Originally Posted by
jamesdak
I've set a goal of taking all my 20ish road bikes out on a similar route, just sometimes more miles on the route, to prove that under me all the bikes can run my best pace of somewhere around a 19 mph avg.
Now I'll caveat my statements by saying I don't race, obviously don't push a bike to the 99% as humanly possible, etc. I'm talking the solo riding I do pretty much each day year in, year out, where I push myself to compete against just myself on other rides.
Originally Posted by
jamesdak
... Only Criteria for this is a silly goal of showing that one average joe rider can run pretty much the same pace on pretty much the same route with a slew of different bikes. That's all that matters to me with this. I already have the bikes dialed in to me fit and comfort level so now to see if one is truly any faster.
Although I have found a few handling issue differences between the bikes on this quick little dog leg I take from the road onto a bike path. Let's just say a time or two I've barely made the turn back onto the path at around 20 mph, LOL! Some are just a wee bit lazy in turning than others.
I have similar experiences.
How fast I ride is never a function of which bike I choose but how I feel on a given day. If I were riding 99.9%, then yes, a pound or two would be a big difference .... when a "big difference" is measured in tenths of a second over a couple hours. For me just riding, my physical and mental condition on any given day determine the pace, not the weight, frame material, gearing, or aero of the bike.
Further ... if a CF bike is more wind-affected, it is tube shape, not material. If bike doesn't handle or stop as well, it is geometry or brake system differences, not frame material, making the difference.
Easy test would be to build two identical bikes, one in CF and one in steel, and ballast them to the same weight ... same build as to all components, same tube profiles, all that .... does anyone really think the CF bike would be faster because it is CF? If so , ... yes, the Earth is really flat and the Moon landings were fake. For the rest of us .....
I ride a vintage (well, 1984) steel bike because I own it. it isn't magic. every one of my bikes has its own personality and its own characteristics, and if I didn't enjoy riding them I would sell them and get something I liked. Some people act like steel is magic .... maybe they need to try Ti. (
) Some people like opera and some people like rap. Some probably like both. it is personal taste, one hundred percent.
of course, in certain cases---say, competition---yeah, steel will always lose if weight is an issue. CF can be formed to give precisely tuned ride characteristics and steel is much less malleable--it could be shaped to the same forms but not with the same characteristics and it would always weigh more for the same strength. That is just physics. So what? I won't guess what percentage of us are really only riding hard-core, all-out competition but i am pretty sure it is a pretty low percentage ... and in any other setting, the question of "What makes a good ride" goes way beyond maximized speed performance.
My old Raleigh performs wonderfully by my standards. it has 23-mm tires, but well, it is 35+ years old. That's how things were (actually I can fit 28s, but I am waiting until the 23s wear out ... ) It is still a very comfortable ride ... but all my bikes are pretty comfortable, because I set them up to fit me. It has modern brakes and shifters ... but it would be just fine with downtubes and old sidepulls .... It is a bicycle made with a steel frame. It is not magic, it is not miraculous, it doesn't "subtly communicate every detail of the road surface without overemphasizing the input, dampening all the impacts just enough that they transmit information without vibration ...." or some such overblown pro-steel ad copy. it is a decent bike with a decent steel frame. I like to ride bikes, I have this bike, sometimes I ride it.
I ride old steel because it is there.