Question:
So my question is, does anyone have any hard facts (as opposed to anecdotal evidence) about how much time you will save on the bike leg using an expensive road bike, compared to a cheap road bike or even a mountain bike? For example, has anyone experimented by timing themselves over the same course, at the same heart rate, using both an expensive bike and a cheap road bike or a mountain bike?
I have a mountain bike, a cheap road bike ($400), a slightly less cheap tri bike ($800) and decent road bike ($1400). I haven’t done the experimentation you’re asking for so I can’t give you hard numbers. If I was to guess at attainable speeds in a 40k moderate course on the four bikes, I’d guess this: Mtn: 19 mpg Cheap road: 23.5 mph Sorta cheap tri: 24 mph Decent road: 24.5 mph Once you get to a road bike, the rate of diminishing returns comes quickly and steeply. — Cheers, Doug Fuller Before you buy.
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Someone probably has mentioned this: but if you have some cash to spend and your equipment is not all that different from the competition then spend the money on a coach.
That is true. I also feel the same, although I haven’t contacted any coaches myself. Being sort of a control freak, and someone that likes to tinker with stuff, I’ve decided to see if I can train myself for my first IM next year: IMSA. Another consideration, as mentioned, is to get the bike set up perfectly. I’ve been having problems with my knees since starting this insane sport two years ago. Only 2 months ago did it occur to me that the cause of this could be the bike setup. I went for sport rehab out of desperation. (Runners knee) Only after my treatment did they mention that the cleats sometimes need adjustment. Not just direction, but spacers sometimes need to be added between the cleat and shoe! On my own (again) I tried to simulate the anti-pronation action of my running shoes and voila! stable up-and-down knees and no more problems!! I did not think of this before because I had improved my bike during my first "off-season" with no problems. This was doing only r/races with the roadies. It was when I added running to the mix that things got nasty. It is great coming from barely running 5k per week to 20k with no problems!
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<<Or, even better, aero modifications make fast people faster. They make slow people poorer. Awesome quote! I’m going to use that one! -Kevin Munday
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Someone probably has mentioned this: but if you have some cash to spend and your equipment is not all that different from the competition then spend the money on a coach.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Point taken. The great thing about cycling is that it is *so* much easier to transfer engines if you find a better chassis! Ok, new angle: Get the oldest, slowest thing you can get. (Bike, that is!) Train with it until you can match the fast MOP’ers. Save for the dream bike. Buy the bike. Leave the competition in your dust? I think I’ve discovered a reason for staying with my old steel steed! Arthur Tateishi wrote… Imagine you drive a small, slow european car. Next thing, you win the lottery and buy a super fast european car. Within a month, the new car will feel like just another car, except if its a McLaren F1 … Ah yes. But compare the engines! arthur
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This is the first year I’ve raced triathlons, and I’ve done sprint tri’s exclusively. Perhaps my experience is relevant to your situation. My first sprint tri was in April (I’m in Southern California). I borrowed a buddy’s fairly heavy road bike to train and then race. I used clip-on aero bars, and adjusted the seat position forward as far as it would go on the rails. My bike leg in that first race was 5-8 minutes slower than the winners in my age group. I placed 23rd or something like that. My training consisted of solo rides on flats and hills, plus spinning classes at the gym. Later in the summer I bought the least expensive tri-geometry road bike setup I could find, for $1000 US. My training remained the same. The first race I did on the new bike I shaved roughly 1:30 off what I would have done on the old bike The courses vary quite a bit from race to races, with different amounts of hills — hard to compare times from one to the other even using MPH or KPH with such differences. BUT because the bike leg is my weakest, and my swim and run performance didn’t improve significantly over the Summer, I can use my improvement in finish place as a guide. My summary assessment of the situation: 1) having a lighter bike, outfitted with aero bars and an aero water bottle made an important difference in my race performance. (You must have bike shoes that attach to the pedals too — don’t assume you can derive the full benefit with running shoes and pedal cages.) The difference would have been even more dramatic vis a vis a mountain bike. I’ve never been passed by someone on a mountain bike in a sprint tri, and have passed a great many. 2) starting to ride with real cyclists half-way through the summer made another big difference. I rode with my buddy John this morning, and as usual, we pushed each other quite hard around our circuit. John rides an old but quality road bike but it’s his ‘engine’ — his training and technique as a cyclist — that puts mine to shame. I have a lot to learn. 