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Old 06-26-20, 01:21 PM
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ljsense
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Originally Posted by merlinextraligh
From an actual performance advantage, I’m not sure we’ve come that far. I ride my1990’s Merlin Extralight at my second home. Can’t say I really miss my Willier Zero 7, or feel like the Merlin is holding me back. The differences are pretty marginal.
No knock on current bikes; I'm always impressed with what manufacturers are doing to push the boundaries, but the past competition is so tough. Your example is a perfect one: A Merlin Extralight. It's really difficult to get better than that.

In 25 years, road bikes have gained disc brakes, 2 or 3 more cogs, more aerodynamic tubes and rims, stiffness (particularly in the front end), and regained the ability to run larger tires. For a while they were lighter, but now most aero bikes with disc brakes are no lighter than they were in the 90s. In the toss up category, I would put internally routed cables, more mounts for this and that, and a wide range of different bearing standards and options.

I would argue that most of these advances result primarily in greater comfort and sense of security on the bike, not speed. Sure, there are some aerodynamic improvements, but deep rims have been around for a long time, and not all modern frames are aero.
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