Bike Forums - View Single Post - What can a road bike do that a hybrid cant? which for me?

07-30-10 | 10:26 AM

#94

Palomar01

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Joined: Sep 2009

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From: The OC

Bikes: Motobecane Le Champ Ti

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdelaaR

Palomar01, there's no reason why a roadbike should have "increased efficiency of the hardware".
One can easily build a hybrid with road drivetrain and road wheels.

Adeela, the increased efficiency comes from the frame and not necessarily the component hardware. If you build a hybrid with the same components as the most efficient road bike, you really end up with a road bike with a flat bar.

You should try riding a MTB and a road bicycle back to back. You will find a huge discrepancy in efficiency and will give you the meaning of what I am talking about.

Efficiency comes from the stiffness of the frame, especially down at the bottom bracket (where your crank is) area and chain stays. An efficient frame will take most of your pedaling power from the crank and transmit it to the rear wheels. So there, you want stiffness from the frame, a stiff and lightweight crank, and stiff chain stays that can take your pedal power to the rear wheels where it belongs. Having lightweight wheels also help a great deal because lighter wheels take less effort to accelerate and keep spinning. Gearing is another component to that but that’s a given in most bikes today.

Having an overall lightweight bicycle (frame, wheels, & components) also gives the rider an edge because it takes less effort to accelerate and maintain speed.

Aluminum frames are generally very stiff and can also be made very light (for example, Cannondale’s CAAD 9 family). However, Carbon Fiber can easily match that stiffness yet provide greater weight savings because CF can be build up in a variety of different ways to increase stiffness in places without increasing weight, etc. Also, CF in general absorbs a greater amount of road vibration vs an AL frame. Finally, CF can be designed to flex in certain directions yet still remain very stiff for power transfer, making it possible to design a frame that is both lightweight, stiff for power transfer, yet compliant for a smooth ride over rough pavement. Overall, it is easier to build a lightweight and efficient CF frame versus an aluminum or Titanium frame. This is why CF frames are favored for overall performance. Having said that, entry level CF frames are not quite up to par with the best aluminum frames. But when you get to the $2.5k+ price point, the CF framed bikes begin to surpass the best aluminum frames because the materials and manufacturing process of these “higher modulous” CF frames is more complex, lighter, etc

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