Originally Posted by
Fiery
A few comments, I hope you don't mind.
Tyre width - I agree, narrow, high pressure tyres make very little sense under a certain speed, rolling resistance- and comfort-wise.
Weight - six percent can make a very noticeable difference, especially on inclines and during starts and stops. This is why roadies can get away with much less forgiving gearing for hillclimbing.
Which brings me to the point I feel is quite important too for this issue - gearing. It makes no sense to buy a racing road bicycle if you're never going to ride it at speeds that will acutally utilize it's gears. For going slow in a steep gear one might as well buy a single speed bike. This is especially true on inclines where it is necessary to go fast enough in order not to stall.
I forgot to mention the gearing in my elaboration ... thanks for pointing that out
About that gearing:
I just did "De Muur van Geraardsbergen" aka "De Kapelmuur" the last two days I went out riding ... it features a 20% inclining coblestone bit where the cobblestones are so badly placed that it is almost impossible to tackle that part standing up.
You have to keep seated to keep pressure on your rear wheel ... if you watch "De Ronde van Vlaanderen" tomorrow (i'm gonna watch it live) you'l notice how the racers stay on their seats there too.
Anyway ... to achieve 20% inclines while sitting down ... one needs pretty low gears!
I manage it in a 30x23 gear (my lowest on my racewheels) because I have a triple crankset.
Someone with a double compact 50-34 crank could already be in trouble here.
"normal" people not being elite racers do not stand any chance here if they have a double race crank like 42-53 or similar.
Another reason why casual riders should stay away from roadracebikes