I don't even consider the guy with a rusty chain on his 30 year old Schwinn beach cruiser to be a serious cyclist. Of course anyone posting regularly on BF is already in the top few percent of everyone who owns a bicycle.

But you think this ryan_rides dude* cruising around Florida on his Aventon is such an elite, finely tuned athlete that he'll realize an advantage by going with larger gears? Might as well also recommend he get a carbon fiber stem top cap and titanium bolt, because these are verifiably, objectively lighter weight than aluminum and steel pieces, and lighter bikes = better performance.

This is not opinion: The performance difference between small vs. large gears of the same overall ratio is infinitesimal. You can achieve greater results by changing your tire air pressure by 2 PSI. Get bigger gears because they look cool, or you found some for a good price, or they may wear longer. Heck, get some because a Voodoo witch doctor put a curse on your current gears, so if you ride west on them when Jupiter is aligned with Sagittarius, a baby panda will die. Imagining it will make you faster is just that, imaginary. Cheers to you too!


* No disrespect to the OP intended here.

You need to relax.

You're probably right. But these discussions are fun.

I agree with this. (See, we have some common ground.)

18.9 is a respectable weight. That's really not bad at all.

Dropping a half pound off that by changing wheels will make a very big difference in how the bike rides, handles, accelerates and holds speed.

It won't feel like a 15 lb Cervelo S5 but you will be able to tell the difference.

I agree with someone who previously mentioned stiffness, which is a good reason to change cranks. Bottom brackets are a good place to gain stiffness as well. Weight might actually be secondary to crank and bottom bracket stiffness in terms of reasons to change cranksets.


-Tim-

Okay, seamuis, I guess I have been sort of a right bully here lately. I apologize for that.* SS/FG forum seems to bring that out in me. I don't know what a tosser is because it's not a common term in American English, but I'm probably guilty as charged on that one too. I swear I'm a pretty nice guy in person and we'd get along fine if we met on the street.


Your approach to cycling is curious. You advocate for light weight wheels, something we can all agree contributes to efficiency. You also insist it makes a difference to ride with the most efficient drivetrain possible; fine--I'll concede on that for the sake of discussion. In another thread you say you don't like skinny tires because they're uncomfortable--harsh ride or something, was the gist of it. Not trying to put words in your mouth, but I'm sure you wrote that your bones get shaken loose by anything narrower than 28mm. So you're taking two steps forward and one step back. Your preferred setup is analogous to eating eggs Benedict, with cheesecake for dessert, but drinking Diet Coke with it to save calories. In terms of efficiency, how do huge chain rings and cogs vs. smaller ones of the same ratio make up to any significant extent for the weight difference between 25mm and 32+mm tires? I'm not calling names and not trying to insult you. Just looking to understand the philosophy that drives your bike component choices.



* My apologies to the OP as well. I'm just some dude cruising around Utah on a second-hand Surly Steamroller. It's doubtful any of us will get invited to the Tour de France. That's all I was trying to say before.

Dear lord, people live to argue on this site.

Not a criticism, just an observation.

I too am curious about what spoke count/cross you're thinking? Maybe weight and height while we're at it? It'll help.

Ok Ryan, I get the sense you're a strong rider that wants to go fast in a mostly flat environment. To me, on the scale of hill climber to Time Trialist (TT), you are firmly on the TT side of the scale. In other words, heavy and aero vs as light as possible. Being light is always a bonus, don't get me wrong, I just think it should probably be priority 2 instead of 1. Also, more weight = more momentum to fight wind friction at a constant speed. Accelerating and stopping suffer, so there's your trade off.

I'll paint you a picture of what I think is kind of the far end of the scale for fixed track aero, and you can approach as you see fit.

first thing, a few items I've found super useful:
- Pinheads security track nuts for the front wheel (lighter and more secure)
- Ynot pedal straps, if you like wearing regular shoes. I'm guessing you probably have clipless.
- Short crank arms (~165mm or less, great for maintaining speed @ high cadence)
- 17 cog (more skid patches, you got it!)
- The biggest front chairing you can handle, and still climb the overpass
- Once you run out of room up front, start to shirk below 17 in the back. I ride 48x17 with 170mm cranks for climbing, but I'm fat and in a super hilly area.