3) finally, figuring out the right adjustments on my bike made a significant difference. Reading Slowtwitch Empfield’s words on bike fit made quite a difference in my most recent race. I finally got the right angle between torso and legs to generate some power by raising my bars up almost two inches. So, having a bike suited to going fast on smooth pavement (a road bike) will help you enjoy your early sprint tri’s. But as you remove one obstacle to performance, you begin to see the next one. In my case I realized that I had to ride with ‘real’ cyclists in order to improve. My friend John has been a great help in this regard. I have run (slowly) for many years and swam competitively in high school. I was really not trained properly for that high-power cranking you have to do to compete in the bike leg of sprint tri’s. Now I’m starting to get the beginnings of it. Through the Summer over five different races my bike times and placing improved gradually. What age group are you in anyway? If you’re in the 40-44s, then forget what I wrote. Go ahead and ride that mountain bike, and leave those knobby tires on! ; ) Enjoy your racing next year. Before you buy.
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I’m not looking for advice on buying a bike or explanations of how to set up a bike to make it go fast. What I would really like to know is how many minutes will I knock off my time if I get a decent bike.
If you want non-anecdotal stuff, start here: http://www.bicyclesports.com/aeroworks-wattsanddrag.htm This page shows that over 40k aero wheels ($900ish a pair) will cut 1-2 minutes off your time when compared to standard road wheels (1 minute for deep rim wheels, 2 minutes for disk wheels). There are many caveats to this value, the most important of which is that the rate of aero savings increase non-linearly as speed increases. Put more simply, aero modifications will make a small difference if you cruise at 17 mph. Aero modifications make a much bigger difference if you cruise at 24 mph. Or, even better, aero modifications make fast people faster. They make slow people poorer. Bear in mind, that’s just an aero wheel set. Rider drag is a *much* bigger issue than frame or wheel set drag. I’ve seen data on this somewhere … see my book recommendation at the end. However, fancy wheels are fast out-of-the box and a good aero position takes time, training, and equipment to facilitate. Also check out http://www.bicyclesports.com/paero.htm This is an interesting pie chart that shows where your cycling energy is consumed. The biggest factor is aerodynamic drag (75%), but also significant is rolling resistance (11%). Again, aero drag really becomes an issue at higher speeds. You can definitely improve your speed with a good MTB slick (Specialized Fat Boy), but I think you could see that improvement yet again with a true road tire. I’m no mechanic, but I think it’s too hard to put road wheels on a MTB because the brakes will need a massive adjustment. Also check out http://www.slowtwitch.com and Marc Evans’s book "Endurance Athlete’s Edge". If you want college-level analysis of bicycling physics try http://www.analyticcycling.com. FWIW, my anecdotal evidence is this: I commute regularly (14 miles each way) on my MTB with slicks at 17 mph. When I ride my road bike, I cruise comfortably at 19/20 mph. I race at 24 MPH on a stock Klein road bike. I think one of the biggest issues you’ll see on a MTB is getting a big enough gears. I upgraded my commuter bike from 48 (I think) to 52 teeth on the biggest chainring, and I noticed a big difference in my top cruising speed. However, on easy road rides with my less-fast friends, it’s a little bit of a challenge for me to keep up if I’m on my commuter bike and they are on their road bikes. Lastly, there may be mistakes in the above. I’m just a guy that likes all this stuff. There are people out there better qualified than me to answer your question, but they didn’t seem to speak up. –stv Before you buy.
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The great thing about cycling is that it is *so* much easier to transfer engines if you find a better chassis!
