I am considering getting a new road bike to replace my existing 22 pound aluminum bike with triple cranks. I spent significant bucks this year on Hed 3 and Renn Madeira disc to go with a new P3C for Duathlons and TT. Next year I plan on adding some bicycle road races to my race schedule and think I could improve on my road bike. I am not a big weight weenie, but like the aero benefits of the Cervelo Soloist Carbon and maybe chopping 5 pounds or more from my existing bike would be beneficial too. I will use my just purchased HED Alps on my new bike.
I am a bit puzzled why the Cervelo Carbon Soloist appears to be a significant step ahead of the other bicycle manufactures with respect to aerodynamics. The UCI rules limit aerodynamic design, yet Cervelo has UCI approved frames and appears to offer the most aero design.
Considering the above, I would appreciate some input to one or more of the following questions:
Are there any new road bikes with similar aero benefits and light weight as the Cervelo Soloist Carbon?
If the answer to 1 is no, any reason that other bicycle manufactures can not make a UCI legal aero frame?
I am new to Bicycle road races, but expect to be pretty competitive in CAT 4 races and have a reasonable chance to win CAT 5 races with my existing bike. Given that, will it make much difference in race performance to spend the bucks to improve to a Cervelo Soloist Carbon or will my 22 pound aluminum triple crank bike upgraded with HED Alps serve me well enough.
I have some (something like Sentace C2, excuse the spelling) shorty aerobars that are approved for “slipstream” races. Are these legal to use in road races?
I wouldn’t want to used an expensive bike in cat 4/5 racing. Chances are you will break it crashing at some point. Better to ruin a $1000 frame than a $2500 frame. An aero frame won’t make a bit of difference. The weight might if you’re in a really hilly race, otherwise it won’t matter either. At that level, the overwhelmingly biggest factor is the rider.
No aero bars are allowed period in mass start racing. Only in time trials are they legal.
If you wreck your P3C riding in a triathlon, most probably it will be because you made a mistake. In road races (considering a single rider’s mistake can cause a crash that involves more than two riders) if you crash, most probably it will be because someone else made a mistake.
Even if you have the money to buy a SLC, consider the Team Soloist to begin with as you will probably crash in your first year as a road cyclist. I am almost sure that the Team Soloist frame saw some use in 2006 by CSC riders. This can give you a reference regarding the capability of this particular frame for road races.
Don’t worry about aerodynamics and don’t worry about weight. You are in a pack negating the aero benefits Long solo breaks rarely, at least in AZ, work. The best strategy is get on a strong team that believes in sharing the races and trains together often. If that doesn’t work, hen force others to do the work then hose then at the end. FWIW, I ride a 4 or 5yr old Giant carbon bike when I bike race w/ a mix of Ultegra and 105 components. The best bike I ever bike raced on was a Lemond 853 in 2000 & 2001. That thing handled better than any of the other 6 or so bikes I’ve raced and was 21.5lbs.
I think you might be surprised at how fast Cat 4 & 5’s can be. I’ve done 50 & 55 mile road races in under 2hr as a 5.
The Cannondale CAAD8 seems to be good value for money as a road racer, and you won’t break the bank getting one. The frame itself is pretty light <1200g so you should be able to lose some weight there.
I personally would’t worry too much about the aerodynamics unless you plan to do an early breakaway from the pack. When your in the middle of the pack, the aerodynamics are taken care of by the cyclists that are surrounding you. I would stick to a bike that gives you a comfortable conventional roadie position.
I have ridden tri bikes with groups of roadies. They perform really well on the straightawys, but the tradeoff is lack of maneuverability, when it comes to positioning yourself within the group.
Well, that is exaclty the bike I use for road races. I also wondered the same thing - why no other aero, lightweight bikes? Cost? Anyway, awesome bike.
I do agree with the other though that aero is not that important in road racing. I even had a race this year (Cat 4) where I was in a 2 person breakaway for 40 (!) mins alone with him, but it was still drafting.
Personally, I like the light weight though for hills in our road races, acceleration out of corners seems better, etc. But, if money were an issue, I’d get a Soloist team as well as it is at least 85% as good and WAY cheaper - actually, the best road bike for the money by far in my opinion.
FYI, I just talked to some people at a training crit this am who had done their first road race in quite some time, or altogether, and all of them were amazed at how fast it was. I raced and got beaten by a guy several times this year who started the year as a Cat 5 and by mid August had enough upgrade points to be a 2 I think. Winning a race is hard whether you’re a 5 or higher Cat. That said, you may be that guy, so good luck and keep the rubber side down!
As to your questions, Desert Dude and rrof have it nailed down. If you have nice wheels you’re in great shape, although the Easton Vistas don’t seem to be holding me back in New England races.
Thanks all for the good discussion and advice. For some reason my post text has not been visible. Here is another attempt to post (successfully I hope).
I recently started practice road racing sessions on Wednesday nights in my area (participated in 3 in the last 4 weeks). This is conducted on a 10 mile loop outside of town (3 laps when daylight permits, otherwise 2 laps) and typically breaks up into two groups of CAT 2,3, and 4s for the A group and CAT 5s for the B group. I really enjoy these Wednesday sessions for some crazy reason. I have now rode with both groups, but the B group is more fun and there is more to learn about strategy here. The A group is dominated by the 3 CAT 2 riders and the rest of use are mostly just trying to hang in there. Last Wednesday a big CAT 4 rider immediately behind me went down really hard. I think we were going about 27 mph at the time. Turns out his carbon crank snapped just above the pedal.