Wheels - Disc back, spoke front. - most aero with control.
Back - Full disc, 80mm, or 60mm back.
Front- Tri-spoke carbon, 60mm, 50mm, or 40mm.
I've heard less than 40mm at lower than 30km/hr has negligible aero advantage, so just go for light or strong if these don't float your boat. Also, deep rims are annoying for street for locking and because you need long stem valves on your tubes. Fair warning.
Tires - Gators, yeah buddy! Honestly though, go fat, especially on the back. 25mm is good. More surface area to skid and lean, comfort, ability to roll over bumps, maintain speed, etc. Skinny tires are fine if you want to sacrifice the above.
Handlebars - deeper drops, TT bars or both. Depends how you feel about them. Here's some good info:
https://youtu.be/oJ9H0INZ2_s
Bottom Bracket, External BB, Ceramic hubs - I don't have enough experience to recommend, but there's certainly things here to consider.

And, Ryan, if you live anywhere near a velodrome and haven't gone yet, go check it out! You have to drop some cash and do some intro courses, but I'd bet you'd probably enjoy it!.. and you might possibly stomp other new riders.

Hope this helps!

People love to take themselves too seriously even more than they love to argue.

No they don't!

Tires will make a bigger performance difference than wheels. For example, some GP4000's on box wheels will go faster than Gatorskins on Zipps. I've seen the latter before at USAC races... no joke

Also that Monty Python skit is classic!!!

Oh, yes I do!

I love that.

It's probably in my top three favorite Python clips, along with Dead Parrot and Ministry of Silly Walks.

First off, to everyone who have advice, thanks.

I am 5'10 and I'm the heaviest I've ever been at roughly 185-190lbs.
I consider myself to be a strong rider. This bike is my only bike and it's my daily. I don't drive and I don't uber. South Florida is flat and boring. And every 40 year old roadie is surprised when I drop them in normal clothes (although I do get dropped hard but not often but I'm dead after and have to stop for Chik-Fl-A) Wind sucks here especially right now during hurricane season. The hurricane reservations are pretty booked right now. I do ride Clipless (look keo carbon blades). I'm pretty my stock cranks are 165mm. I'm not too I want to mess around with different crank arm length yet. I'm open to going up to 17t rear since it's basically just going up 2 teeth front and rear 48/15 ---->50/17. I think it would feel similar? And I think I can go up to 51t front maybe.
Wheels wise I cannot afford a disc wheel or carbon for that matter. I really can't spend more that $350 on wheels and I think that's a good price range to get decent wheels. Like I mentioned before hplus sons laced to gran comps from retrogression. In the future I would love to buy front and rear profile racing track hubs (with hed rims['Merica]. Also I carry a U lock everywhere I go unless I'm on an early morning ride so deep wheels just won't work for me right now. I hate riding anything skinnier than 25c tires. All the old heads still riding 23c blows my mind. I would love to strictly ride 28c but my forks won't allow. New bars will come eventually. Most likely after I get a new stem first. I want a longer reach. I probably will stay with the compact drop style although the classic track drops look nice on certain bikes. I could definitely benefit from a higher quality BB. I love the simplicity of the gxp BB that the sram omniums come with. Easy maintenance. There's a velodrome about an hour South of me. Haven't been yet.https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...af2a7c1898.jpg

This is my not track ready yet, daily. (S-works front tire was free, will ride until bald)
Currently riding an Izumi Super Toughness Track Chain

Dropping roadies who aren't racing you is the coolest thing ever.

I'm 5'10" and was 198 lb. This spring I dropped to 166 lb.

Loosing weight was the best cycling upgrade I've ever done.

10 lb will be very noticeable. The bike will fly if you loose 20 lb. Lose the weight if you can. You won't regret the hard work.