I love that! You see I’m doing my first IM at IMC and decided to buy my dream bike after 9 yrs working up from the sprints. Few of my friends understand why I need a new bike when I already have four (only two road). Ok, new angle: Get the oldest, slowest thing you can get. (Bike, that is!) Train with it until you can match the fast MOP’ers. Save for the dream bike. Buy the bike. Leave the competition in your dust?
Unless that big heavy thing ruins your knees from hammering in the wrong gear or doesn’t fit right in the place (for me it’s the latter). arthur
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Point taken. The great thing about cycling is that it is *so* much easier to transfer engines if you find a better chassis! Ok, new angle: Get the oldest, slowest thing you can get. (Bike, that is!) Train with it until you can match the fast MOP’ers. Save for the dream bike. Buy the bike. Leave the competition in your dust? I think I’ve discovered a reason for staying with my old steel steed! – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Arthur Tateishi wrote… Imagine you drive a small, slow european car. Next thing, you win the lottery and buy a super fast european car. Within a month, the new car will feel like just another car, except if its a McLaren F1 … Ah yes. But compare the engines! arthur
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go to Cervelo’s site. They list the difference in time between a std road bike and their Eyre frame and P2. For the P2 the difference is around 3-4 minutes. Also, as mentioned a bit earlier, from people I’ve known who got new bikes…you have this $4000 sexy machine how can you allow yourself to do 1) do little training on it and 2) accept slow bike splits? You gotta ride as if you actually do need that Ferrari. A psychological perspective–time gain? Dont know. jeremy b
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on a hilly 10.6 mile course my average speed over 3 races on a gary fisher tassajara mountain bike was 21.1 miles per hour. on the same course with my trek 2200 road bike with aerobars my average speed (the next season) was 25 miles per hour. So there is your answer – 3.9 mph. the diffnce between a road and mountain bike is primarily attributed to the tire size and the total weight, after that it comes down to wind resistance and economics. basically, if you get yourself a decent road or tri bike you will decimate your MTB time. cheers – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Thanks to all the folks who responded to my original question, but I still haven’t got the answer I’m after. I’m not looking for advice on buying a bike or explanations of how to set up a bike to make it go fast. What I would really like to know is how many minutes will I knock off my time if I get a decent bike. Let me explain. I am planning to do a sprint triathlon and I reckon that 35 mins is a reasonable target for the bike leg. So I need to be able to do 20K in 35 mins quite comfortably before I tackle the race. At the weekend I took out my mountain bike which was the cheapest in the shop (store) when I bought it several years ago. I fitted a cycle computer and pedalled as fast as I could for 20K. It took me just under 40 minutes. I am in reasonable shape from other sports but have done no cycle training. If I take timhigdogspot1’s figures of a 5mph improvement I calculate that on a good road bike my time would come down to < 32 minutes. How about that – no further training needed!! So either I am a wonderful cyclist whose natural talent has been hidden for years, or else 5 mph is a bit optimistic. Has anyone out there who owns a good (expensive) bike actually measured the improvement it gives them over a bad (cheap/mountain) bike, rather than just going by how much better it feels? As an analogy, there are guys at my golf club who happily spend 300 UK pounds on a titanium driver that looks like half an elephant’s foot and makes them feel like Tiger Woods. However, the improvement in their scores is insignificant. Is this phenomenon the same with cyclists I wonder? BTW, the bit about not needing any further training is not true. When I finished the ride I jumped off the bike and tried a run. I just about made it round the block with crippling cramp in my calf muscles, from which I have only just recovered!! Richard.
Before you buy.
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Imagine you drive a small, slow european car. Next thing, you win the lottery and buy a super fast european car. Within a month, the new car will feel like just another car, except if its a McLaren F1 …
Ah yes. But compare the engines! arthur — Unix doesn’t have a monopoly on good ideas, it just owns most of them. – Alan Cox (http://slashdot.org/features/99/03/04/121242.shtml)
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Thanks to all the folks who responded to my original question, but I still haven’t got the answer I’m after. I’m not looking for advice on buying a bike or explanations of how to set up a bike to make it go fast. What I would really like to know is how many minutes will I knock off my time if I get a decent bike.
