mprelaw

I noticed the biggest difference in my own performance when I went from a hybrid to a drop bar bike. It was an older steel Schwinn LeTour.

Going from that to an aluminum frame only made a marginal difference. Going from aluminum to CF didn't make an iota of difference in performance--only in ride comfort.

YMMV.

dr_lha

Antonio_V

Oh hold the phone, we got an accuracy reader.. Thank god your here.

dr_lha

More like a bullsh*t meter.

Antonio_V

How is what i said bull****?

dr_lha

A carbon fiber frame will not make you magically go faster with less effort.

Antonio_V

Oh do share, I love your ability to chastise others' comments and respond in one sentence, sounds like you know a lot.

bgraham111

I'll chime in. I think it really depends on so many factors. But... as anecdotal data...

If my mountain bike (on flat pavement) is the baseline, my heavy hybrid with suspension is about 2 mph faster.
My cheap road bike was about 2 mph faster than the hybrid. When I switched to lighter (but still pretty cheap) wheels with much better tires, I gained another 1-2 mph.

YMMV

4powells

Damn Strava...max weight class for leaderboards is 200lbs. I'd be crushing the over 300lbs weight class

Antonio_V

Exactly my point. I'm not saying there's a massive disparity in speed (which does depend on many factors) but bikes are purpose built for varying purposes.

Doctor Morbius

On a hard 10 mile ride on flat Indianapolis streets I'm about 1.3 to 1.4 mph faster on my road bike with 700x23 Vittora kevlar bead tires vs my hybrid with 700x32 slick Kenda Kwest steal bead tires. The difference in my case isn't quite 10%. More like 0.085%. This was over the same course, so apples to apples.

I'm not a great cyclist, I'm overweight and I NEVER use the drops on the road bike. They're too far away! And I have lower back problems. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

4powells

To answer a previous question I missed, I do not use clip or clipless pedals. Just the stock pedals and running shoes.

Catinella

Congratulations on your weight loss! 60 pounds in four months is quite impressive!

Sangetsu

Clipless pedals (or clips with straps) will allow you to use your entire leg when peddling. Right now you pedal stroke is not much different than climbing stairs, which builds up the fronts of your thighs, and your calves. When you use clipless pedals (or clips and straps) you can use the muscles in the rear of your thighs as you pull up on the pedals. The ideal pedal stroke is to pedal in perfect circles; pushing down, pulling back, pulling up, and pushing forward. The backs of your thighs are more associated with walking and running, and when using clips pedals, add a lot of power to your riding. Using more of your muscles means that your body will burn more carbohydrates and fat.

Be warned that there is a learning curve to clipless pedals, or clips and straps, and that when you use them you are going to fall over at least a few times. It takes awhile for unclipping or unstrapping before a stop to become a habit. But this shouldn't stop you from using them. I ride a bicycle to and from work every day, and it has SPD clipless pedals on it, I wear casual SPD shoes which are also fine for walking around in, and which I don't have to change out of when I am at work. I recommend these type of shoes over racing type shoes, which are not so easy to walk in.

Keep up the good work with the riding. Your weight loss is impressive, but what is more impressive are the results you can't see, such as improvements in your blood chemistry, and a stronger and healthier heart. Keep riding until your body becomes more adjusted to the practice, and used to the endorphins which hard exercise produces. You will find it much easier to get on the bike each morning without forcing yourself to do it. In my case, when I got into serious riding, it was hard to keep myself off the bike.

In regards to whether a road bike will make you faster, of course it will. Part of the improvement is mechanical, as road bike geometry allows for more efficient power transfer and body position. Also road bikes handle much better, they respond more quickly to your movements. The other part is psychological; like a fast car often motivates you to drive faster, a fast bike can do the same.

Frame material is almost completely irrelevant, I can afford any kind of bike or frame material, but I ride a steel bike. I like the lively ride, and the clean look of a classic bicycle. The most important thing when choosing a bike is that it fits you properly. As your fitness improves, your riding position will change, and you will need a bike which can be adjusted to such changes. A good bike shop can get you the proper size frame, and set up the rest to fit you. Eventually, your riding position will become lower, so a bike with an adjustable handlebar stem would be important, drop bars would allow you to shift between a higher and lower riding position.

