I have a question that I hope someone can help me with regarding bike speed. I have an entry level women’s road bike and it helped me when I started doing sprint tri’s a few years ago. Now however, I seem to get passed when I’m riding, by riders whizzing by me. Is it just me that’s slow, or is there really such a thing as a “faster” bike? I mean, I saw some of the superfit guys flying by me at higher speeds but one of the pack today was a rather heavyset woman and she dropped me like I was a hot potato. No offense at all intended but I just wondered if the rider alone is the only factor when it comes to bike speed, or if there really is a difference when I go to purchase a higher end tri bike? Am I that slow (didn’t think I was) or is there a difference in gearing? Any feedback is welcome and appreciated.
I have a question that I hope someone can help me with regarding bike speed. I have an entry level women’s road bike and it helped me when I started doing sprint tri’s a few years ago. Now however, I seem to get passed when I’m riding, by riders whizzing by me. Is it just me that’s slow, or is there really such a thing as a “faster” bike? I mean, I saw some of the superfit guys flying by me at higher speeds but one of the pack today was a rather heavyset woman and she dropped me like I was a hot potato. No offense at all intended but I just wondered if the rider alone is the only factor when it comes to bike speed, or if there really is a difference when I go to purchase a higher end tri bike? Am I that slow (didn’t think I was) or is there a difference in gearing? Any feedback is welcome and appreciated.
Thanks
If you have a drop-bar (U-shaped handlbar) bike, your bike goes 99% as fast a $10k road bike, and 95% as fast a ‘TT’ bike with aerobars.
Short answer - the people flying by you are flying by because they’re significantly stronger cyclists than you are. Regardless of what gear they have.
Had you been riding a mountain bike, I’d say there’s a possible chance you’d make up a lot of speed by changing stuff, but today’s entry level road bikes are nearly as fast as the fastest race-legal bicycles in existence.
All the “aero” debate on the forums is arguing over a 1-5% difference total in speed, and likely closer to the 1% mark. Aero will not get you like 5mph out of the blue.
99% of speed is the rider, but you can do many cheaper things to go faster without buying a bike.
1.) Buy a kit that is relatively form fitting and not flapping in the wind.
2.) Google afm’s tire roller data. Grab some fast tires from that test and use latex tubes
3.) Get an aero helmet
4.) Get aerobars for your road bike
5.) Get a decent used front race wheel s60, hed jet etc.
6.) Buy a wheel cover
7.),get a dedicated quality tt bike
But even then some lady may just house you on a standard road bike with box rims and conti gatorskins because she can lay down the watt.
So yes train, train, and train, but you can also train while makibg smart aero choices.
There are slow riders on fast bikes, and fast riders on slow bikes, and lots in the middle. A bike can be faster, but I’ve ridden some very crappy bikes a lot faster than a lot of very fast bikes, as many on ST have as well.
You can get a good aero setup fairly cheaply that will serve you well till you get to the point where the extra gains are really worth laying out the cash to you. Then you’ll know EXACTLY why you are buying stuff. I’d get the full jack mott cheap aero program, then a computrainer, before breaking the bank on high zoot parts.
Someone should document it, but its something like:
Tires/tubes (get low crr, latex tubes). Run the right pressure.
Aero helmet.
Disc cover.
You are under 400 bucks here easy.
Cheap aero frame like the alu cervelos, whatever gruppo you can afford to put on it.
Dial in the fit!
Ride. Lots. Do intervals.
you saw a “pack” of riders, there is your answer, the pack is substantially faster than an individual. If you hooked onto that train, sometimes very hard when they initially go by, you may have been able to suck someones wheel and enjoyed a team ride. Even better, find a few friends and work at drafting, swapping the lead every few minutes.
I have a question that I hope someone can help me with regarding bike speed. I have an entry level women’s road bike and it helped me when I started doing sprint tri’s a few years ago. Now however, I seem to get passed when I’m riding, by riders whizzing by me. Is it just me that’s slow, or is there really such a thing as a “faster” bike? I mean, I saw some of the superfit guys flying by me at higher speeds but one of the pack today was a rather heavyset woman and she dropped me like I was a hot potato. No offense at all intended but I just wondered if the rider alone is the only factor when it comes to bike speed, or if there really is a difference when I go to purchase a higher end tri bike? Am I that slow (didn’t think I was) or is there a difference in gearing? Any feedback is welcome and appreciated.
