Does a lighter bike make a difference

Colm R

So my company moved offices recently and this has given me the opportunity to cycle to work.

I have a mountain bike, nothing special (to be honest, most cyclists wouldn't touch it). Thick wheels and a bit heavy as well.

Up to recently, I've been cycling the odd weekend, here and there, nothing spectacular.

But now I'm cycling 4 days a week. 17km each way.

The terrain is fairly flat thankfully. Most of the roads I cycle on are quiet country roads, except the last 2km into work. Parts of it have a really bad surface, but I just take it easy there.

I'm doing the cycle in 50 min roughly. Which I don't think is too bad for an amature. And I love it. I actually find it easier to concentrate during the day, and when I get home, all the stress is gone. Plus the cycle seems easier than anything I did at weekends. I think thats just mental though, because I have a target, i.e. to get to work and to get home.

However, I don't think the bike is suitable. And to be honest, I think its going to start falling apart soon.

So, would a lighter bike with narrow wheels make a difference.

Has anyone made a switch from heavy mountain bike to a narrow wheeled lighter bike and noticed much of a difference?

Idleater

Colm R wrote: »

Has anyone made a switch from heavy mountain bike to a narrow wheeled lighter bike and noticed much of a difference?

I moved to a lighter full suspension, and noticed a difference.

seamus

The weight of the bike will make something of a difference, but not nearly as much as the wheels and the geometry. Mountain bikes are designed largely to hold onto the ground surface as much as humanly possible and at the same time the way you're positioned on the bike gives you maximum manouverability.

Road bikes by contrast skirt the balance between gripping the road surface and getting the most speed for the least effort while reducing the wind resistance against you at the sacrifice of slow-speed manourverability.

Fair dues to you on the distance on an MTB. Yes, it will make a difference. As to how much of a difference, I'll let you know; Getting my shiny new trek 2.1 today to swap for a stupidly heavy MTB.

Lumen

Tyres, suspension, geometry, weight. It all adds up.

On a proper road bike you could chop 10 minutes off that journey and enjoy it more.

I do a 15km commute in 30-40 mins without breaking much of a sweat, and I wouldn't be the fittest person around here.

blorg

Yes it will make a lot of difference, as seamus says mainly the tyres and the position but the weight would also make a difference in the "feel" of the bike (and going up hills.)

rottenhat

Go to a shop and take one for a test ride - I think you'll find the difference quite substantial.

Blowfish

blorg wrote: »

Yes it will make a lot of difference, as seamus says mainly the tyres and the position but the weight would also make a difference in the "feel" of the bike (and going up hills.)

Indeed. I've switched recently. I was expecting the speed increase due to the wheels etc, but the "feel" of the bike makes almost as much difference.

At first it'll feel slightly skittish in that small movements of your body will make the bike change direction, but after you've gotten used to this, you'll realise how much more control it gives you as the bike will react pretty much instantly any time you want it to do something.

kmick

Blowfish wrote: »

Indeed. I've switched recently. I was expecting the speed increase due to the wheels etc, but the "feel" of the bike makes almost as much difference. At first it'll feel slightly skittish in that small movements of your body will make the bike change direction, but after you've gotten used to this, you'll realise how much more control it gives you as the bike will react pretty much instantly any time you want it to do something.

There are also specialist commute bikes like the Trek 7.1/7.2 (known as a hybrid) and flat bar road bike (which is between a hybrid and a road bike) like the Claude Butler Levante. Both of these are more comfortable than a road bike. I find the road bike just too hard and skittish on poor roads.

petethedrummer

A mate of mine (on a road bike) was stopped at the lights beside a fella on a mountain bike he regularly passes going to work. Yer man says 'How do you get that bike to go so fast?'
He explained why and the guy says 'I'll have to get one of those'.

mmclo

kmick wrote: »

the Claude Butler Levante.

Is this available in Ireland?

cdaly_

If there's much of the "really bad surface" to deal with, you probably should consider something fatter than the skinniest of tyres though. I started out on 25mm fairly thin tyres but am now on 28mm heavier gauge tyres. Made a difference from the POV of punctures...

DePurpereWolf

I recently upgraded my old tyres, 700x35 to new 700x32 and felt a huge increase in speed.

Weight is very important on hills, that's where every 100g counts. On the flats it is not that important, more like every kg counts.

Vélo

Colm R wrote: »

So my company moved offices recently and this has given me the opportunity to cycle to work.

I have a mountain bike, nothing special (to be honest, most cyclists wouldn't touch it). Thick wheels and a bit heavy as well.