I think 5mph may be a bit optimistic but it’s not impossible. A mountain bike with narrow, high pressure tires would be quite faster than a mtn bike with knobbies and we haven’t even changes the bike/groupo yet. The difference is greater the better cyclist you are. Another factor is the length of a sprint tri. 20k isn’t overly long so improving 10% doesn’t equate to as many minutes as 10% improvement on a 180km IM course. I think with some cycle specific training you could get to 35min on your road bike. The question is, do you want to? Let me explain. I am planning to do a sprint triathlon and I reckon that 35 mins is a reasonable target for the bike leg. So I need to be able to do 20K in 35 mins quite comfortably before I tackle the race. At the weekend I took out my mountain bike which was the cheapest in the shop (store) when I bought it several years ago. I fitted a cycle computer and pedalled as fast as I could for 20K. It took me just under 40 minutes. I am in reasonable shape from other sports but have done no cycle training. If I take timhigdogspot1’s figures of a 5mph improvement I calculate that on a good road bike my time would come down to < 32 minutes. How about that – no further training needed!!
Yeah. Going "as hard as you can" to beat 40min on 20k on a heavy bike doesn’t leave much for the run as you alluded to later. I’ve generally found an 8-10% improvement going from an entry level (mid weight/105s) road bike to the same bike with clip-on aerobars. So I could go 33kph for the same effort as I used to go 30kph. And I definitely go a fair bit faster on my road bikes than my mtn bike so say another 10-20%? So on 20k I’d probably save 3-4min between my tri bike and my mtn bike (outfitted with modest slicks). That’s assuming a similar power output which I’ve found doesn’t happen. That is, I tend to hammer harder on my mtn bike because I’m trying vainly to accelerate up to my usual desired speed. The trips are usually short on that bike so it’s usually okay. arthur — Unix doesn’t have a monopoly on good ideas, it just owns most of them. – Alan Cox (http://slashdot.org/features/99/03/04/121242.shtml)
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Sorry Dan but you clearly know nothing of the economics of camel racing.
i’ve been found out. slowman
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If you buy a road, or tri bike you will be able to do your 20k faster than "just under 40 minutes" This will be true if you spend from $500 on a good used bike to $8000 on a super tricked up bike that has the latest technology! Of course you must enter in other variables such as wind cold etc. If you were to take your old mountain bike and do your "just under 40 minutes" and you had a good strong tail wind behind you in comfortable weather and of course your muscles were not sore etc. Then you purchased an expensive $8000 brand new state of the art tri bike and rode the same course with tired muscles against 30mph head winds in 30 below weather, well I would be willing to bet it would take you more than "just under 40 minutes". So anyway, I personally guarentee my first paragraph. You will be faster – how much faster? I think that it will take much more than this group to answer that. I have been biking for only 3 years, and I am finally getting the experiance, strength and endurance to somwhat "and definatly not fully" experiance the additional/better capabilities of my road bike versus my old clunker. There is no answer to your question other than "it will help somewhat" to what degree will depend on your training, experiance, desire and atheletic ability to which you didnt describe to any degree previously. And I think the people that tried to help you before were giving you honest answers which I don’t think that you either didn’t totally read them or comprehended them. I would go back, try and re-read them and maybe (hopefully) they will possibly answer your question. If you still don’t get it, then I would recommend purchasing the most expensive bike known to mankind. Then you will be able to not only answer your question. We would then hope that you would provide us with a answer to this question! Jean-Paul lanaux – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Thanks to all the folks who responded to my original question, but I still haven’t got the answer I’m after. I’m not looking for advice on buying a bike or explanations of how to set up a bike to make it go fast. What I would really like to know is how many minutes will I knock off my time if I get a decent bike. Let me explain. I am planning to do a sprint triathlon and I reckon that 35 mins is a reasonable target for the bike leg. So I need to be able to do 20K in 35 mins quite comfortably before I tackle the race. At the weekend I took out my mountain bike which was the cheapest in the shop (store) when I bought it several years ago. I fitted a cycle computer and pedalled as fast as I could for 20K. It took me just under 40 minutes. I am in reasonable shape from other sports but have done no cycle training. If I take timhigdogspot1’s figures of a 5mph improvement I calculate that on a good road bike my time would come down to < 32 minutes. How about that – no further training needed!! So either I am a wonderful cyclist whose natural talent has been hidden for years, or else 5 mph is a bit optimistic. Has anyone out there who owns a good (expensive) bike actually measured the improvement it gives them over a bad (cheap/mountain) bike, rather than just going by how much better it feels? As an analogy, there are guys at my golf club who happily spend 300 UK pounds on a titanium driver that looks like half an elephant’s foot and makes them feel like Tiger Woods. However, the improvement in their scores is insignificant. Is this phenomenon the same with cyclists I wonder? BTW, the bit about not needing any further training is not true. When I finished the ride I jumped off the bike and tried a run. I just about made it round the block with crippling cramp in my calf muscles, from which I have only just recovered!! Richard.
