Bicycle science

[Lynx2174]

Pirpirr, I think that if you're going to use a bike a lot, say for daily commuting or a long road trip then spend less than 300 GBP may be a bit of a false economy. Partly it's down to durability, which is not to say that cheap bikes will collapse but they might need more love, for instance wheels will be much better built on a pricier bike. Also, when things do finally wear out it can, bizarrely be more expensive to replace them on a cheaper bike e.g., cheap chainsets with the chainrings welded on mean that you can't just replace one worn chainring, similarly crappy plastic components (brake cantilevers on really cheap bikes) sometimes just don't stand up to be adjusted.

Having said all that I'd much rather ride a well-loved, moderately-priced bike with nice hard tires and a well oiled chain than something expensive but poorly set up, and I can't agree enough with the points about getting a bike that fits.

John O'Groats to Lands End eh? Hats off!

I dunno, I bought a $200 mountain bike and rode it seven miles a day, 5 days a week for five years, and it never gave me a lick of trouble i couldn't fix with a hammer, allen wrench, and the occasional extra tire. Still works fine, too. I think it was a Raleigh.

Now I'm using a bike which apparently was $800, but that was in like 1981, so it's practically antique. works decently enough. I had a nice $400 Diamondback response, which was a great bike... for like 3 days. Somebody jacked it the second day of college.

In my opinion, a bike is a bike. Sure, I'm envious of all the neat gadgetry that they've got these days, disc brakes, full reactive suspension, etc, but anything with two wheels will get you around and exercised.

 

[Mosquito]

Booooooo!

I prefer the old school pedals. I like them big, and flat with metal spikes that if you do slip your foot off will spin around and slam your shins but good. Now that teaches you to keep your feet steady.

I worked 6 years as a bike courier on one like that. I could never go with the clips or even with the straps. When spending 10 hours a day riding, being able to shift your foot forward or back on the pedal to work the muscles a little differently is a must, for me.

That is probably good for someone who stops every 50m, when the next stop is 50km away, having the option of getting your foot out those 0.2sec faster is rarely needed. Getting them in one second faster, not needed at all.

The big gain from locking onto the pedal comes from two things:

1. You can get a full 360 degree pedaling. In effect, you could pedal with one leg, even uphill. Though a long steep hill will still be more comfortable with two feet
2. You no longer need to work against yourself. In order to keep the back leg on the rising pedal, you need to put a little force on it. This force you have to overcome with the other foot. With practice, you can reduce this, but most people don't. Lock your foot, and it can help with torque by being pulled up rather than be a resistance.

In total, the effect is rather big, especially uphill or for other high performance situations.

I used a mountain bike frame with a road crank (51 teeth up front) and micro drive cassette in the back.

Non-standard all the way!

They DO come in rather useless configurations, don't they... I had my 42-32-22 exchanged for a 52-38. Made a huge difference, as I do not ride around on dirt trail or up walls.

Oh, and about pricing. I generaly agree with what has been said so far. 2k is far too much to spend. Although, just last week I was at a friends house and he showed me the new wheels (rim, spokes, and hub only) that he just got for $1800 a pair!

But will he be $1800 faster on this bike? Or will he use it $1800 more?


Mosquito - Hoping for a lot of km around the nation

 

[Cuddles]

I wish I could remember the ref: someone did the calculations a few years ago about how much faster you would go on a lighter bike compared to a heavier one. The difference was really pretty trivial even up long hills, so unless you're racing I'd stay in the moderate price range since I suspect that the law of diminishing marginal returns applies to this just as much as everything else.

I'd be interested to see those calculations. For example, compare my father's racing bike with my mother's old bike. One I can pretty much balance on one finger, the other I can barely lift with both hands. It won't make much difference on the flat, but I'm seriously sceptical that there isn't a huge difference as soon as hills are involved.

 

[flimflam_machine]

I'd be interested to see those calculations. For example, compare my father's racing bike with my mother's old bike. One I can pretty much balance on one finger, the other I can barely lift with both hands. It won't make much difference on the flat, but I'm seriously sceptical that there isn't a huge difference as soon as hills are involved.

To be fair I think the comparison was between a light, expensive bike and a very light, very expensive bike, so the differences will be less than the ones you describe. With racing bikes the differences come down to a couple of kilos which when considered in the context of a total bike/rider weight of 80+ kilos is not a huge percentage increase in the energy needed to actually raise the mass up the hill.

Lightweight wheels are generally a good thing: they make a bike feel lively since they accelerate more easily. If you're just going for flat out continuous speed (like a time trial) this is less important so you can add a bit of weight to get better aerodynamics, which frankly, on a bike, are *****.

ETA: Blimey, automatic expletive deleted. It wasn't anything that bad, promise!

 

[bruto]

I'd be interested to see those calculations. For example, compare my father's racing bike with my mother's old bike. One I can pretty much balance on one finger, the other I can barely lift with both hands. It won't make much difference on the flat, but I'm seriously sceptical that there isn't a huge difference as soon as hills are involved.

Many people differentiate between overall weight and rotating weight. The overall weight of the bike may not make a huge difference - after all, you could probably save more off your bike weight by dumping out your water bottle or throwing away your pump and spare tube than by spending another few hundred bucks - but heavy wheels may well make a tangible difference in climbing.

ETA....I see Flimflam beat me to it.....