Up to recently, I've been cycling the odd weekend, here and there, nothing spectacular.

But now I'm cycling 4 days a week. 17km each way.

The terrain is fairly flat thankfully. Most of the roads I cycle on are quiet country roads, except the last 2km into work. Parts of it have a really bad surface, but I just take it easy there.

I'm doing the cycle in 50 min roughly. Which I don't think is too bad for an amature. And I love it. I actually find it easier to concentrate during the day, and when I get home, all the stress is gone. Plus the cycle seems easier than anything I did at weekends. I think thats just mental though, because I have a target, i.e. to get to work and to get home.

However, I don't think the bike is suitable. And to be honest, I think its going to start falling apart soon.

So, would a lighter bike with narrow wheels make a difference.

Has anyone made a switch from heavy mountain bike to a narrow wheeled lighter bike and noticed much of a difference?

I do a 20km cycle to work and it takes me between 40 - 45 mins. Granted I have only 2 sets of traffic lights to slow me down. I cycle a fixed gear specialized langster with 700X23 tyres and it flies along. I had to cycle my MTB home one day and it took me just over 50mins and it's light for a MTB. It actually felt much longer.

If it's a flat route why don't you look at a single speed/fixed gear bike. There'd be very low maintenance with it.

blorg

kmick wrote: »

There are also specialist commute bikes like the Trek 7.1/7.2 (known as a hybrid) and flat bar road bike (which is between a hybrid and a road bike) like the Claude Butler Levante. Both of these are more comfortable than a road bike. I find the road bike just too hard and skittish on poor roads.

That is really depends on the rider and the sort of distances you are doing- I find a flat bar bike very uncomfortable over a longer distance due to the lack of hand positions. They are also substantially slower than a road bike with drop bars, even if everything else (tyres, gearing etc) is the same.

cdaly_ wrote: »

If there's much of the "really bad surface" to deal with, you probably should consider something fatter than the skinniest of tyres though. I started out on 25mm fairly thin tyres but am now on 28mm heavier gauge tyres. Made a difference from the POV of punctures...

Unless you are cycling on unsurfaced tracks you really shouldn't puncture on even the skinniest road tyres- tyre quality, inflation pressure, your own weight and riding style do come in to play here though, inflation pressure being key.

DePurpereWolf wrote: »

I recently upgraded my old tyres, 700x35 to new 700x32 and felt a huge increase in speed.

Weight is very important on hills, that's where every 100g counts. On the flats it is not that important, more like every kg counts.

I would not really expect a "huge" increase in speed simply moving from 35 to 32 on the same tyre but if you got better tyres as well it could certainly make a difference. With regard to hills, there is more weight in the rider than the bike, and generally more scope to reduce the former It does make more of a difference in hills but actually measured less than you might think- however it is really the subjective "feel" of the bike that improves, even if you are not actually going up the hill that much faster.

Turbulent Bill

blorg wrote: »

Unless you are cycling on unsurfaced tracks you really shouldn't puncture on even the skinniest road tyres- tyre quality, inflation pressure, your own weight and riding style do come in to play here though, inflation pressure being key.

Moved recently from slicks on an MTB (equivalent to about 29mm wide) to 23s on a road bike, and though the puncture protection seems to be as good (fingers crossed!), the new bike is much more likely to tramline in cracks parallel to the road direction. You have to be a lot more wary in old Dublin housing estates, where the concrete roads are badly cracked.

I'm guessing this is a combination of the smaller tyre width and different weight distribution on the road bike, but it definitely affects my riding style.

BostonB

blorg wrote: »

...They are also substantially slower than a road bike with drop bars, even if everything else (tyres, gearing etc) is the same.....

Why just the position? More stretched out? Air resistance? Most people on road bikes seem to ride on the hoods, is that much difference from riding on bar ends?

blorg

BostonB wrote: »

Why just the position? More stretched out? Air resistance? Most people on road bikes seem to ride on the hoods, is that much difference from riding on bar ends?

Mostly the air resistance; it is the largest factor from moderate speeds (IIRC 15-20km/h) and it increases exponentially as you go faster- drag increases as the square of velocity. And this is without a headwind.

Hoods are better than bar ends. Flat bars tend to be a lot wider than drop bars (and bar ends tend to be angled up, although this is less significant) so riding on bar ends widens and actually increases your frontal profile compared to riding on the tops. Hoods tend to be straight forward and drop bars no wider than your shoulders so riding on them moves you forward and down and slightly reduces your profile compared to the tops.

