Hi all,
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.