kromozome

I am fortunate to be able to get more or less whatever I'd like but I don't want to just throw money at a problem without a real purpose.


My goal is to create a versatile climbing bike for next year to suit my 220lbs (100kg). I already have a Specialized Roubaix Pro (with FACT 11 frame), Roval CL32 wheels, Enve stem, bar, seat post, Ultegra DI2 group set and hydraulic brakes. Compact group set 50/34, 11/32. I've ridden the bike on several Gran Fondos including the GFNY (103 miles, 8500 feet climbing). It did fine. I need to lose weight, but ride a lot (150-180 miles per week typically) and can keep up with my A-/ A cycling club group rides (we live in a very flat area though).


In the spirit of Team Sky, do you think I'd see any real "marginal gains" building up a lightweight climbing bike for next year's climbing expeditions or am I literally wasting my time and money doing so given the bike I already own? I have read all the articles about calculating the incremental differences of riding a 15lb bike compared to a 17.5lb bike, but do you think on a personal level I would / could feel the difference? Should I just buckle down and get 10lbs off my frame and stop looking for ways to spend money or is there a gap in my bike shed waiting to be filled?


Thanks for your help!

gregf83 

Oso Polar

Yeah, you are wasting time and money. If you want to climb better, loose your own weight, it'll be way more efficient. I went from 230 lb to 160 lb, so I've experienced the difference first hand.
Also, to get better in climbing, you need to climb - IMHO riding fast on flats doesn't help much.

seypat

I weigh around 200lbs. The weight fluctuates 5lbs either way. I don't notice any difference. A 10lb difference, maybe 1 cog. If you currently ride with 2 water bottles, take 1 off. Or take both off and go for a ride. See if there is a noticeable difference. That is the weight difference you are talking about.

rubiksoval

Total waste of money looking for performance gains by losing weight from the bike at this point (or most any).

For the money, a coach may be a huge boon, however.

rm -rf

One full water bottle, at 22 ounces, is 1.4 pounds. That's 650 grams. Each. Can you tell the difference on a climb with two full or empty bottles? It's quite subtle.

It looks like you already have the climbing bike, with a carbon frame and wheels, and Di2. For me, the Di2 shifting is extremely helpful on hilly rides, especially when it's shorter, repeated hills. I can instantly shift to the best gear, often only doing a few pedal strokes before shifting again. And I'll shift to the small front ring even for tiny hills, instead of standing and mashing.

Buy a power meter instead of a new bike! That would be way more effective. (And the power numbers are interesting if you like viewing your ride stats.)

GreenAnvil

Campag4life

kromo,
What the other guys said. Your bike is already near the top of the food chain. A 15 lb bike won't do you much good.
Change your diet would be my first suggestion.

Best bike related suggestion is...shorter gearing. Put short gears on the bike is the biggest benefit an amateur can derive on long hilly rides.
Big cassette in back, compact in front...especially for a bigger rider.

Good luck.
Old adage of 'can't buy game' largely applies to cycling 'once you have good equipment' and you have an excellent bike.

PS: honorable mention to a power meter with a disciplined training plan if you want to get stronger. As usual, rm-rf gives great advice.

DrIsotope

I prefer long climbs on my 25lb steel CX bike rather than my 17lb CF road bike, because the CX has a 1:1 final gear. If you're near or over 200lbs, the bike could weigh 10lbs and wouldn't make a significant difference in climbing speed. It might save a few seconds per hour.

The sad truth I had to accept is that a "climber" weighs about 145lbs. I'm one and a half climbers. I'm never going to be fast up a hill. I place decently on the leaderboards for guys over 45yo and +200lbs, but I have no illusions about beating anyone my age but 40-50lbs lighter.

Campag4life

Go stealth and buy a roadbike with a motor you can't see. That'll school those little wussy boys in the hills.

DrIsotope

Yeah, every bike I own has a 27.2 seatpost, so no motors for me (not that I've ever looked it up .) While I'm not a "motor guy" I wouldn't be opposed to something akin to KERS on a bike. But I imagine the implementation would be heavy, complex, or both, so I'll stick with using the somewhat-inefficient meat engine currently powering my bikes. It's pretty fast on flat ground.

Hermes

I have a Cervelo R5 as a climbing race bike and a Cervelo R3 as a back up bike. IMO, having a tricked out climbing bike is fun and marginal gains interesting to pursue. I separate me from the bike but absolutely positively without a doubt know that performance is all about me. You can start with a light frame (suitable for your body weight) and build it up with carefully selected components like the saddle, bars, stem, pedals and etc. to get the total weight down. I like 45 mm deep section carbon wheels versus a pure climbing wheel since most climbing is not just steep stuff. I would also go for a light weight helmet, shoes and etc to shave off even more weight.

So hell yeah, get a tricked out climbing bike with all the trappings and you now have a back up bike. I ride my R3 with a Power Tap power meter when I send my SRM power meter on my R5 back to the factory for a new battery and recalibration.

