RubeRad

On Sunday I bought my son a 2010 Specialized Allez Sport Triple off CL. At 14 he's almost my height and still growing; the bike is a 58cm, which should hold him through high school, and my (tall) wife and I can also ride it.

Anyways, I brought extra clothes in to work yesterday so today I could take the 'new' bike on a shakedown ride without having to carry anything (I stupidly didn't even bring an allen wrench to fine-tune the saddle).

Before I left I raised the seat (turns out not quite enough), and tilted it down a hair (never seen a saddle clamp interface like that before!). The bike is ridiculously light compared to my loaded-down crosscheck. The 23mm tires were noticeably chattier, but it's not a big deal on my nice suburban streets. The bike's lightness manifested itself mostly in wagging side-to-side when standing. Perhaps the smaller mass/volume of the GP 4 Seasons tires accelerated better than my usual Marathon Supreme 700x50, but it didn't stand out to me as a feeling I could sense.

I timed myself and got a PR, although it's a little questionable. I had to stop the watch at two stoplights, and near the end I used a little shortcut that I switched to recently, so 20sec off my previous best time probably nets out as a wash. Also, because I was testing a new bike, I definitely rode a lot harder than I usually do (which is typically about the same effort as a casual hike). More effort, or better/worse fitness than the day over a year ago of my previous PR? Or just a better bike? No way to say.

One last thing: even though I've had sora levers with thumb buttons before, since I've been using Retroshifts for 2 years now, I find it really super annoying that the thumb buttons, and the horizontal shifter-cable exits, are exactly in the way of where my thumbs want to rest when I'm on the hoods (i.e. most of the time).

So anyways, this experience has reinforced my belief that lighter bikes are not radically faster to ride, but that the feeling of lightness is interpreted subjectively as speed. I've had my "fun", I'll be back on the CrossCheck tomorrow and not lusting after lightness.

Andy_K 

Nice report. I'm not surprised at the results. A year or so ago I was feeling like my 700x35 Marathon Supremes felt slow compared to the GP 4 Seasons I had on the bike before that, so I decided to ride it to work as fast as I could to see just how much slower they were. I set a new PR that day.

I've long been convinced that the main advantage of lighter bikes is how it feels to ride them. The time difference is definitely minimal at best.

PennyTheDog

Yeah, I agree. You pick it up and it FEELS faster, so you assume it is. Talking about the physics, a lighter bike should be faster a) when you change speed, and b) when you climb. During those, the increase is proportional to the change in total mass (ignoring weight differences in the wheels, which is a little more complicated). So if you weigh 200 lbs and the bike goes from 30 lbs to 20 lbs, you get a mass reduction of a little over 4% (not much!). Holding a steady speed on the flat there's no difference at all.

RubeRad, you sure love your Retroshifts!

RubeRad

Funny, you were comparing the same tires! I should do an unloaded timed commute on the CrossCheck next week and see what I can do. Problem is, mostly I'm too lazy to try hard.

Certainly on the CrossCheck, the biggest difference I've noticed is, when I'm feeling slow, it's usually because my tires have dropped to like 30/40 psi, and need to be pumped back up to 40/60.

RubeRad

Haha, true! Are you a recent victim of my shameless self-promotion of my retroshift review? I admit, I do spread that link around pretty liberally. I took all the trouble to write it up comprehensively and post pics, it's easy to link, and the product is still I think not well known. It's not the best solution for everybody, but I think it is a very good solution for a lot of people that don't yet know about it.

PennyTheDog

You and I are part of Cross Check Nation, so we post on a lot of the same threads. Any time someone asks for suggestions on shifters, you give the retroshift plug. It does seem like a perfect solution for someone who likes mechanical simplicity but likes the convenience of brifters. I've still never tried them, but don't blame yourself!

HardyWeinberg

Most any bike has its speed limit set by the motor. But the motor might be a lot less worn out after matching speeds with some bikes than with others.

RubeRad

Have you ever needed to change shifters on a bike though? I don't know that Retroshifts are so amazing they're worth ditching perfectly good brifters for, but if somebody is planning on changing things around for whatever reason, or is building up a bike like I did, Retroshifts are worth considering.

RubeRad

My motor is certainly a limiting factor!

PennyTheDog

I have had to change shifters a few times, but I usually end up putting bar ends on drop bars and thumbies type shifters on upright bars. I always friction shift, so I can mix and match shifters and cassettes. So at least for me, retroshifts seem more appealing than brifters.

Sorry to get on a side track, but did you build your cross check with 36-spoke wheels? Mine are the stock 32-hole. They haven't been too bad (I think they're around 8,000 total miles so far), but I've had to true the wheels a couple times and recently broke a spoke. When I do replace the wheels I'm definitely going to switch to 36.

RubeRad

I've got 32-spoke. I asked BF about it and got a reco from FBinNY for a local wheelbuilder, and used him to build up 32H Velocity Dyad rims with double-butted spokes and 105 hubs, $400 for the wheelset. Front has been perfect from day 1; the rear after a few months I did a tiny bit of truing, and more recently one spoke came totally loose but I tightened it back up and flagged it with masking tape on it so I could periodically check it; it's been holding fine. Other than that they've been great. And FYI I'm 250lb. (Once for yux I rode a few hundred yards with 11yo and 9yo sons both sitting on the rack, for a total extra load of maybe 150lb directly on the rear -- there was some pinging, but nothing broke!)

If I was starting over (or next time I need wheels), I'd probably go 36 in the rear, 32 or even 28 in the front.

PS I forgot that I got the Dyads with the "reflective black" finish, maybe paid a little bit of a premium for that. The reflective is really not that reflective (the reflective stripes on my Marathon Supremes are way brighter), so I would not spend extra money on that.

rmfnla

I find riding position affects my speed more than bike weight, and I have no doubt that, even poorly fitted, the Allez has a more aggressive riding position than your Crosscheck...

RubeRad

Maybe, but I didn't feel uncomfortably bent over.

Jim from Boston

Rode a lighter, "faster" bike today

I have an apparently ultimate lightweight road cycle, a Specialized S-Works, that I use for my 14 mile one way commute, and longer training rides. I wrote about the experience to that thread by the OP, Ray9, ” My new $7,000 bike and the futility of justifying the price to the average person."

SkvLTD

I'll agree on lighter while not being much faster, is MUCH nicer than a heavy bike when you start adding extra parts or have to haul a 20lb backpack like I do. And as of this bloody weekend, lighter is MUCH nicer to carry/push when you get a flat...