Originally Posted by
ModelT
I passed a Bacchetta carbon aero (with aero wheels) on my steel Rocket once...
Did you hold onto your lead after the Carbon Aero rider got on his bike and started pedaling?
I like Rockets, but I don't normally think of them as being particularly fast.
Fast attributes, not necessarily in any particular order:
1. light weight
2. stiff frame *and seat*
3. low frontal area
4. low CD
5. skinny HP tires
6. big gears
7. aero wheelset (helps with #4)
To expound a bit on some of the points: on #1, if the frame flexes, you're losing power which is not returned in a form that is usable to power the bike down the road. On #2, if you have a mesh seat, you're losing power to the mesh on every pedal stroke -- no matter how tight it is. On #5, if you have fat tires, they will be heavier (harder to spin up) and will have more frontal area than a skinny tire. And #6, a fast rider will bury a rider who runs out of gears of a downhill. Go ahead and coast, but you can't win of you don't pedal.