Originally Posted by
scplus5
So I guess from reading here and talking to several people, the general consensus is that weight has little to no effect on speed on flat ground. ...
I don't really understand how this can be true. Regardless of the terrain, you are applying the same amount of power to move a heavier weight...kinda like the importance of horsepower to weight ratios in fast cars. I see in strava, there's a guy I have known since I was a kid that has the KOM for many segments around here and his speeds are commonly in the upper 30 mph range. He is easily 230 or more. If he weighed 30-50 lbs less, wouldn't he be much faster? If not, how is this possible? I just can't get how weight has NO effect on flat ground speed.
Someone explain it to me.
if your estimation of the consensus is true then the "consensus is wrong" IMO.
what i think people are missing is that a bicycle at motion relative to the road is under acceleration at all times while pedaling. just stop pedaling sometime and see how long it takes to come to a stop. something is slowing us down, so if we are maintaining a constant relative speed to the road we are applying power to overcome it, and the power necessary to maintain that speed is proportional to the weight.