Deontologist

I am curious as to how much faster I could be on my bike with a few upgrades/component swaps. Right now my setup is something that weight weenies would faint at. Here are some components I currently run and am thinking about upgrading:

1) Puncture-resistant tubes front and back. Combined weight: About 530 grams. I could swap them for lighter butyl or even latex tubes ... and knock off a few hundred grams.

2) Semi-aero clinchers ... these have a 30mm rim and that's about it. ~1800 grams for the pair. I am thinking about getting some knock-off Zipps. I'd imagine that these are both lighter and more aerodynamic.

3) Aluminum and fully round handlebars ... these aren't your fancy handlebars with a flat top section or anything. I am also thinking about getting a generic carbon handlebar.

So let's say I did everything mentioned above (get lighter tubes, knockoff clinchers, and aero handlebars) ... how many additional mph am I looking at?

Machka 

0.5?

Machka 

How much does the engine weigh?

Bunyanderman

Weight will not really help with flat riding, only aero improvements will. An aero helmet will help you 100x more than flat handlebars.

gregf83 

or probably a little less.
How good is your position on the bike? Being able to ride with a flat back will likely net you a bigger improvement than the combined effect of the changes you mentioned.

TrojanHorse

You won't be faster at all while you're sitting on the side of the road changing your weight weenie approved tubes.

kbarch

Without scrupulously controlling for other variables, it's probably not enough to reliably measure on rides shorter than 50-60 miles.

Personally, I like lightweight bikes for their own sake. The aesthetic advantage far outweighs any performance advantages it may provide. It's like a clean bike may be measurably faster than a dirty bike, but I don't keep my bike clean so it will "make me faster."

That being said, I wouldn't downplay the significance of very small differences entirely. If your life or livelihood depends on your speed or the time in which you finish a ride - perhaps even if you just pretend that it does - I think you WILL notice and be able to take advantage of the smallest differences.

Lazyass

Don't know what terrain you ride since you have your location hidden (why do people do that?), but you are looking at gaining zero speed.

"Don't buy upgrades, ride upgrades" - Eddy Merckx

chaadster

Given that you can barely pedal out of the saddle (based on another thread), I'd say you have much bigger fish to fry before you need to worry about this stuff. So the answer to your question is, plainly, Not at all faster.

FLvector

Rather than trying to buy speed, work on the engine and your position on the bike if you have the flexibility. This will result in something you will notice.

bgav

Only start thinking about "free" speed gains (aero helmet, deep dish wheels, etc) once you can maintain an average speed somewhere close to 20MPH on a relatively flat "TT" course 15-20 miles long. As others have said, work on the engine first. It shouldn't matter whether your bike is 17lbs or 25lbs.

During peak fitness I can grab my light carbon/steel road bike with 44mm carbon clinchers, 23c tires or my 26lb lugged steel bike with 32c tires and my times will be surprisingly close on the 17mile route I use to benchmark my fitness. It's mostly about the engine, especially if you're carrying extra body weight..

10 Wheels

This will help....

obed7

none of those things will make you any faster... I learned the expensive way.

macca33

I reckon you'll make a sum total of ZERO additional MPH....

jimc101

With the very limited spec given, thinking that the tubes may help, probably the cheapest and most cost effective area to loose weight/gain speed is tires/tubes.

For no.3, generic carbon bars are one component that I would look very carefully at, vs buying a branded one, as would not feel that confident with parts of unknown origin in that area.

caloso

None of these "upgrades" will make you faster. Upgrade the engine to go faster.

hairnet

Getting rid of those tubes will at least give you the illusion of going faster.

Nachoman

He may as well also change the color of his handlebar tape while he's at it.

hairnet

Better make it red.

merlinextraligh

Two of the upgrades you mention will make you faster. It just won't be nearly what you might imagine.

The change from heavy thorn resistant tubes to lightweight tubes will decrease rolling resistance. Not sure there's a lot of data to quantify that, but my guess is that it would be a fraction of a mph, maybe .1 mph.

There is data on the aero wheels. Going to something aerodynamically equivalent to a Zipp 404, from your slightly aero wheels is going to be worth around .1-.2mph at 20 mph.

Doing intervals twice a week will make an order of magnitude larger difference.

Hypno Toad

I'll repeat a number of other posts: work on the engine.

Here's my personal analysis of two of my bikes using on Strava segment I ride daily (411 attempts, not including this morning):

Kona Dew Drop: Daily commuter, with U-lock frame mounted, it's roughly 30 lbs. I have used this bike for 196 attempts on this segment and it averages 16 mph on this segment. This bike is the one that will see bad weather (but not winter, snow, ice).


Felt Z85: My road bike, nothing high-end, it's roughly 22 lbs. I have used this bike for 54 attempts on this segment and it averages 17.5 mph. This bike is the sunny day commuter, therefore, it doesn't suffer with cold and rainy climbs on this segment. Additionally, I have used this bike on non-commute rides (losing the Chrome bag full of clothes and food); therefore, some of it's top ride times on the segment are not equal to the Kona, which is only a commuter-bike.


In summation, the Felt is 8 lbs lighter and always rides the best conditions and that buys me 1.5 mph. In my estimations, that is not a big gain. Losing a ounce or two is not going to make a noticeable difference. Improved aero can help just about any bike/rider; however, can you get these aero gains by adjusting your riding positions? All that said, make the decision to upgrade based on 'fun' and not so much 'fast'. Enjoy the ride!

Strava segment: Baker Rd: Orchard to Shady - .9 miles, hilly and straight.

wphamilton

Well, the latex tubes are purported to have lower rolling resistance, equivalent to around a couple of watts at 18-20 mph, so ... up a very steep grade, less than 1% more speed and on flat or downhill a small fraction of 1%. The couple of watts and then some is lost at lower pressures ((compared with normal pressure regular tube) when the air leaks out, which it will with latex tubes.

I don't think that an aero-appearing handlebar makes any measurable difference in speed.

rms13

I have a modern carbon race bike that is about 17 lb, a modern alum. race bike that about 18 lb and a 25 year old steel frame built up with 105 that is about 20 lbs. I just broke a few PRs this weekend riding the steel bike on a route that I have been doing almost weekly for a couple of years. There is nothing light or aero about the steel bike, I broke PRs because I have gotten faster (the engine)

greenlight149

Get a fight fitting jersey that doesn't flap around in the wind will make you faster than all the things you mentioned combined.

Stucky

Add up the total weight of bike and rider now.

Add up the total weight of bike and rider with your proposed changes.

How much percentage difference between the two sums?

about 0.5%?

So if you average 20MPH, all other things being equal, you'll now be able to go 20.2MPH. Big whoop!

An aero helmet won't help much unless you regularly average well over 20MPH. Then it will help a little. Very little.

Just how much drag do you think a normal drop-handlebar has? Not much! It's your body which has more aero drag than anything else on the bike- over 90%, in fact.

If you want to be meaningfully faster, it's got to come from your legs and from your position on the bike. If your position is not now aero, adopting a good aero position could gain you as much as 1-2MPH.

Best way to get faster: Ride more; Ride bigger hills.