Cheap Hybrid Bike vs Expensive Road Bike

[EckyH]

Wohoo slowly gaining speed.

That's good, very good.
Consistency is key as well as recovery. It is tempting to try harder every day, but it is counterproductive. In my opinion it is a good idea to do longer and longer rides at a fairly low exertion level with enough recovery between the rides. From time to time (perhaps once a week) a more intense, shorter ride for the fun of the speed would add some kind of variety.

But speed is just a number.
For the slower rides I usually have one or more points I want to visit and carry a camera in a handlebar bag, stop here and there to take a photograph and have a look for animals and flowers and other interesting things. So the rides are some kind of trips and have additional reasons, not just for the sake of cycling. And we have more to tell than just "I did 23km in one hour"...

Have fun on your rides.

E.

 

[philipgonzales3]

That's good, very good.
Consistency is key as well as recovery. It is tempting to try harder every day, but it is counterproductive. In my opinion it is a good idea to do longer and longer rides at a fairly low exertion level with enough recovery between the rides. From time to time (perhaps once a week) a more intense, shorter ride for the fun of the speed would add some kind of variety.

But speed is just a number.
For the slower rides I usually have one or more points I want to visit and carry a camera in a handlebar bag, stop here and there to take a photograph and have a look for animals and flowers and other interesting things. So the rides are some kind of trips and have additional reasons, not just for the sake of cycling. And we have more to tell than just "I did 23km in one hour"...

Have fun on your rides.

E.

Longest ride yet! And yeah I've seen some videos on 80% zone 2, 20% zone 4. I TRY to do this, but I don't really do much Zone 4 yet. I need to push myself harder on my hard days and go easier on my zone 2 days.

My main goal is fitness and weight loss. I don't like to stop because I feel like that holds back some of my progress. I am taking this awfully serious for someone who got into this on a whim because my son wanted to learn how to ride. I was like yeah 15 or 20 minutes every other day will be good. Now I don't like to go more than a day, 2 max without cycling, but def need to work on the recovery part haha.

I'm done for this week though, "I tell you what". In my best Hank Hill voice.

 

[froze]

I've been trying to tell people this for a long time, that weight of a bike, or the rolling resistance of a tire isn't going to mean a lot unless you're racing!

The extra 8 pounds of weight between the two bikes is only going to consume an average of 1.5 watts, the difference you'll never feel nor realize in any sort of computed time ride.

Having said that, the $250 used bike should have been much slower than your results, not due to the weight as much as it would have been due to the suspension fork and wider tires, but the suspension fork alone consumes about an average of 15 watts vs a rigid fork found on the road bike, plus at least another 15 watts difference between the two different tires. So just on fork and tires alone you're losing at least 30 watts which is pretty significant. So those 30 extra watts needed to pedal your bike 11.5 miles should have cost you about 4 minutes...if all things were equal, things like motivation, wind, traffic, temperature, etc.

People get all bent out of shape with tire rolling resistance, but the truth is going with a cheaper tire that uses 5 watts more will only cost a person about 30 seconds using that same 11.5-mile ride example, and if we're not racing does it really matter? Not for me it doesn't, if I'm going on a 40-mile ride and return home 2 minutes later vs a 5-watt faster tire isn't even remotely a concern. But that cheaper tire could save you $40 a tire!

 

[raleighnut]

I've been trying to tell people this for a long time, that weight of a bike, or the rolling resistance of a tire isn't going to mean a lot unless you're racing!

The extra 8 pounds of weight between the two bikes is only going to consume an average of 1.5 watts, the difference you'll never feel nor realize in any sort of computed time ride.

Having said that, the $250 used bike should have been much slower than your results, not due to the weight as much as it would have been due to the suspension fork and wider tires, but the suspension fork alone consumes about an average of 15 watts vs a rigid fork found on the road bike, plus at least another 15 watts difference between the two different tires. So just on fork and tires alone you're losing at least 30 watts which is pretty significant. So those 30 extra watts needed to pedal your bike 11.5 miles should have cost you about 4 minutes...if all things were equal, things like motivation, wind, traffic, temperature, etc.

People get all bent out of shape with tire rolling resistance, but the truth is going with a cheaper tire that uses 5 watts more will only cost a person about 30 seconds using that same 11.5-mile ride example, and if we're not racing does it really matter? Not for me it doesn't, if I'm going on a 40-mile ride and return home 2 minutes later vs a 5-watt faster tire isn't even remotely a concern. But that cheaper tire could save you $40 a tire!

It's going uphill you'll feel the extra weight, off to work one evening I got my normal commuter out of the shed to find it had a flat rear tyre, Oh botheration (or words to that effect) and grabbed the next nearest one which happened to be my Reynolds 653 Time Trial bike. Going to work was about the same but coming home there is an uphill section that starts at traffic lights (so no run-up) that is a slope that gets steeper before flattening off a bit but still uphill for about a mile. Bit of a killer after being on my feet for a 12 hour nightshift but on this bike it fairly flew up the hill, got home a good 5 minutes or more earlier than usual.
If you live somewhere flat heavy bikes are OK that's why 'Dutch' bikes work so well in Holland but chuck in a hill or two and the lighter the better.

 

[mustang1]

The route is holding you back. What difference do you expect pootling at 20 km/h around a flat housing estate, stopping at junctions, even doing U-turns?