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Yes- a middle-of-the-road road bike will (can) get you 5 MPH over a mtn bike with slicks… (5 may be pushing it until you get a good smooth stroke but it is do- able) Mike Before you buy.
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For a 10 mile ride, flat out, there’s a 2 – 2.5 mph difference between my Klein MTB with semi slick conti goliath tires, trying to stay down low, and my Softride Rocketwing with a disc rear and trispoke front. I can only do about 10 mile on the MTB and stay in that position. J.J. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Thanks to all the folks who responded to my original question, but I still haven’t got the answer I’m after. I’m not looking for advice on buying a bike or explanations of how to set up a bike to make it go fast. What I would really like to know is how many minutes will I knock off my time if I get a decent bike. Let me explain. I am planning to do a sprint triathlon and I reckon that 35 mins is a reasonable target for the bike leg. So I need to be able to do 20K in 35 mins quite comfortably before I tackle the race. At the weekend I took out my mountain bike which was the cheapest in the shop (store) when I bought it several years ago. I fitted a cycle computer and pedalled as fast as I could for 20K. It took me just under 40 minutes. I am in reasonable shape from other sports but have done no cycle training. If I take timhigdogspot1’s figures of a 5mph improvement I calculate that on a good road bike my time would come down to < 32 minutes. How about that – no further training needed!! So either I am a wonderful cyclist whose natural talent has been hidden for years, or else 5 mph is a bit optimistic. Has anyone out there who owns a good (expensive) bike actually measured the improvement it gives them over a bad (cheap/mountain) bike, rather than just going by how much better it feels? As an analogy, there are guys at my golf club who happily spend 300 UK pounds on a titanium driver that looks like half an elephant’s foot and makes them feel like Tiger Woods. However, the improvement in their scores is insignificant. Is this phenomenon the same with cyclists I wonder? BTW, the bit about not needing any further training is not true. When I finished the ride I jumped off the bike and tried a run. I just about made it round the block with crippling cramp in my calf muscles, from which I have only just recovered!! Richard.
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i expect there are $5000 camels for sale, but if i entered a camel race i probably wouldn’t be able to do any better on a $5000 camel than on a $500 camel. but as i matured in my ability and perfected the art of camel racing i’m quite sure i’d be saving up for a super leggera camel.
