Originally Posted by ceridwen
Does she ride a lot or is she just a casual rider?
Indeed, she hardly ever rides and I commute everyday, so I have an intrinsically faster motor.
Originally Posted by ceridwen
Nor does you "feeling slower" on her bike. The perpective is different. The farther from the ground you are, the less the sensation of speed.
Unless you have a cyclocomputer to compare speeds, or have tried out some routes you are familiar with your usual times on with the new bike, I'd be inclined to say it's nothing but your perception of things.
I considered this heavily the whole while I've been riding her bike (I also have ridden her bike long before I was more recently and temporarily made bikeless), but find this very hard to be the case. I even thought I just needed to become adjusted to her bike, but--with the exception of the speed--I feel quite adjusted to it. I remember once riding an old road bike waaaayy too small for me, and right off the bat I could push that thing to what felt like ungodly speeds.