My Fitness Pal is a great tool.


-Tim-

Come to South Florida. I'll give you a head start.

I'm usually at 170lbs. I need to get back in the gym.

If I can ever think of a reason I'd want to go to South Florida, I'll let you know.

Can I get a head start too :)?

The entire population of North and South Carolina went to Florida for the week.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e8b12b0de2.png

There should a char limit on replies to prevent diarrhea of the keyboard.

Too accurate!

See, I don't consider long on-topic posts as an issue. Unrelated banter on the other hand, not so helpful.

I remember riding everywhere and being sub 200. I hope to get back there some day - I feel you bro!

Dropping people riding a fixie has it's own special place in one's heart. Those that haven't done it can't completely understand. At a certain point, riding fixed almost feels like an unfair advantage.

Wind! Florida. Of course. Side wind, from what I understand, usually negates most areo benefits of most frames/ wheels. I think that if wind is consistently an issue, forget aero wheels and pay more attention to strength or lightness of a low rim wheel.

Double down on riding position (TT or drops) and sexy riding apparel. It looks stupid, but it works... mind you, I tend to save mine for rides or track days. Still not a huge fan of looking like a lycra billboard.

When I looked, it said the stock cranks are 170mm. Depending on what the case is, you might actually be able to go to 165mm or lower. At 5'10 and being strong, I have a feeling shorter cranks might be the secret sauce you're missing. I noticed huge differences at really high cadence (flying downhill) between 165, 167.5, and 170mm. I'd ride shorter cranks if I could make it up hills... I need the leverage for now.

If you can only fit 50/51 on the front, maybe skip my 17 rear suggestion. Start talking/ thinking in inches. It's a smaller metric and common in track cycling (at least in my area). Less than 80 gear inches is relatively easy. 100 gear inches is a lot. - https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gear-calc.html

Skinny tires make sense on wooden track, not much else.

Yes yes yes! To all of the stem, bars and BB's. These little changes can have huge benefits. With better fit generally comes more efficiency/ comfort/ power.

Dude, you're an hour away? Is it indoor or out?

I'd say wait on the wheel purchase and spend the money on the track courses, if you're interested. If you get hooked on track cycling, you may want track-only wheels/ tires. They typically don't allow road tires onto indoor tracks for fear of debris.

You'd probably stomp a lot of the new riders at the track. Probably not the experienced riders though. There's some fast old lycra dudes at the track. :)

If you're at all considering trying it go take a look. They won't let you try without paying insurance, but it's fun and scary as f*ck. Just remember, stay perpendicular to the track and ride fast... ride fast forever.

:)

Im running a set of RaceFace Cadence cranks I picked up n Ebay for 60 bucks shipped with BB and Chainrings. They are way better than the Shimano 105 champagne doubles and Un53 BB i was using. If you dont mind riding 130 bcd,modern external cranksets can be had cheap and are a better upgrade than any square taper cranks,if you are after 144 bcd then Sugino and Sram are your best options.

Nice weight loss [MENTION=418438]TimothyH[/MENTION] - we're not that far off. I'm 5'9" and 155 lbs. I could lose 5 lbs with minor modifications and closer to 10 (I'm leggy) but I'm not into dieting, and fine being a middling road, track and MTB racer. Having said that 10 lbs at any size is huge and losing that much would bump my w/kg numbers up quite a bit.

Of course losing weight and gaining strength is the best way to enjoy your rides more - going fast is fun. But still, there are other reasons to upgrade if it increases your enjoyment of the ride [MENTION=476926]ryan_rides[/MENTION]. Plus it's just nice to have nice things - ain't nothing wrong with that as long as you budget your expenditures and are otherwise financially responsible.

Having said all of that I'd splurge on a nicer, matching set of wheels if I was you. It would make the bike look a lot sharper which would increase your enjoyment on a day to day basis. Putting fast tires on your current wheels will make it faster than any wheelset you can purchase, however. So maybe do both :)