Lighter Wheels: Climb vs Descend Benefits
07-14-17, 12:01 PM
#51
Banned.
THis is why people pay $$$ for carbon. Can get a light, deep section aero wheel with carbon, no weight penalty. Now, will aero really help you going down faster? It does and it doesn't. Getting better at descending is the best money spent, just like training for climbing will make you quicker than buying any set of wheels for it. Practice makes perfect, period. Aero wheels DO help however. I put some deep section camp aluminum wheels on my training bike, I go down quicker and corner a lot better with the wider profile. The benefit is there when going fast. Small, but its there
07-14-17, 12:21 PM
#52
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Why do the climbers swap their aero bikes for climbing bikes for the mountain stages? Because in a sprint, Kittel just needs to get the weight moving with one pedal stroke ... the climbers have to move it with Every pedal stroke. (By the way, Marcel Kittel traded in his aero Venge for a lightweight climbing bike for the mountain stages, too.)
If he didn't care about bicycle weight he'd have been climbing on that disc Venge, too.
Anyone who doesn't understand the concept of rolling on flat ground versus climbing a hill ... doesn't ride a bike and isn't reading this forum. So please, don't try to tell us that Kittel rising a sprint on the flat is no different than Chris Froome struggling up a 20 percent wall ... and Froome could do just as well on a 42-lb Schwinn Suburban so long as he had that 32-tooth cog. We all know better.
07-14-17, 12:33 PM
#53
I eat carbide.
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Something is wrong with that maths. Saving a kilogram has nowhere near that effect. Climbing speed on steep gradients is straightforward: power divided by all-up weight. So saving a kilogram on an all-up weight of 80 kg improves speed by barely 1% (fewer than 8 seconds over 10 minutes). Where rolling resistance and aerodynamic drag have a significant effect – i.e. on shallower gradients – the improvement is even less.
The other factors discussed in this thread are lost in the noise.
Kittel was mentioned. His current bicycle weighs over 8 kg. So even though he win races by the slimmest of margins, and his livelihood depends on it, he doesn’t obsess about bicycle weight. That’s how unimportant it is.
It’s unseemly for avocational riders to care about a few hundred grams here or there. It just doesn’t matter.
The other factors discussed in this thread are lost in the noise.
Kittel was mentioned. His current bicycle weighs over 8 kg. So even though he win races by the slimmest of margins, and his livelihood depends on it, he doesn’t obsess about bicycle weight. That’s how unimportant it is.
It’s unseemly for avocational riders to care about a few hundred grams here or there. It just doesn’t matter.
Instead of sitting and pining about what it is like to race bikes I spend most days building those wheels, directly support racers and athletes, etc.
I have time and time again seen the best racer win races. Regardless of bike, wheels, tires, shifters, etc.
It's the motor and the mind. That is and always will be the only thing that wins races.
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