Poll: Aero or lightweight bike?

Aero or lightweight bike?

  • Total voters
    52
I still don't buy the comfort argument.

Comfort is dependent on your position, tyre pressure, road surface, saddle, chamois and many other factors. I think frame geometry is just marketing and you can have an aggressively set up "sportive" bike and a nodderfied, sit-up-and-beg Aeroad.:D

Please don't mention stiffness.:p
 
Shamrock said:
I still don't buy the comfort argument.

Comfort is dependent on your position, tyre pressure, road surface, saddle, chamois and many other factors. I think frame geometry is just marketing and you can have an aggressively set up "sportive" bike and a nodderfied, sit-up-and-beg Aeroad.:D

Please don't mention stiffness.:p
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You are correct. My race bike started off as a comfy relaxed bike and is now about 2KG lighter than spec and would cripple most blokes :cool: Yet I have seen people on S5's and Aeroroads and are very upright/relaxed on them. But we all love it stiff, so that's one thing a relaxed or lightweight bike doesn't have so much :p

@touch you are a rare and handsome breed! :p
 
Shamrock said:
Even in a "pure hill climb" it's still aero trumps weight. People like Tejvan Pettinger (former national hill climb champ) would rather take the weight penalty and run a full carbon disc wheel.
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Depends on the hill. He always runs a disc on hilly TTs but the only hill climbs I've seen him use a disc for are Long Hill and Shap Fell which are pretty shallow in places. Once you're getting to proper HCs with constant 7%+ gradient then it becomes more about weight and the aero kit gets ditched.
 
Shamrock said:
I still don't buy the comfort argument.

Comfort is dependent on your position, tyre pressure, road surface, saddle, chamois and many other factors. I think frame geometry is just marketing and you can have an aggressively set up "sportive" bike and a nodderfied, sit-up-and-beg Aeroad.:D

Please don't mention stiffness.:p
Click to expand...

Frame geometry is relevant to an extent, but only so far. Ultimately bike position is about the relative positions of your three contact points, which can be manipulated through saddles, seat posts, stems, bars, spacers...
 
oli collett said:
Up to a limit. Good luck trying to get an aeroad setup like a sportive bike.
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I was typing that post in a hurry and was coming back to edit it because I knew it wasn't as even handed as it could have been...

There are limits, yes. Seattube angle for example dictates the range of positions you can achieve in terms of how far back your saddle goes. Top tube length will dictate reach and how low you can get, within a given range, based on the stem you can comfortably use and how that affects the bike handling.

It's not like there is one true bike for any given rider, though.
 
oli collett said:
Up to a limit. Good luck trying to get an aeroad setup like a sportive bike.
Click to expand...

Positive 14 deg stem that is short on max spacers? :p


I would say aero bike every day and it is what I decided to do. I ended up with a bike that was only 700g heavier than the light options. I doubt I would really feel that difference that much. Have a read of the below white paper. Remember you don't have to be that quick to get aero benefit, as over a 40km course the slower person will get more total benefit due to the longer ride time.

http://cyclefit.co.uk/uploads/Weight_vs_Aero_White_Paper_Cervelo.pdf

Edit - As people have said, you need the flexibility for an aero bike though.
 
Worth saying that looking to the pro ranks for aero advice is not necessarily the way to go when you have examples like Grivko trying to go solo to win LBL with his coat totally open and flapping in the wind...
 
Spacers.
Posi degree stems.
Tassles on your handlebars.
A bell.
Tampons.

All at the same high level on the ponce scale.
 
I was just in the middle of typing a post about how I dont actually have a huge saddle-bar drop and it's a balance of producing more power in an upright position vs being more aero with lower shoulders.

I tried to find a picture to back up my statement, but it seems i'm wrong and I do actually have a reasonable drop:
JumNibU.jpg
 
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