PepeM

Hello, fellow BFers.

Lately, I have been riding my steel pedalbike a lot. It is a nice ride. Steel frame of unknown provenance, Dura Ace 10-speed groupset with downtube shifters, Ambrosio Crono wheels with Vittoria Corsa tubulars (23mm.) Solid ride all around.

Today, I took out my crabon bike out for a spin, after a year laying dormant. Focus Cayo, Force groupset, Psimet crabon tubulars. I followed the same route I rode on my trusty steelstead last week and lo and behold, I went over 2 mph faster on the crabon bike!

For the nonbelievers, I shall present evidence.

Exhibit 1, ride on the steel bike:



Note the average speed (shall not be confused with cruising speed.)

Exhibit 2, same ride on the crabon bike:



That's like a 15% gain in speed!

So, is crabon faster? Discuss.

PepeM

Before anyone asks: Both bikes have 165mm cranks, so it cannot be that.

Seattle Forrest

136w got you 19 mph, 216w got you 19.6?

PepeM

Exact same power on both rides probably.

EDIT: Also, that's distance you're looking at. Space-time continuum or something.

superdex

how'd you go farther and climb more on the same route?

PepeM

The magic of carbon.

Or maybe I took a slightly longer way out of the 'hood.

PepeM

Profiles:

AlmostTrick

Once you realize the crabon can asplode at any moment and send you to the hospital/graveyard you will no longer be going so fast.

Seattle Forrest

Holy crap, everything the elders said was true. You just wake up one day and your brain doesn't work anymore.

Also you said same route so it didn't even occur to me that the distances could be different. Clearly I don't use Strava much.

WhyFi

My geared bike can beat up your geared bike.

caloso

Traffic lights? Wind?

Also, box rim wheels are less aero than taller rims, which I assume your Psimet carbon wheels are.

PepeM

Not a single traffic light along the way. Wind? Maybe, don't recall it being windy either day. The crabon wheels are indeed 50/60 mm deep, but Psimet said on that other thread that it doesn't matter.

Someone pointed out something important on another thread though: In the moving process, I lost one of the screws that fixes the stem in place on the carbon bike.

base2 

On flat level ground: Watt for watt, based on my power meter, heart rate, distance, my 70 pound fully loaded Schwinn Varsity and my 16 pound Cervelo R5 are exactly 1 mph apart in average speed.

The kicker is Aerodynamics between a less agressive posture, and panniers vs agressive posture & moderately aero wheels.

On hills, it's still a crapshoot, with carbon being significantly less work, but the Schwinn having better gearing.

Try again.

woodcraft

That bike was very well rested,

so of course it was faster. That would even out if you rode them the same amount.

indyfabz

My geared bike has chunks of bikes like your geared bike in its stool.

luevelvet

I hear they're injecting EPO into the carbon frames now a days...

mstateglfr 

I have long been curious as to the origins of the word 'crabon' and why its so popular.

Thats all I care to add to this thread, for now.

PepeM

Interesting point. I will have to test that out.

Seattle Forrest

My geared bike has disc brakes, but so does yours. That makes it a knife fight!

Cyclist0108

Two routes of different lengths, one of which required significantly (1.6-fold) more power for a marginal (1.14-fold) increase in average speed? Sounds like the carbon bike is far less efficient, even though expectation bias leads you to pedal harder.

firebird854

My alloy bike is faster than my carbon bike (to be fair, my alloy bike has deep section carbon wheels and my carbon bike has cheep alloy wheels).

PepeM

See previous post:

Cyclist0108

What you posted says 137 W vs. 216 W

What are we supposed to believe, and what are we supposed to disregard, and why?

WhyFi

Not for nothing, but wind resistance doesn't increase linearly with speed. I would be a lot ******* faster if it did.

WhyFi

Just a hunch, but I'd disregard the one that says "estimated."