Thanks
The rider is the biggest factor in bike speed, but the bike is a large factoe as well. Fast bikers gain speed by producing high sustainable wattage at the crank while in a tuck on a light low-drag machine .
Sounds to me like you need to do to increase your torque & get a tri bike
Yes some bikes are faster than others at the same effort. However the person sitting on ANY bike ultimately determines how fast it goes. So most/all of those people that are flying past you will still fly past. Those that are just passing you on a tri bike versus road bike might not pass you if you were on a tri bike. If you go out and buy a tri bike but ride it sitting up on the base bars like SOOO many people I see doing then it’s a WOMBAT. (waste of money bandwidth and time) If you make the investment then get a good fit that you will be able to stay aero in most/all of the time safely possible. Then ride your bike a lot to get fast. Aero position and riders power output is king, otherwise it’s just a fancy bike that you wasted a few k on that still goes slow.
wow thanks, I knew I’d get some really good (and honest!) answers on ST. I do know I need to do more work to improve my speed but I’ll try out some tri bikes too and see if that also helps. Thanks again.
Man, this is my wheelhouse. Yes there are definitely faster bikes, but the fastest bike for you may not be what’s fastest for someone else. Here’s the breakdown for speed on the bike (roughly): Position - 70-75%, Wheels - 20-25%, Entire Rest of the Bike (with an emphasis on the front end of the bike - ie. aerobars, fork) about 5-7%. As one item becomes more aerodynamic, it will skew the ratios, but this is generally a good rule of thumb.
Here is the kicker to all of this though - we’re triathletes, and what matters most to us (unless you’re worried about setting a bike course record) is how fast you ride and run. I have definitely worked with people who were hosing their run speed by what they did on the bike. There is a lot you can do with your position to cause you problems when you run, and depending on you (physiology, morphology, etc.), they may make you a lot faster on the bike.
In general, things like wheels, helmets, etc (while dependent on your position and bike to determine which is optimal for you) won’t cost you any speed on the run. I say in general, because using a disc wheel that transmits a ton of vibration through a very stiff frame can cost you run speed through unnecessary muscle fatigue caused by the shock and vibration.
In the end, choosing a great tri bike and optimizing it for you is a lot more complex than most people give credit for. If someone is passing you going 10mph faster on the bike, and then they put another minute per mile on you in the run, you can rest assured that it’s primarily the engine that you got beat by. Aero advantages are real, but so are certain detriments to your overall performance. Its all a very delicate balancing act…
A good bike is a bike adjusted to you.
Try a bikefit specialist. Talk to him and listen their advice.
But…fast is the rider, not the bike. It´s a obvius truth. I had an heavy aluminiun road bike and my ride didn´t change much when i bought a carbon super light bike. A good bikefit is the key, i think.
There is definately such a thing as a “faster bike” but the bottom line is the most important thing is still the engine. Nobody is going to move from MOP to FOP simply by purchasing a new bike. If you’re a MOP rider a “faster bike” will likely move you up a few positions but you’ll still be MOP.
People blowing by you are putting out a lot more power. Here are some numbers to consider.
I’ve done a lot of experimenting with the aero position and trimmed about a minute off my old position on the same bike over a 10K test loop. So that is about 6 secs per kilometer of time savings.
Using data from Tom A. and Andrew C. about comparing the P2K to the P3 carbon version, I’m guessing that swapping out my old bike for a P3 would gain me about 2-2.5 seconds per K. A P4 gets me another second per kilometer.
So for about 1 grand I could move up to a pretty fast bike and for 2-3 grand I could buy the fastest thing going. Neither of those would save me as much as position changes of my body.
If you are riding a road bike, I would make a pretty safe bet in saying your body position is far from optimized.
Over 40K the new bike would be worth 1:20 to 2:00. Now, every 10 extra watts you put out gets you about 40 seconds, so you can spend a couple grand or improve your FTP by 30 watts. Do both and you will be rockin’. If you don’t have a power meter, then you should read up on how to use them to good effect and then buy one and start training efficiently. I’ve used one over the last 15 months to add about 75 watts to FTP on 2-3 hours a week riding.
Chad
one of the pack today was a rather heavyset woman and she dropped me like I was a hot potato. No offense at all intended but I just wondered if the rider alone is the only factor when it comes to bike speed
Thanks
A lot of “heavyset” people have tons of muscle underneath as a result of supporting their body. Something to keep in mind besides the bike tech talk.