RobbieTunes

Well, my Shogun didn't get fast until I took all the rusty parts off and made it a single speed. Then it was amazing. So I don't really know which part slowed it down. Just that, reborn, it got ridden 100x more than it was when geared. Maybe it's an Omen, Damien?

Mike Mills

Stiffness is the resistance to deflection, nothing more. What is more important is hysteresis. After deflecting, a stiff (or soft) frame with low hysteresis will return to it's shape with no wasted energy. It will feel "lively" and "springy". A frame with high hysteresis will absorb a lot of energy when deflected and will feel "dead" or "flat". I think this is what's at play here, not merely stiffness.

Stiffness is a material property but is also controlled via frame geometry. A soft (low stiffness) frame can buffer the rider from pounding by the bumps in the road. A stiff frame can be jarring on a rough road (Can you say cobble stones?).

Hysteresis is also a material property, however, it can be driven by poor workmanship (improper, sloppy brazing, for example). Hysteresis robs you of the ebnergy you put into the springiness of the frame when pedaling.

robtown

Some bikes are like teenagers, anything short of a nuclear blast cannot get them moving.

Most of the bikes I buy to flip are my size. I like to fix them and take them on a shakedown ride to work. That gives me a real feel for their handling and lets me evaluate how long I might keep them. If they ride great, are slick, and complement my other bikes I consider them as potential additions to my stable.

I've been surprised by the wide range of handling, often the more mundane bikes are more fun to ride. Halfway up a quarter mile hill I'm still moving at a good clip and the bike is almost cheering me on. Other bikes just feel like a wet jacket hampering all my efforts. At times I double check to see if the bike is still in the high ring or the tire has gone flat.

Mike Mills

Tires are another item that are subject to variations in hysteresis. A good tire is resilient, springy, lively. A poor tire robs you of the energy you put into it. It's like riding with the brakes on.

viscount

Exactly. I got a couple like that.
Saves you buying one of these roller contraptions, and at least it gets you out.

jgedwa

I have a mid-70's Nishiki International that I keep wanting to like, but never really do. I have tried a number of different tires, a couple of different wheelsets. Even put different gearing on it once. It just feels heavy. I really should just sell it off, but I have had it long enough it just does not seem right.

jim

nlerner

The Performance Forte tires have always felt like energy stealers to me. They only go on the flipping bikes.

Neal

Peruano

I bought my wife a good touring bike (newly used) and was amazed how far she was always behind me even though she was a relatively strong hiker etc. One day on a long downhill I forced her to switch bikes with me so I could show her that her bike was not at fault. Needless to say, even on a steep downhill, she sprinted away on my bike and I pedaled like hell to keep up. It turned out that her bike was equiped with thorn tubes (thick hollow slugs) and once I changed the tubes to normal tubes, the difference in the bikes was remarkably reduced. Check your tubes to see that you are not carrying to much rolling weight. Just a thought. tom

Wanderer

My brother used to live in Houston. He used to say the high ground was 3' above sea level.

I can sure visualize that pic you drew, re: the overpasses...... LOL

Bikedued

It had a road wheelset on it before. Probably a bikepartusa type. Joytech hubs and Sun Cr-18, with Bontrager Steel bead Racelites. No thick tubes, or tire liners. Now it has The rims off a Giant Cypress DX. Soon it will have the brakes from it as well. I've been wanting to switch it to linears for a while now. I need to break down and buy those levers already. The road bike type that works with LP brakes...

Right now for tires it has a mismatched 38 rear and 42 front Kenda's. You can imagine my surprise when I stuck that 42 in the front fork, and it FIT!! This is definitely a touring bike! I will soon get a set of 35/38's with kevlar. I guess I will just take it slow from now on, and enjoy the ride. I might even put a rear rack back on it, and buy some racks for the fork braze ons., hehe.,,,,BD

The slow poke bike in question..... Basically the same, but the bars, saddle, and rims have been changed. The Cinellis were too big in the drops for my personal taste. It has a set of Randoneurs at the moment.

rhm

The problem here is probably that old bikes are terribly over-geared. That's certainly been my experience with every Raleigh (and similar) three-speed I've ever tried; they came with an 18T cog but when you switch that to something in the neighborhood of 22T the bike suddenly feels a lot zippier.

I have the similar experience when I ride my 'modern' bike, a lightweight aluminum and carbon thing with 9-sp 105 gruppo... It's zippy enough, but I was always puzzled why it was so tiring for me to ride it. Then I realized the crank arms are 175's... oof!