Sorry Dan but you clearly know nothing of the economics of camel racing. You need to add at least one and probably two or even three (for a really super-duper camel) zeros to your figures to get a bit more realistic. In addition, camel jockeys are mostly 10 year old kids imported from Sri Lanka to one of the Gulf States, and they have velcro sewn onto their arses (that’s asses for you Merkins) to make them stick to the saddle. Do you really fit the bill? Sorry to bring you crashing down to earth like this.. Rob Knell
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Thanks to all the folks who responded to my original question, but I still haven’t got the answer I’m after. I’m not looking for advice on buying a bike or explanations of how to set up a bike to make it go fast. What I would really like to know is how many minutes will I knock off my time if I get a decent bike. Let me explain. I am planning to do a sprint triathlon and I reckon that 35 mins is a reasonable target for the bike leg. So I need to be able to do 20K in 35 mins quite comfortably before I tackle the race. At the weekend I took out my mountain bike which was the cheapest in the shop (store) when I bought it several years ago. I fitted a cycle computer and pedalled as fast as I could for 20K. It took me just under 40 minutes. I am in reasonable shape from other sports but have done no cycle training. If I take timhigdogspot1’s figures of a 5mph improvement I calculate that on a good road bike my time would come down to < 32 minutes. How about that – no further training needed!! So either I am a wonderful cyclist whose natural talent has been hidden for years, or else 5 mph is a bit optimistic. Has anyone out there who owns a good (expensive) bike actually measured the improvement it gives them over a bad (cheap/mountain) bike, rather than just going by how much better it feels? As an analogy, there are guys at my golf club who happily spend 300 UK pounds on a titanium driver that looks like half an elephant’s foot and makes them feel like Tiger Woods. However, the improvement in their scores is insignificant. Is this phenomenon the same with cyclists I wonder? BTW, the bit about not needing any further training is not true. When I finished the ride I jumped off the bike and tried a run. I just about made it round the block with crippling cramp in my calf muscles, from which I have only just recovered!! Richard.
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All the advice given in this thread has been pretty good. I disagree with the following statement though. " The differences between a $600 and a $4000 road bike are not as great" .
The differences would be significant. And I don’t just mean the price! 
That being said, you can pick up a new bike for about $1,000-$1,500 that would be very very good and suite all of your needs. If this sounds like a lot. Start looking for a new hobby. One Tri Bike that comes to mind is the Fuji Aloha (I think). At about $1,200, its a great ride for the money. Although as a roadie, I suggest getting a road bike. It will be more versatile. Whatever bike you go with, make sure it fits properly. If it doesn’t fit, it don’t matta’ if its $100, it is not the right ride and you will have wasted your money. Wade
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I am planning on taking up triathlon next season, but I am shocked at how much the average triathlete spends on a bike. So my question is, does anyone have any hard facts (as opposed to anecdotal evidence) about how much time you will save on the bike leg using an expensive road bike, compared to a cheap road bike or even a mountain bike?
Either you spend money like a drunken sailor, or you’re frugal. If the former, then the you’re going to buy the expensive ike anyway. If, as your mere asking of this question suggests, it’s the latter, then the more you spend, the more you’ll train, because you can’t live with spending all that money for naught.
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I am planning on taking up triathlon next season, but I am shocked at how much the average triathlete spends on a bike.
i would venture to guess that the average triathlete spends less on his or her bike than the average road racer, perhaps a little tiny bit more than the average recreational century rider. keep in mind that there are some things that pump up the price of tri bikes incrementally over a road bike simply by virtue of the time-trial element: aero bars, aerodynamic wheels. but on average triathletes are not the equipment spenders that road racers are (altho any pro bike shop will tell you that road racers, as a market, undergo much greater angst about parting with their money than do triathletes). i think what you are noticing is that people who seriously race in any sport that involves a bicycle spend a lot of money on their bikes. why would that be unexpected? people who race cars or horses or boats spend a lot more on their equipment than occasional or recreational users. the better rider you become — and i don’t mean this with regard to strength, but technique and finesse — the more you’ll be able to discern the difference between average vs top-quality equipment. i expect there are $5000 camels for sale, but if i entered a camel race i probably wouldn’t be able to do any better on a $5000 camel than on a $500 camel. but as i matured in my ability and perfected the art of camel racing i’m quite sure i’d be saving up for a super leggera camel. slowman
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Richard, I agree with the other replies. Ignoring the frame, wheels, etc for now, just take a look at groupsets available. The lower end of the spectrum gives you (relatively) heavy equipment, for lower money. As you move towards the better/more expensive stuff, the price/weight and reliability gets pretty steep. The same could be said for frames and the rest of your bike. I figure that the most important factors to look at is reliability, comfort, looks, price, weight in that order. I ride a classic geometry Giant road bike, steel, kinda heavy (~11kg) with a great paint job. I have shimano RSX components on the thing, and have dropped a couple of carbon and alu frame cyclist in my (short) time. The "cheap" groupset functions great for my (lowish) expectations. Depends on what you will be happy with – Owning the flashest bike in the lot, or the guy that beat that bike with an ordinary two wheeler. Imagine you drive a small, slow european car. Next thing, you win the lottery and buy a super fast european car. Within a month, the new car will feel like just another car, except if its a McLaren F1 … I guess the same holds for that MegaBucks-Superlight-Superfast-Supercool bike. Look for average priced bike, with looks that make you drool and reliable components that fit you. You should find that you will get allot more bang-for-buck if you look at second-handers. Road bikes, even entry level ones, are usually faster than the average MTB, even with slicks! Test drive ‘em all. Take what you feel good on. Then again, a F1 is a F1, right?
