BIKE THREAD

200 watchers

Yorkshire Pie Jun 2016 8:45am, 7 Jun 2016 12,945 posts	0 Yorkshire Pie I wish!
Velociraptor Jun 2016 9:11am, 7 Jun 2016 33,911 posts	0 Velociraptor I can confirm that investing £750 in a custom-built personalised rear wheel with a fancy hub does not necessarily make the bike go faster.
Gobi Jun 2016 9:15am, 7 Jun 2016 58,430 posts	0 Gobi Gain more by loosing weight and riding better rolling tyres (unless you already look like Chris Froome)
GlennR Jun 2016 9:47am, 7 Jun 2016 19,748 posts	0 GlennR Am I correct in thinking that tyres will roll better if they are at the top end of their psi limit? I realise there are other considerations of course.
Nicholls595 Jun 2016 9:51am, 7 Jun 2016 4,619 posts	0 Nicholls595 I know from my experience on Sunday that they roll much better with air in them
GlennR Jun 2016 10:00am, 7 Jun 2016 19,750 posts	0 GlennR That much is certainly true.
Nellers Jun 2016 12:41pm, 7 Jun 2016 30,813 posts	0 Nellers I'm also starting to work on the weight loss side of the equation, Gobster.
MudMeanderer Jun 2016 12:57pm, 7 Jun 2016 1,701 posts	0 MudMeanderer Glenn, that depends upon the surface. On a track a very high pressure would work well. On cobblestones, not so much. The whole purpose of pneumatic tyres is that they can deform and absorb the bumps without losing traction. If they're in the air, you're not getting any propulsion from them, and if they hit the ground hard on landing they'll slow more quickly. There is a penalty in the work done by deforming tyres. So a balance needs to be achieved; not so hard that your wheel is frequently unweighted, but not so soft that you're doing too much work deforming tyres. Gobi; I think I may almost be in your bracketed category, but not quite Froome so much as Chavez - short and built like a twiglet! I think I could do with more mass in my legs, in the form of muscle - power to weight doesn't help if you lack the pure power to hang on in the flat!
Nellers Jun 2016 1:04pm, 7 Jun 2016 30,815 posts	0 Nellers Read a thing a while back that reckoned power to weight was very important to average speed but if p to w was equal then the bigger bloke is at an advantage. Not sure how that works but maybe you lot do.
MudMeanderer Jun 2016 1:16pm, 7 Jun 2016 1,702 posts	0 MudMeanderer Power to weight matters if the road is going up or down, or to some extent if you need to accelerate. For most purposes power to aerodynamic drag (you'll hear the phrase CdA) matters more until it gets steep. However drag is much more tricky to measure, and varies a lot throughout a ride. I expect the reason Power to Weight has the reputation as a 'gold standard' because it's the one that matters most for Grand Tour riders. On the flat with a good team you can be nursed in to and protected in the bunch. The biggest differences will be made on long climbs when the aerodynamics become less of a factor. However on time trials, you'll notice it's still generally the bigger more absolutely powerful riders who make the biggest gains.