike 28c GP5000
2. 9kg gravel bike 32c Gatorskins.

 

[Pumpkin the robot]

What's the saying? A bad workman blames his tools .... my average speeds are exactly the same for:
1. 8kg road bike 28c GP5000
2. 9kg gravel bike 32c Gatorskins.

If I had recorded with strava back in the day, I think my steel bike would be the fastest, I managed a few sub 20 minute 10 mile TTs and all the relevant speed work that went with it.
I think the data may be skewed by the data (Difficult to compare 500 miles of data with 30k) and my fitness levels when I have owned certain bikes over that period, but I always "feel" fast on my carbon bike!
At the end of the day, does it matter? Just get out and ride, regardless of the price of the bike and components, or your average speed!

 

[freiston]

I put Tourney Revoshifts on the wifes bike. Pile of crap.
View attachment 607574

My folding bike came with a RevoShift - it was crap - I replaced it with a Tourney trigger shifter - much better

 

[kingrollo]

Thanks for all the interesting responses and looks like Shimano 105 has run away with the best level of bike for overall mix of performance and value which I have to say I'm not at all surprised by. I was a bit surprised by how well the entry level bike has done. I was expecting Claris level to do better in comparison.

Pre covid / brexit a bike with ultegra wasn't actually that much more expensive than 105