This is what I was thinking. A Ferrari and land rover on a farm, and one may wonder why spend so much money on the Ferrari.

It is indeed the route.

But anyway, as long as OP enjoy the ride.

 

[kingrollo]

I've been trying to tell people this for a long time, that weight of a bike, or the rolling resistance of a tire isn't going to mean a lot unless you're racing!

The extra 8 pounds of weight between the two bikes is only going to consume an average of 1.5 watts, the difference you'll never feel nor realize in any sort of computed time ride.

Having said that, the $250 used bike should have been much slower than your results, not due to the weight as much as it would have been due to the suspension fork and wider tires, but the suspension fork alone consumes about an average of 15 watts vs a rigid fork found on the road bike, plus at least another 15 watts difference between the two different tires. So just on fork and tires alone you're losing at least 30 watts which is pretty significant. So those 30 extra watts needed to pedal your bike 11.5 miles should have cost you about 4 minutes...if all things were equal, things like motivation, wind, traffic, temperature, etc.

People get all bent out of shape with tire rolling resistance, but the truth is going with a cheaper tire that uses 5 watts more will only cost a person about 30 seconds using that same 11.5-mile ride example, and if we're not racing does it really matter? Not for me it doesn't, if I'm going on a 40-mile ride and return home 2 minutes later vs a 5-watt faster tire isn't even remotely a concern. But that cheaper tire could save you $40 a tire!

I disagree. IME my best bike is quite a lot faster than my winter bike. Sure getting home 5 minutes earlier isn't the deal breaker - but the way my best bike accelerates is a pure joy - and motivates me to squeeze that little bit extra out of it.

I found my aluminium winter bike just so slow and heavy it was just a slog to ride it - so upgraded to a carbon winter bike - which is much better for me. So in that instance it was about the bike

Sure which ever bike ride - I'm not going to pro level or even club level fast - but the light bike with the racing wheels and tyres is so much more fun to ride and gets rode more !!!

 

[fossyant]

I disagree.

Same. I can ride the same route to work, 10 miles. The MTB with slick/rolling tyres and panniers is over 7 minutes slower than the CX bike (42 minutes quickest, vs 35). Carrying the same weight. The CX tyres roll much better and the bike is much lighter, but not much in the grand scheme of me and luggage on top.

 

[PaulSB]

I disagree. IME my best bike is quite a lot faster than my winter bike. Sure getting home 5 minutes earlier isn't the deal breaker - but the way my best bike accelerates is a pure joy - and motivates me to squeeze that little bit extra out of it.

I found my aluminium winter bike just so slow and heavy it was just a slog to ride it - so upgraded to a carbon winter bike - which is much better for me. So in that instance it was about the bike

Sure which ever bike ride - I'm not going to pro level or even club level fast - but the light bike with the racing wheels and tyres is so much more fun to ride and gets rode more !!!

I completely agree. The difference between my winter titanium Kinesis ATR and my summer carbon Cervelo is huge. I enjoy them both equally but in performance terms there is no comparison, I can climb and accelerate on the Cervelo in a way which is impossible on the Kinesis. Equally I can't ride gravel or tour on my Cervelo in the way I can on the ATR.

To suggest otherwise doesn't make sense to me. When heading out with my regular buddies we agree the type of bike we're all using the night before.

 

[kingrollo]

I completely agree. The difference between my winter titanium Kinesis ATR and my summer carbon Cervelo is huge. I enjoy them both equally but in performance terms there is no comparison, I can climb and accelerate on the Cervelo in a way which is impossible on the Kinesis. Equally I can't ride gravel or tour on my Cervelo in the way I can on the ATR.

To suggest otherwise doesn't make sense to me. When heading out with my regular buddies we agree the type of bike we're all using the night before.

I've been on cyclechat long enough to realise it's very anti tech.

GPS ? - OS Maps... Steel frames, flat pedals, mirrors not radar etc....

 

[All uphill]

How's it going @philipgonzales3 ?

 

[PaulSB]

I've been on cyclechat long enough to realise it's very anti tech.

GPS ? - OS Maps... Steel frames, flat pedals, mirrors not radar etc....

Yes, that's my overriding impression as well, and has been for many years.

 

[CXRAndy]

Your speed and route disguise the bikes differing qualities. The carbon bike would in the correct terrain, be far easier to maintain a higher speed.

That's not to say an average bike can go very quickly with a strong capable rider.

 

[brommieinkorea]

100 mile rides? Done lots. The trick is you can't go at it the first time with some sort of time limit. A century could very well be a 12 hour affair, and if you take it easy and eat and take snack breaks whenever its quite enjoyable. Bicycles will cure obesity, type 2 diabetes and some other conditions. I've seen the Ozempic commercials and the side effects are terrifying (food for thought). All this said, just keep at it. My advice to newbies: use much lower gears than you think you need (120+rpm), run your seat higher, fit- sit on bike look at front hub the handlebar should block the view of the hub. A highway with a shoulder can be safer, you have separation, there are witnesses, since you can't be slowing anyone's progress they have no reason to want to run you over ( yes Texas can have its problems).

 

[fossyant]

80 to 90 rpm plus or minus a bit, not 120.

 

[brommieinkorea]

80 to 90 rpm plus or minus a bit, not 120.

Generally the experts say 90. But if you train for a while at 120, when the cadence feature stops working, you'll settle into 80 - 90 rpm.