Of course the drops are where the real benefit comes and if you never use them you should probably look at your bike setup, not much point having them if you are not going to use them. I would be in them (or on aerobars) basically all of the time on flat, descending, even slight rises- unless in a bunch where the hoods give you more visability.

Besides all of this racing bikes tend to have a more aggressive geometry to start with and will tend to have shorter head tubes placing the bars lower compared to than the saddle than a typical hybrid would.

After air resistance the rolling resistance of the tyres is probably the next most important, particularly at lower speeds- of course this is easily duplicated on a hybrid.

kmick

mmclo wrote: »

Is this available in Ireland?

Yes it is I have seen it in more than one shop in Dublin.

BostonB

blorg wrote: »

Mostly the air resistance; it is the largest factor from moderate speeds (IIRC 15-20km/h) and it increases exponentially as you go faster- drag increases as the square of velocity. And this is without a headwind....

My commute is through park and canal, both seem to be wind tunnels and I was wondering would I notice much improvement going to drops (assuming a high end hyrid with no other difference). Though on the flip site the dodgy back and neck might be a problem! One guy in the office moved from road bike back to a hybrid, because he felt it much harder to look around on the road bike, but then his route has far heavier traffic, and more turns then mine. I know a few people with road bikes but almost all commute on hybrids. The only one who uses a road bike, doesn't have another bike. As you get a bit older, you have the old injuries and are less flexible. Maybe thats a factor for many.

Lumen

BostonB wrote: »

As you get a bit older, you have the old injuries and are less flexible.

Ron Longstaff manages OK.

Ron, who has had two serious accidents on his bike, admits his family is worried about him when he cycles on the roads. When he was 74, he suffered a fractured skull after being hit by a car driven by an 81-year-old woman.

And when he was 77, he was taking part in a race when a lorry braked without warning in front of him. Ron hit the back of the vehicle, breaking his arm, collar bone and ribs and puncturing his lung.

blorg

I commute on drop bars myself and it is not because I only have the one bike My main commuter actually has the bars quite high relative to my other bikes although I have no problem commuting on the lower ones either.

The only thing you really gain from flat bars is better low speed manoeuvrability.

I converted my "fast" hybrid some years ago and found just that change made a big difference.

BostonB

Theres always someone called Ron.

lukester

BostonB wrote: »

One guy in the office moved from road bike back to a hybrid, because he felt it much harder to look around on the road bike, but then his route has far heavier traffic, and more turns then mine. I know a few people with road bikes but almost all commute on hybrids. The only one who uses a road bike, doesn't have another bike. As you get a bit older, you have the old injuries and are less flexible. Maybe thats a factor for many.

I commute on a bike with drops, in heavy traffic, previously commuted for years on a flat-barred bike. You can look around in traffic just as easily- but at first it does feel a bit different if you're used to flat bars. I could never go back to them now though. And I have more than one bike, bought a second drop-barred bike just for commuting.

You can get road bikes with 'relaxed' geometry, thread here. You would have to be extremely inflexible not to be able to find a comfortable road bike.

blorg

As lukester suggests there is quite a range regarding position between different drop-bar bikes. It is probably also more important that a bike be sized right- my first road bike I think was the wrong size and I had to sell it and go back to a hybrid after suffering awful back problems. A few years later convered the hybrid and went from there- I do think I am more flexible now though than I was then. Maybe progressing gradually to a lower position would do the trick- you can get adjustable stems to help with this.

Beasty

BostonB wrote: »

My commute is through park and canal, both seem to be wind tunnels and I was wondering would I notice much improvement going to drops (assuming a high end hyrid with no other difference). Though on the flip site the dodgy back and neck might be a problem! One guy in the office moved from road bike back to a hybrid, because he felt it much harder to look around on the road bike, but then his route has far heavier traffic, and more turns then mine. I know a few people with road bikes but almost all commute on hybrids. The only one who uses a road bike, doesn't have another bike. As you get a bit older, you have the old injuries and are less flexible. Maybe thats a factor for many.

My commute is about 23km, and I moved from hybrid to racer earlier this year, and have not looked back (try to look over my shoulders regularly though:)). I am "getting a bit older" and have had 4 back operations. The fitness (and in particular weight loss) I have gained through the cycling has improved the state of my back significantly. I actually find that if ever have "twinge" in it, getting on the bike helps me get over it.

BostonB

What were your sizing problems blorg?

I recently changed my saddle on my MTB and I just can't get comfy on it now. Can't get the saddle far enough forward. Just a tiny bit too far back.