The kitchen is the place tweak your diet and work on the engine.

rms13

2 years ago I was 190 and had a 15 lb bike with 50/34 11-28 gears. Right now I'm 160 and a have a 18 lb bike with 52/36 11-28 and climbing is much easier now

superdex

the other thing to consider is lightweight components aren't made for clydes. You'll run into rider weight limits pretty quickly. Like it's been said , your bike is pretty drool-worthy already. Keep working on the rider weight....

CliffordK

I've wondered about flex in the new generation of Roubaix Future Shock bikes, but as a rider, you'd have a better view of those issues.

In fact, one of the TDF riders got snagged for substituting the stems.

So, going cheap, you might simply get a rigid stem for your bike.

If you have the funds and interest, it might be fun to make a climbing specific bike. Light, but very rigid frame, lightweight, low profile wheels and tires (maybe toss in a couple extra spokes for good measure), etc.

15 lbs is still a tough point to hit, although some bikes are significantly less than that.

I wouldn't worry too much about 220 lbs, although stiffer wheels might not be bad.

Campag4life

Clifford,
Can you expand on what you mean by a TDF rider got snagged for substituting a stem?...presuming this is some sort of reference to a Roubaix FS??

Other thing is...based upon what the OP wrote, don't believe its a foregone conclusion that his particular model Roubaix has a future shock. Perhaps he could confirm.

CliffordK

Sorry, wrong race.

https://cyclingtips.com/2017/04/comm...paris-roubaix/

Dean V

Unfortunately the bike you already have sounds perfect for what you use it for.
So there are no valid reasons to justify a new bike.
But you can of course just buy one anyway!

hsuehhwa

With your weight, you probably gain very little with a super light weight climbing bike.

Since most likely you're generating lots of power (NOT power to weight ratio), a super light but less stiff bike could have more energy loss when you're climbing steep hills at low cadence.

JohnJ80

Lighter wheels help because you can accelerate them faster. That said, technique and gearing are the keys for clyde climbers.

Two things helped my climbing: A power meter and working on cadence. The power meter helped me figure out good pedaling technique and seeing how much additional power I could supply (average increase was about 30% over just mashing the pedals). Getting the cadence up to an average of about 90-100rpm while climbing really helped too (power meter has cadence plus you can see the improvement in power as you run the cadence up).

For gearing on the bike I ride in the mountains the most, I took Shimano 12-25 and 11-32 cassettes and used them to create a 12-32 which has great spacing for climbing for me.

You'll be interested to know that the bike I ride the most in the mountains is a steel Gunnar Crosshairs with an Enve Cross fork, wheels are HED Belgium+ rims laced to DT Swiss 240S hubs with Saphim X-ray spokes running 30c Schwalbe G-1 Speed tires. Not light but it works great. Probably weighs in around 19-20 lbs. Wheels are pretty light for alloy especially when run tubeless. Wheelset is around 1450g or so. I also have another steel pure road bike that is lighter and also has a set of older Enve carbon wheels on it running tubulars. I am faster up the hills with that bike. Those wheels weigh in less than 1200g.

So my advice in order of importance would be to figure out the technique issues (cadence and pedaling) and get a set of nice light wheels. I wouldn't go and get another bike especially if you're comfortable on the setup you have and the fit is right.

Then again, *any* rationalization for a new bike is also something I can get behind.

J.

Leinster

I'm going to throw an idea in here; if you're truly looking for the marginal gains, and money is no object, then rather than going lighter, go aero. A Venge (or System 6, or Propel, or Aeroad) frame won't weigh much more than your Roubaix, but it'll save you watts on those lower 3-4% slopes where you're still cruising in the middle of the cassette before the upper sections really start to bite. Buy a skinsuit. Tuck your elbows in. Save weight/watts on your other accessories (helmet, shoes, bottles). You could also invest in after market BB bearings and jockey wheels to save a few Ws.

There's lots of places to spend money and gain speed; a lighter bike will help, but it's not alone.

cyclintom

Not to kill your joy, but there is maybe 10 lbs difference between an old Basso Loto made from their own steel and a top end carbon fiber bike. Your 220 lbs plus the weight of a light bike for you - 17 lbs which Is REALLY stretching it - is 4%. Unless you're a pro-racer you will not discover any real difference in climbing. But you can pretend there is.

Kimmo

One thing you'd notice when you stand on the bike is a lighter seat. What are you currently running? It's padded, right?

If you can find a bare carbon number in a good shape, that should make a difference. But the shape matters a lot, more than a padded seat.

fietsbob

Buy Light, & replace often, if light bikes is what you like..

joelcool

I don't know how much weight you can loose, but 220 is not a climber.

Riding as much as you do should make dropping excess weight fairly easy - go heavy on protein, eat clean and keep riding. If you can drop 30# you'll be climbing noticeably faster. That also puts you below 200#, which will open the door for that lighter weight climbing bike that we all know you really want.