Get the best bike you can afford, but be sure to budget some money for quality bicycle shorts. There are few things more embarrassing than going out in public in cycling shorts for the first time. But you'll get over it. Good shorts make your ride much more comfortable, and the remove almost all resistance from your legs when pedalling, you will be amazed at the difference in effort when you first try them.

Ride with others if you can, you should be able to find a group ride in your area, don't feel shy about joining, you will find any and all types of people in your typical group ride. Some ride every day, some ride only twice a month. Ride as fast as you feel comfortable with, and if they are going too fast, you can drop out and ride at your own pace. But riding with others is motivating, and fun, and will give you a better workout than riding by yourself.

Keep us posted on your progress,

12strings

I've had decent success with putting clip on aero bars on my hybrid...let's me go fast in the wind, but that said, I AM shopping now for a real road bike.

cwar

Not to get too off topic, though it is completely off topic, I think ShortLegCyclist is correct. There is one bit of additional information that may or may not be current. The calculation for stopped time differs if you are using a phone based GPS with an accelerometer vs. GPS only (like a Garmin). When using a GPS only device, I believe Strava looks for when you are stopped and if you are stopped for 15 seconds or more, it subtracts it from the ride. Once again, I'm sure they are continually modifying their algorithms, but here is an interesting article on the subject.

ShortLegCyclist

Thanks, I didn't realize there was a difference, as I use both Garmin and CatEye computers and only use a smartphone app when I'm running late and cannot afford to wait while the GPS computers acquire signal.

4powells

Yeah, I wasn't going to say anything, but the phone app has a little delay before it stops the timer, but it doesn't subtract anything from the total time. if I know it's going to be a long wait, like some of the busier intersections, I pause the time manually, but I'm generally not that concerned.

mprelaw

Sure it will. But only during the daytime, when the carbon absorbs solar energy and transfers it to the pedals. But you have to be careful not to overdo it and reach the point where the frame suddenly asplodes without warning.

pressed001

I had some back issues in the past. Ever since I've been riding they have disappeared.

70sSanO

I think what makes the best sense is to change out the bars on your hybrid either drops or aero and maybe even an adjustable stem to you can lower the bars as you are able.

Lighter weight 28mm/32mm tires may also help a little.

Clipless or toe clips will be your choice. I find that I can spin fine with toes clips and straps on road pedals without cleats.

Congrats on losing the weight. I lost over 60lbs after I started mountain biking a couple of years ago. I'd go a couple of miles and thought I was going to die. So much harder than a road bike. I had visions of a couple of girl scouts finding me face down on the side of a trail. I also realized that I had no good way of taking a defibrillator so I decided I had to lose some weight.

John

4powells

I'd read in some places that when you're just getting into shape that monitoring HR is somewhat pointless because it will be all over the place. I'm really starting to have a hard time comparing one ride to another though with wind, times of day that i ride, etc. and I'm wondering if maybe I should add a HR to my setup.

Sangetsu

I have done decades of riding, and a few years of racing, even spending a year in Europe racing on a team. In all that time I have never used a heart rate monitor. I am quite aware of my heart rate on a ride, I don't know the exact rate, but it is easy enough to tell when your heart is working hard, and when it is not. In the earlier stages of your riding you need to focus on increasing your strength and endurance. Over time, you will see noticeable changes in the time and effort it takes to climb over a hill or overpass. If you ride a routine circuit, you will see your times become shorter.

Go easy on your heart in the early months of riding. Ride at a pace where you breath hard, but don't run out of breath. If you have been riding since March, you can begin to add intervals to your riding. That means pushing yourself a little harder for set periods of time during your ride. I do this by increasing my speed to a fixed point for one minute, then slow down and ride at a comfortable pace for two minutes. Eventually you increase the time to two minutes, and so on. When your weight comes down further, you can increase both speed and time.

I check my resting pulse in the morning when I get up. Your resting pulse is a good indicator of changes to your fitness. Before you get out of bed, check your pulse using a watch or clock, and make a note of it. As your heart gets stronger, and your red blood cell count increases, your heart will have to work less hard to keep blood circulating. As a result, your resting pulse slows down. Also, as your weight decreases, the area which your body must circulate blood to will decrease, which also makes things easier on your heart.

ltxi

Depends on what you mean by "performance". It ain't all about speed.

4powells

Ooooh bought some cycling shorts today. Looking forward to a long ride tomorrow. Planning to ride 3 hours unconcerned with distance or speed.