Or is it wiser to use an aero road bike to tackle the climbs?
I’m aiming at doing a few ‘epic’ climbs in my region and wondering if I should re-build my old Look 595 as a ‘climber’ or simply ride the Canyon Aeroroad Disc. The climbs are +/- 30 miles and +/- 8,000’.
FWIW, I’m only a couple of pounds from optimal weight (for me) and can drop those pretty easily.
The difference between a light aero bike (Aeroad, Venge, Ostro, etc) and climber bike with the same components will just be a few hundred grams. Doesn’t seem worth it. Is the Look frame even lighter than the Aeroad? If not, just put your light components on that.
What goes up, must come down.
If you are only climbing, buy a climbing bike,
but if you are also descending aero wins every time.
Assuming you are doing this for time.
Otherwise it doesn’t matter what you ride.
Yes climbing bikes are a thing. At 5% grade it will be a wash, depending on how heavy three different bikes are and how fast you are. At 10% it tips towards light weight.
Saw a YouTube vid of climbing race champs in Ireland. Interesting bike mods definitely not UCI legal
You can’t have too many bikes.
A weight weenie climbing bike is a fun project especially if you have some steep climbs in your area.
Buy a 10 year old rim brake Tarmac. Lighter and more climber friendly than anything on the market now. Pretty sad.
climbing bike:
aero road bike:
climbing bike is ridiculously light, maybe 15lb. aero road bike is still pretty light, maybe 17lb. not much difference really.
but the climbing bike also has gearing and tire spec that has climbing in mind, for the climbing i do. i ride up a lot of high mountain passes where there are freeze cracks in the pavement and it’s like washboard on the way down. so, the climbing bike has 32mm tires.
Climbing bike. 16.0 lbs. New stem on the way. Probably go to latex tubes and lighter tires but that’s about it.
Aero road bike. 17.0 lbs.
see? that’s what i’m saying!
I’m glad climbing bikes are still a ‘thing’!
Climbing bike 5.4kg (11.96 lbs) as pictured.
Since upgraded the saddle seatpost, cassette, and wheels/tires to 4.9 kg/10.8 lbs.
Aero Road Bike is a rim brake Cervelo S3. Weighs under 15 lbs.
I think “climbing” bikes are now weight focused UCI ignoring goal chasing bikes. Enduro bikes are certainly still a thing. A bike with a geo focused on keeping you in a comfortable riding position for a long time and a build light enough to keep you riding all day but not necessarily lighting fast on the flats and downhills.
Good question. A related question I was wondering about is with all the integration happening are “aero†and “climbing†redundant?
Looking at the Trek Madone and Emonda SLR, for example, they are kind of crossing over so will we eventually see one all-arounder? Obviously some differences there but what is the performance delta between them?
climbing bike is ridiculously light, maybe 15lb. aero road bike is still pretty light, maybe 17lb. not much difference really.
I’d like to just reiterate that the frames will not be 2 lbs apart. Put the same parts on both and the aero bike will be maybe 0.5lb heavier.
For climbing, an aero bike with light parts will be faster climbing bike.
My 58cm Venge with 65mm wheels and 12sp Ultegra/DA mix is on track to be 15lbs, and I’m not even using any exotic parts.
My Ostro is 6.8 kg even with Ultegra and the Black Inc 45s - aint getting much more “climbing” than that, UCI-wise i.e.
T
Once the bike marketing department found the gravel bike, they forgot all about the climbing bike
.
Not talking about Ronan McLaughlin’s Everesting WR bike are you?
A Giant TCR Advanced SL with an aero basebar in place of drops, a Tri-Rig Delta fairing and some other mods like replacing grease with oil and I think he replaced several sprockets with spacers and put his climbing gear right on the chainline to end up with a lightweight 5.55kg machine with low drivetrain resistance, and relatively aerodynamic bike and position.