Jarrett2

Aside from pedaling faster...

The thread about switching from 25 to 23mm tires made me wonder. What are things that are widely accepted to make a bike faster? Smaller tires? Different wheels? Hubs? I rode with a guy that had some Mavic Kyrisum (sp?) wheels with flat spokes. Does that make a diff? What else?

bhchdh 

Tune the engine. When all the money is spent on upgrades, the greatest factor in performance is the engin.

MRT2

How fast are you looking to go?

Drew Eckhardt 

1. Switch to a faired recumbent design with much better aerodynamics - the speed record is now 83 MPH on flat ground.

2. Get aerobars and assume an effective time trial position.

3. Follow a structured training plan. Pickup 25% more power and you'll notice.

Nothing else makes much of a difference outside racing where the 0.6% advantage a one-pound savings for a 145 pound climber on a 15 pound bike translates into a 20 second advantage for the hour he spends off the front riding to a mountain top win.

About 1 Watt at 30 MPH out of the 500 it takes to go that fast when comparing 0.9 x 2.2mm aerospokes to round 1.5mm. Flat aluminum spokes are less aerodynamic than thinner round steel ones.

Wilfred Laurier

it depends on how fast you are already going too

if you want to increase your avg speed from 12 km/h to 14 km/h
then training is kinda the only way

but if you want to increase your avg speed from 35 km/h to 38 km/h
then aerodynamic resistance is your primary enemy
and bladed spokes and deep v section rims
will make a difference
but also
you have to train yourself to ride in a more aerodynamic position
like with time trial style aero bars
or just practicing staying in the drops with a flat back

Black wallnut 

Three best ways to make a road bike faster in order:
Improve the engine
Lose weight or make the engine smaller in mass
Get more aero, so improve your flexibility and core strength so as to be able flip and slam the stem, stretch out and get low on the bike.

Willbird

Along with improving the engine, learning how to fuel it properly is also a factor probably.

Some of the stuff that is Aero with no wind is a little different with a cross wind too, or so "they" say anyway :-).

Road surface is a big deal too, I ride mostly quiet urban roads, which are not super smooth, but one section is nice and glassy smooth state highway, and that smoother pavement is worth 1 to 1.5 mph easily on a hybrid with 700x35 tires.



Bill

ill.clyde

This. /thread

Rootman

Shave your legs, ger-un-teed to increase your speed

bbeasley

Biggest gains I've experienced came from losing belly allowing me to get lower on the bike.

Bandera

Going faster is about pedaling faster.
Get to the basics and ride a properly equipped Fixed Gear w/ ~70GI on the road for several hundred base miles to develop a supple, powerful, high cadence pedaling style.
Lacking the ability to pedal effectively/efficiently renders any training plan fundamentally flawed.

A well structured program applied with discipline over time increases endurance, power & speed. All handy to have.
Join a good club and get a coach, it makes the process more social and supportive.

It's not about the hardware, and never has been.

-Bandera

Jarrett2

With my older road bike, I was averaging about 15 MPH on my 20+ mile rides. With my latest road bike, I'm averaging 17.2 mph on the same rides. Those are no push rides. In my only race I've entered, I ran around 19.5 mph for 18 miles. I'm wondering if there are other bike tweaks that I can do in order to improve those speeds.

Willbird

It comes back to the rider again, but smooth tracking would make a difference too ??...And knowing the road so you can pick a smooth line around things it is better to not ride over ??

Heck when I'm feeling GREAT to be on the bike I will sort of slalom a downhill where there is no traffic.....I doubt the GPS factors that into my average speed :-).

Bill

Wilfred Laurier

if you are already able to ride at those speeds
then your bike is not slowing you down
practice
make the most of your training miles
and get aero

dagray

Gear sets if you can change them will make the bikes go faster. As the rear cassettes have a sprocket that only goes so small you would probably have to change your crankset or your front sprockets to be bigger. The bigger the sprocket in the front and the smaller the spocket in the back equates to more speed IF you have the engine (i.e. leg strength) to push the pedals.

I am going to ride more and decide if I need to change out my front sprockets as it seems that on flat roads or minor inclines I can't stand to pedal as I have too much power in my legs so I can't get a smooth cadence, but rather a herky jerky where on the down stroke every third rotation it feels like there is no resistance an my foot just falls to the bottom of the rotation.

IBOHUNT

However that's not the "easy" path so that's the last one folks want to take.
You want to ride solo 20+ mph for any length of time it's takes power to overcome drag. Physics sucks that way

stephtu

Uh, WTF are you talking about? You might be able to utilize a bigger gear if you have long straight downhills & want to pedal at 35+mph. But on flat ground, there's no way most people are going to use a 50-11 for anything other than short sprints, the vast majority of people won't be able to max it out. Certainly don't need 53-11. You aren't cruising around averaging 32 mph!

?? Either there is something mechanically wrong with the bike or you are using gears wrong or doing something weird. Nearly impossible that you actually need bigger chainrings.

Null66

Put miles on it, Lots and lots of miles....
It's funny how the older my bike gets, the faster it gets.


But seriously, so very intense efforts followed by recovering and back to intense efforts, rinse repeat every once in a while will boost your average speeds.

Leebo

More info about your gearing would be helpful.

Bandera

Once more:

Get to the basics and ride a properly equipped Fixed Gear w/ ~70GI on the road for several hundred base miles to develop a supple, powerful, high cadence pedaling style.
Lacking the ability to pedal effectively/efficiently renders any training plan fundamentally flawed.

Plodding along in a big gear is not about going fast.

Jens Voigt just broke the Hour Record w/ 51.115 KM on 54X14 or 101.4 GI.
edit: Jens was turning >100RPM, I counted three 1 minute segments: 101,103,105.

The typical "compact" top gear is 50X12 or 109.5 GI, need anything bigger?
What cadence are you turning?

Learning to pedal efficiently is at the core of effective cycling, or buying expensive gear. One or the other......

-Bandera

intransit1217

Presta valves. because they're soooo aero. (Ignore me. I'm in a mood.)

IBOHUNT

*MASHING*, say 60 rpm or so, a 50-11 at ~250W should get one to ~22 mph
Hope it ain't my knees trying that

ill.clyde

You could if you rode a fixie!

Jarrett2

Roubaix
FRAME: Specialized SL4 FACT 8r carbon, FACT construction,1-1/8" to 1-3/8" headtube, compact race design, Zertz,
FORK: Specialized Roubaix FACT carbon full monocoque, Zertz
CASSETTE: Shimano Tiagra, 10-speed, 12-30
CHAINRINGS: 50/34
WHEELS: Fulcrum S5
TIRES: Specialized Espoir Elite, 60TPI, foldable aramid bead, double BlackBelt protection, 700x25c

Leebo

Put a 53, 39 on the front, pedal faster.