My observation from doing a lot of Cat 4 racing this season is that there is no prominent bike brand at the races. I see a little bit of everything in all of the categories. There’s an incredible amount of variety. Also you see plenty of aluminum bikes as well as steel, carbon, and titanium.
I didn’t see many (if any) racers going with triple chainrings. Pretty much everyone races with doubles. Mostly a 53/39 on the front and then an 11/23 cassette for flat to rolling terrain or 12/27 or 12/25 for the hilly/mountainous courses.
I see nicer wheels in the road races than in the crits. Crits are a bit more high risk, and most people don’t want to risk turning a high dollar wheel set into a taco, so they run wheels that are on low to mid range of the price spectrum.
Bike racing is a blast, and it’s great to mix in some bike racing with the triathlons on your calander for a little variety. I’d also like to give mountain bike racing and cyclocross a shot.
“Turns out his carbon crank snapped just above the pedal.”
As the old roadies would say “Steel is real.”
I’m not saying cranks should be made out of steel, but maybe they are overdoing it with all these carbon fiber components. One of the best crit riders in my area still races on a steel-framed bike. He beats all the upstarts on their carbon fiber bikes.
I’d suggest using your current bike for your first season. If you race enough you’ll get an idea of the type of bike that will best suit your riding strengths. Furthermore, having a beater road bike is nice for crits and foul-weather riding.
As for what you should buy, personally, I’d never buy an expensive road racing bike unless I was at least a cat 3. Cat 4 & 5 is notorious for poor bike handling, poor pack riding skills, and relatively needless crashes. Even cat 3 has its fair share of crap.
Concerning aerodynamics, I really don’t think its as big of a deal in road racing as it is in TT’ing. You’re rarely off the front in a solo breakaway, or if you are, a category upgrade will quickly fix that. That said, I’d buy the Soloist SL before the carbon. Similar aero benefits at about 1/3 the cost. One thing you’ll quickly learn in road racing is that it’s absolutely not about the bike.
I would agree with others here that unless you just like cool stuff (dont we all) there is no reason to spend a fortune on a road bike. A former junior on our team has been racing in Belgium and Spain this year, a Cat 1 and strong rider and the team bikes they use there are aluminum with Ultegra-and that is for Belgium cobbles! He says a lot of local teams ride on 105 and the guys ride super strong.
I currently ride a team CAAD 8 because we get a great deal on them through Cannondale and it is much less painfull to recycle a $400 frame to aluminum cans than to replace a $3000 Carbon frame.
In the last 6 years I have race on carbon, titanium, steel and aluminum and the primary thing that determined how well I did in races was how many hours per week my arse was parked on the saddle, not what material the saddle was attached to.
I agree with jhendric that you should use your current bike for a while to see what you want and how much you like road racing. If it really does weigh 22 pounds, you can probably make a few inexpensive changes to get the weight down to 20 or so. Once you know what you want, the old bike can live on the trainer.
Oh, and leave those carbon wheels at home for crits unless you can afford to wreck them. Too many crashes, whether caused by you or someone else.
"I currently ride a team CAAD 8 because we get a great deal on them through Cannondale and it is much less painfull to recycle a $400 frame to aluminum cans than to replace a $3000 Carbon frame.
In the last 6 years I have race on carbon, titanium, steel and aluminum and the primary thing that determined how well I did in races was how many hours per week my arse was parked on the saddle, not what material the saddle was attached to. "
So why should time trials be any different? An inexpensive $400.00 aluminum TT frame should be just as good a $3000.00 carbon or titanium frame, provided that the geometry is the same. A friend of mine just spent 4 or 5K on a custom titanium frame. He is convinced that it will give him the performance edge that he needs for Kona.
Unless you are in a solo break away or have been dropped, I can’t see how the aero tubing will help you. Generally speaking an aerotube will weigh more than a round tube simply because there’s more material.
If you have the money & want to, go for the new or used purchase. I like to do a few road races before the multisport season starts for the fitness & fun. If fitness & fun are your priorities, stick with the 22lb machine. Should you wish to podium…
There are two types of riders; those who have crashed & those who will. I have already crashed
Yes, road races are fun. I think I would like a new bike, but there is no hurry on this. I think the general opinion I have been reading is that an aero frame is not a significant factor in a Road race unless you are on a solo breakaway or been dropped. I understand this in that drag is reduced significantly in a peleton. However there is still wind resistance which is still causing significant exertion even in a peleton. In the peleton draft case, road drag is a larger percentage of the overall “load” that the rider has to overcome for a given speed. Also, in small breakaways where there are just a handful of riders, each rider will likely have to spend a fair amount of time sharing the pulling. It seems like a more aero setup will reduce the overall energy requirement for the person on the aero frame (same argument in favor of race wheels) during the race and give that person (and the breakaway group in general) a bit of an advantage.
Dude, you’re totally focusing on the wrong thing as a beginner. Your primary focus should be about your training and not about your equipment. You should have the mindset of being able to beat anyone on a huffy.
