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

[rogerzilla]

Getting the saddle height and setback right can unleash a huge amount of extra power. You can only do this once, of course, but it might explain why some bikes are "much faster". Otherwise, on the same tyres, they're all much of a muchness on a flat road. Weight comes into it on hills but there isn't a significant weight difference between my £850 bike and a £10,000 one - many £10,000 bikes are actually heavier if they have discs and a power meter.

 

[mattobrien]

menial?
is this how you electrogods refer to us traditional types?

What an amusing typo/autocorrect. Much of what I do is menial, fortunately my cycling isn’t.

 

[GuyBoden]

Old blokes, who just pootle around the local area, don't really need carbon bikes with lightweight components, but if you want one, can afford one, then get one.

 

[Pumpkin the robot]

I love electric gears, it means I just don't think about changing, if I'm in the wrong gear it's a fraction of a second away from being in the right one. It's no bother or effort, which when you ride menial gears it takes a little longer and you might not change it you're going to have to change back shortly afterwards. When trying to maintain a specific power output during an interval in a training session I find it an advantage. I wouldn't even consider getting a bike without electric gears moving forwards.

How is it any different from normal manual gear changes? You push a lever, it changes gear. Any loss of speed between swinging the gear lever across on manual brifters (about .25 of a second) and pushing the button will be lost by the time the chain derailed from one gear to another in the quarter of turn of the chain ring.

 

[freiston]

Old blokes, who just pootle around the local area, don't really need carbon bikes with lightweight components, but if you want one, can afford one, then get one.

That stinks of "attitude". Firstly, this thread is about what difference the equipment makes. Secondly, you single out "old blokes who just pootle around the local area" as not needing lightweight carbon bikes (not only demonstrating, for want of a better word, prejudice but also implying that there is a need for others who don't fall into the 'limited range old bloke' category - "need" is a very strong word and in all reality is probably only applicable to "real" racing cyclists. Thirdly, this isn't a thread about justifying purchases but about the differences between high and low end bikes (and how the rider and their requirements will affect the relevance of the differences).

 

[faster]

That stinks of "attitude". Firstly, this thread is about what difference the equipment makes. Secondly, you single out "old blokes who just pootle around the local area" as not needing lightweight carbon bikes (not only demonstrating, for want of a better word, prejudice but also implying that there is a need for others who don't fall into the 'limited range old bloke' category - "need" is a very strong word and in all reality is probably only applicable to "real" racing cyclists. Thirdly, this isn't a thread about justifying purchases but about the differences between high and low end bikes (and how the rider and their requirements will affect the relevance of the differences).

Blimey - that's an over the top response to what was a fairly innocuous post.

Are you okay?

 

[cougie uk]

That stinks of "attitude". Firstly, this thread is about what difference the equipment makes. Secondly, you single out "old blokes who just pootle around the local area" as not needing lightweight carbon bikes (not only demonstrating, for want of a better word, prejudice but also implying that there is a need for others who don't fall into the 'limited range old bloke' category - "need" is a very strong word and in all reality is probably only applicable to "real" racing cyclists. Thirdly, this isn't a thread about justifying purchases but about the differences between high and low end bikes (and how the rider and their requirements will affect the relevance of the differences).

I'm an old bloke with a Carbon bike or two.

He's not wrong. We don't need them. But it's nice to have them.

We all know that differences between bikes are a lot less than the marketing tells us.

Chill out a bit maybe.

 

[GuyBoden]

That stinks of "attitude". Firstly, this thread is about what difference the equipment makes. Secondly, you single out "old blokes who just pootle around the local area" as not needing lightweight carbon bikes (not only demonstrating, for want of a better word, prejudice but also implying that there is a need for others who don't fall into the 'limited range old bloke' category - "need" is a very strong word and in all reality is probably only applicable to "real" racing cyclists. Thirdly, this isn't a thread about justifying purchases but about the differences between high and low end bikes (and how the rider and their requirements will affect the relevance of the differences).

I am an old bloke, who just pootles around my local area, I don't really need a carbon fibre bike with lightweight components, but I have one. I'm still no faster.

 

[freiston]

I am an old bloke, who just pootles around my local area, I don't really need a carbon fibre bike with lightweight components, but I have one. I'm still no faster.

In that case, there may have been some dissonance between what you meant and what I understood lol. I'm an old bloke who slow rolls everywhere except for down hills. I've met a few young ladies (and folk of other age/gender classifications) who ride at similar speeds to myself - and some of them on carbon lightweight bikes. 😉

 

[Venod]

I'm an old bloke and I ride as fast as I can on Carbon, Titanium and Aluminium.
None of them are high end (whatever that means) the Carbon road, is no faster than the Ti all rounder, but both are faster than the Aluminium because that's a MTB.

 

[pjd57]

I'm yet another old bloke.
3 bikes, none are carbon.
Hybrid....bog standard , 14 years old , but well looked after.
CX. Again , not expensive had it for 4 years , done thousands of miles on it.
Road bike. A Dolan, not top end of their range.

I would never describe any of my journeys as fast.
Does the bike make a difference ?

Probably a very slight one.
Maybe 1 or 2 MPH over the same route.

 

[mattobrien]

How is it any different from normal manual gear changes? You push a lever, it changes gear. Any loss of speed between swinging the gear lever across on manual brifters (about .25 of a second) and pushing the button will be lost by the time the chain derailed from one gear to another in the quarter of turn of the chain ring.

Good question, it's more precise, faster and a generally nicer experience. It's probably easier to try it out and see how you get on, rather than me try to sell it to you.

I suspect the people on here advocating electric gears have them, but also have or have had bikes with mechanical gears, so have experience of both and are able to a lived experience of both sides. But it's possible the people questioning the benefit of electrical gears over mechanical and whether or not it is worth it etc. very possibly don't have the experience of them.

Personally I prefer electric gears but everyone is different. Try them out and see how you get on.

 

[fatjel]

I have two bikes I use frequently a specialised Roubaix and a spa steel audax the specialised cost about £2000 more to build than the spa . I use a power meter and over an hours cycle the spa requires about 30 more watts.
obviously were I to pedal harder on the spa the low end bike would be quicker

 

[freiston]

I have two bikes I use frequently a specialised Roubaix and a spa steel audax the specialised cost about £2000 more to build than the spa . I use a power meter and over an hours cycle the spa requires about 30 more watts.
obviously were I to pedal harder on the spa the low end bike would be quicker

This might be a daft question but do you travel the same distance over that hour for the Roubaix and the Spa? Is there much weight difference between you on the Roubaix and you on the Spa, does the route have much climbing and is the pace pretty constant or is there much gaining speed/losing speed? I don't use power meters or have much sense of how much effort a Watt is - would you describe it as feeling like a big difference? I have two bikes, a Jamis steel tourer and a Tern C7 folder (20" wheels). I never go as far on the Tern and I don't really notice any difference in effort except when the gear range on the Tern is not as high or as low as I would like. I usually ride the Jamis with a small bag on the back and a handlebar bag on the front, occasionally with panniers etc. and the odd occasion with no bags. I do feel the difference with no bags but there might be (at least in part) a psychological element to that because the bike feels so light when I'm lifting it in and out of the house. Obviously I feel a big difference when I'm fully loaded for a camping trip or coming back from the supermarket.

 

[freiston]

I get power measurements on my turbo. 30 watts is definitely significant (to me anyway).

I'd say roughly it's the difference between riding gently and riding briskly, or the difference between riding briskly and a hard but sustainable pace, or the difference between a hard but sustainable pace and a hard pace I can't hold for long.

Wow! It's a big difference then!