Road Bike Racing - Does $$$ contribute or account to speed?

I think we all know of at least a couple of guys riding some real beaters??
Who are fast as hell without spending a crapload on the biking gear.

You know the type? rusty old heavy noisey squeky bike...etc etc

Does the guy riding your high end bike have a real unfair advantage? over a guy like me with no money for a sub 20lb bike?

Joshiespop

I would say that in competitive situation...yes..high end stuff does help in terms of speed and effiecency, but i doubt that it has much to do when your just riding around the "hood"

I think there are three things that matter, power, skill, and equipment. Only one is available at the LBS. So yes, cash has its advantage, but it can be negated.

A coach I know of once had a rider come in saying his bike wasn't running well. The coach put the bike on the stand and looked everything over and announced "I see it" and pointed to the pedals, "You see someone just needs to put more force on these things." The rider left thoroughly shamed. Don't let that be you.

you lost me in that 1st sentence pinky....

but yes. as long as the chain is lubed and the wheels are trued, i've seen guys in cut offs and crappy, duck taped framed monsters dust guys in team kits.

i love those guys. they ride because they love it. they don't sit around talking about it, typing about it or polishing and upgrading it. they ride it like they stole it. these people have soul. they 'get' it. their bike is an extension of themselves.

Amen!

I knew those guys too. They'd ride mid-80s no name Reynolds 501 frames that were beat to hell, wearing generic black shorts and a t-shirt. You never heard them discussing the latest bottom brackets, hubs or cassettes. Make no mistake though, they could drop you like you were standing still.

I've about had it with endless discussions on carbon fibre forks, frames and cranks. $75 pro team jerseys and $3000 composite frames do nothing but show people how much money you have.

A good pair of legs, a strong set of lungs and most of all a lot of hard riding are more important than any $500 wheelset.

at the top level equipment obviously makes a difference.

or say in a time-trail the guy with aero bars and aero wheels DOES have a real advantage over the guy riding a junker.

BUT the physical capabilities of the rider in general make MORE of a difference than the bike -- i.e. Lance Armstrong on a beater is probably faster than 98% of the guys riding a titanium bike with aero wheels and all the $7000 stuff...

back in college i was one of those guys -- i bought a used bike for $280, bought a really old helmet (the open stryrofoam style that still had covers) and one pair of bike shorts and did all my maintenance myself and the bike squeaked and creaked the whole time - i did not have clipless pedals, but wore tennis shoes and clips/cages and wore regular t-shirts and weight-lifting gloves. i would arrive at races and everyone would laugh at me... then i would finish near the top (i never won though)

as long as the equipment is semi-good then its really the rider that makes a difference. in other words speed for pretty much everyone riding a maintained bike worth more than $500 is for the most part due to the rider and the equipment is a small part.

some guy riding an ancient 6x2 speed with regular wheels and old brakes and no clipless pedals can still be FAST.

P.S. the same is true in mountain biking although there the equipment does make more of a difference. some bozo riding a bike with 130mm front and rear can ride some technical stuff better than an experienced rider on a ridid frame. etc.

one of the guys i used to ride with was a jazz musician who rode a mid-80s guerciotti with seven-speed shimano 600. he wore these old lace-up lake shoes that he'd had since toe-clips and when he bought our club strip last year, it was the first time in many years that he'd had new shorts.

but geez, could he ride! he could hold a track stand forever and he'd sometimes take pictures on rides by turning around at te waist and snapping a shot of the group behind. sometimes on descents. on one 150 km ride, he put in an attack with 20 km to go and tore the legs off our group [we get playful in the last 30 km of a ride].

all this on a road bike that probably weighed more than 25 lb.

I ride with a guy who has a 20 yo italian frame (unidentified) with old shimano parts and he has spinergy wheels, you know the carbon monsters with four bladed spokes. Boy can he ride. Used to do pretty well in the A grade competitions i believe