bruce19

Thought this was interesting.....

Campag4life

thanks for that Bruce. Awesome. Love GCN and Simon is my fav. The bike guru really knew his stuff. Simon really knows cycling and what a great personality he is.

Much was stated in the video and will only add, I prefer the handling of the Emonda to the Canyon. If there is a Goldilocks bike for handling its the Emonda. Honorable mention to my new Cervelo R3 which has very similar angles to the Emonda...between pure race bike and endurance bike. Goldilocks.

Then there is rider position on the bike. Simon is a fascination to me because we are exactly the same size. 6'1" with 77cm saddle height. We ride in a completely different position. Simon is young-ish and I am old-ish. Simon sizes down for his size...he rides a medium in most brands...a 56 and I ride a 58 which is pretty typical of guys our size.

Simon rides with 12cm of saddle to bar drop and I ride with much less drop. Simon likes a standard length stem on a shortish bike for his height and I like a longish stem on a 58.

So, too identically sized guys seeking two totaling different fits and of course Simon has more weight on his hands which affects the handling of the bikes as well.

Simon likes shorter bikes and I prefer to be up more higher and more stretched out...more like how Lance rode throughout his career. Same size riders.

Bike handling preferences and even frame size and fit are largely 'elective'. Personal choice. Not based upon an equation in a book.

Nexus of head tube angle, fork rake, trail, BB drop and chainstay length is an interesting and complicated interaction.

bruce19

I prefer the totally racer position on my bike. But, my 72 year old body says otherwise. I really like my 55 Guru Sidero but I have little to compare it to since I really don't ride other bikes much. I think my position on the Guru is kind of middle of the road. I measured the chain stays and got 40.64 cm (C of BB to axle). Not sure if that's actually how they're measured. And, now that I'm doing this, I got 73.7 cm saddle to C of BB. I've never understood the value of that measurement since crank arm length varies. I usually measure saddle to pedal spindle. In my case that's 90.5 cm. I could make myself crazy with measuring.

Campag4life

I believe the takeaway is...metrics are personal. What works best for each of us. I set all my bikes up similar but they aren't exactly the same. I actually like riding different bikes with different set ups for a bit of variety. I also don't find a particular position within a range to be that much faster. I also don't see a lot of difference between bike speed from one bike to another. More about the weather or how hard I am inclined to push on the pedals...how motivated I am.

But there is a range that likely works best for each of us. I am the same size as Simon and his position would hurt my body over the miles. I know because I have ridden it and every combination to see what works best.

nomadmax 

Great post.

The thing I found interesting was that if the rider "thinks" the bike is responsive it will be (to a degree). I know there have been times where I've beaten someone up a climb or in a sprint, mainly because I believed I was riding better/lighter equipment. Moreover, I believe that on some of those occasions my fellow competitors "gave up" because they believed it too.

Campag4life

No question this dynamic exists...interaction between mind and body. A Tarmac feels faster than a Roubaix whether it is or not. Shorter wheelbase, less trail, more upright headtube angle...a Tarmac is more responsive and feels faster.

I had a real good correspondence with Sheldon Brown before the great bicycle sage passed away too young. He said humans are highly adaptive. He said he owned bicycles with vastly different geometries that handled completely different. He said within a half hour or so of riding any one he would adjust to this 'new norm' and it would feel little different than the others until he hopped on another and become acquainted with that 'new norm'...paraphrasing.

datlas 

Agree. But some of what "feels" faster is indeed in the bike. It may not be faster but feels faster/more responsive.

Think what 60MPH fees like in a Porsche vs a Cadillac. Similar concept.

Campag4life

Completely agree. Certainly true of my bikes. Some feel faster. They aren't really...or more noise in terms of weather and personal energy any given day.

But...because of the mind/bike interaction, it could be conjectured a fast feeling bike is intoxicating to ride pushing a rider to ride faster.

datlas 

Also agree 100%.