Originally Posted by
El Pelon
I'm not at all convinced that a "light" tourer would make any difference. You're talking about 5 lbs difference in bike weights, more or less. Assuming the motor is in decent shape, it's not going to amount to very much on the road, unless you are trying to set personal bests.
I always found that sending home even two pounds of stuff when on tour made a pretty noticeable difference. If some of that weight is rotating weight it would be all the more so.
Recently, I've started riding my LHT on my Saturday group rides. I have few problems keeping up with the roadies on 50 - 60 mile rides. I did ride a semi-organized century a few weeks ago, and noticed that I was NOT able to match my "Litespeed" pace, but the difference was only slightly more than a half hour. The lower gearing on the LHT compensates well for the extra weight.
I notice what I feel is a very big difference when I ride a century on my touring bike vs my road bike. I don't think we are that far apart though since I consider a half hour to be a very big difference. So some of this is just expectations your "
just a half hour" really isn't that different from my "
the difference was huge, it was like a half hour" other than the interpretation
Interestingly, my neck and butt hurt more after the century on the LHT (conventional touring geometry, Brooks saddle) than they do when I ride my Litespeed (aggressive geometry w/ San Marco saddle 3 1/2" higher than the bars) for similar distances, but that probably is attributable that my body is more adjusted to the Litespeed because I ride it more frequently. I am going to shelve it for the rest of the winter and stick with the LHT and see if it makes a difference by Spring.
I saw a similar difference when I had been riding nothing but my touring bike and then rode my new road bike on a century. The touring bike had the bars maybe 3-1/2" below the saddle and the road bike about 5". I was worried that the road bike would be a bit much on a long ride. I was pleasantly surprised that it was
the most comfortable century I have ever ridden and fairly fast (not the fastest though). It was easier on my butt, back, neck, hands, and arms. Some of the difference was that it is lighter, has closer spaced gears, and is generally faster, but I still plan to experiment with lower bars on the touring bike. I had no complaints with the bars 3-1/2" below the saddle on a 73 day tour, but I plan to experiment to see if lower is ultimately better or worse for me.