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am planning on taking up triathlon next season, but I am shocked at how much the average triathlete spends on a bike. So my question is, does anyone have any hard facts (as opposed to anecdotal evidence) about how much time you will save on the bike leg using an expensive road bike, compared to a cheap road bike or even a mountain bike? For example, has anyone experimented by timing themselves over the same course, at the same heart rate, using both an expensive bike and a cheap road bike or a mountain bike? Richard
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I am planning on taking up triathlon next season, but I am shocked at how much the average triathlete spends on a bike. So my question is, does anyone have any hard facts (as opposed to anecdotal evidence) about how much time you will save on the bike leg using an expensive road bike, compared to a cheap road bike or even a mountain bike? For example, has anyone experimented by timing themselves over the same course, at the same heart rate, using both an expensive bike and a cheap road bike or a mountain bike? Richard Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employer.
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So my question is, does anyone have any hard facts (as opposed to anecdotal evidence) about how much time you will save on the bike leg using an expensive road bike, compared to a cheap road bike or even a mountain bike?
Price has little direct correlation to performance. A bike that fits you properly and that is as aerodynamic as possible (which, yes, *usually* means laying down some $$$) is the bike that will win most races. That being said… More money in a bike purchase *generally* buys lighter weight, better shifting, braking, etc, more durability, and in the case of tri bikes, more aerodynamics. For purposes of pure results, the aerodynamics play a big role and the wieght is a consideration for some courses also. The two most important considerations when assessing your performance on a given bike? 1) Can you get in a low, aerodynamic postion on the bike so that your body produces the lowest amount of drag possible? 2) Can you produce enough power in this position that you aren’t robbing Peter to pay Paul? No hard facts, but truths nonetheless. I’ve been dusted *many* times in road races, mountain bike races, and triathlons by folks on some pretty cheap bikes…(yes, I get dusted a lot…) Wes
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I am planning on taking up triathlon next season, but I am shocked at how much the average triathlete spends on a bike. So my question is, does anyone have any hard facts (as opposed to anecdotal evidence) about how much time you will save on the bike leg using an expensive road bike, compared to a cheap road bike or even a mountain bike? For example, has anyone experimented by timing themselves over the same course, at the same heart rate, using both an expensive bike and a cheap road bike or a mountain bike?
It’ll take you about 2 minutes to notice a large speed difference between a MTB and a road bike. The differences between a $600 and a $4000 road bike are not as great. Better fit and aero wheels will give you some speed gains in the pricey bike. Smoother shifting, better tires, lighter wieght will help but you may not notice. New to the sport I’d recommend a decent road bike, a good used one with 105 components could be had for a few hundred and will be nearly as fast as a very expensive bike if it is comforatable for you. That being said I am positive my new KM40 is 5 mph faster just cause it looks so damn good! As far as hard facts I have almost none but my average speed is about 3-5 mph faster riding my Tri bike than my MTB on the same route…the MTB wasn’t cheap either. tim(dogspot1) buaidh no bas