Lightness or stiffness or.....?!

Morrisseeee

I was reading an article recently about the Specialized factory, where they talk to a few key people involved, and it was interesting to hear a leading technician say that the Pros prefer a stiff bike rather than a light bike, or both, but definitely stiffness. But as we know, lightness is capped at 6.8kg so that kinda explains their reasoning behind that. He goes on to say that there is still alot of improvement to be done with bike design, one key area being aerodynamics.
But, I'm just wondering what ye racers (new to racing or veteran racers) would like to see in your road bike, lightness, stiffness, geometry, better gearing, levers, handling, comfort, color-scheme !! etc. ??
Also he mentions Contador (lets not go down the drug road), where he stopped production of the Shiv in its tracks, ie. he spotted an improvement and hense it was implemented !

DirkVoodoo

...new legs.

Bike improvements can only get you so far, I just want to be talented.

Lumen

I want 11sp electronic shifting with fully sequential changes.

I want light, deep section wheels which brake well and don't explode on Alpine descents.

I want a Garmin head unit whose recording of data withstands scrutiny by fussy triathletes.

I want cover socks which last a whole season without falling apart.

I want a Scott Addict that isn't pig ugly.

07Lapierre

Both... Stiff and light.

dave.obrien

In scientific reality, reducing weight and improving aerodynamics will better transfer your effort into speed, while stiffer will improve handling, ride quality and (to a certain degree) acceleration. In empirical reality, once you get to a certain degree, you (actually, I should be honest and say I; you might be way more sensitive than me) won't notice, the margins will be fractions of watts and too small to notice, or you will be riding an illegal bike.

But yes, light and stiff is nice. Aero is probably the area in which most development are going to occur.

Morrisseeee

Aero is probably the area in which most development are going to occur.

Yes he mentions this towards the end of the article, and it got me thinking, would aero really improve the road bike (ie. not the trial bike) that much, ie. isn't the biggest resistance on a bike the actual rider !? I know improvements are made in wheel design, but in bike design I couldn't see big improvements

Personally, I've got an entry level road bike and I'd imagine I'd see a good bit of improvement if I went to a properly fitted carbon Pro bike!!
I suppose that could lead on to the Q: what kind of improvements have been made in the last 10 years, or even since the Kelly/Roche era ? If Kelly/Roche et al had a modern bike back in their day, would they be even better ? and by how much ?
(ooops I think I've asked too many Qs now :pac:)

Lumen

If I owned a pro team I'd spend my money on doctors/physiologists/nutritionists/motivational speakers, not engineers.

There's way room for improvement in these areas than there is in things like bottom bracket stiffness.

dave.obrien

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Yes he mentions this towards the end of the article, and it got me thinking, would aero really improve the road bike (ie. not the trial bike) that much, ie. isn't the biggest resistance on a bike the actual rider !? I know improvements are made in wheel design, but in bike design I couldn't see big improvements

Personally, I've got an entry level road bike and I'd imagine I'd see a good bit of improvement if I went to a properly fitted carbon Pro bike!!
I suppose that could lead on to the Q: what kind of improvements have been made in the last 10 years, or even since the Kelly/Roche era ? If Kelly/Roche et al had a modern bike back in their day, would they be even better ? and by how much ?
(ooops I think I've asked too many Qs now :pac:)

Yes, the biggest problem with every bike is the rider, but hopefully they're doing as much as possible to make themselves the biggest asset, if we're talking about this level of performance anyway. You can't change that the bike needs a rider, so the rider would be best served by looking after him/herself as well as possible.

Things you can change: weight, stiffness, and wind resistance.

Weight is capped at 6.8kg, which is very acheivable so that's no longer a variable, although reduced weight on wheels, cranks and pedals will make a difference. Still, it's fairly well served at this stage, so we're into the realm of diminishing margins here.

Stiffness again has been well served recently, but again, will not actually speed you up, if the weight is the same (although arguably it will improve you in your cornering and acceleration, but not actually top speed).

That leaves wind resistance. Everything from tube shaping to paint technology will be/is being looked at to reduce drag.

Also, I agree with Lumen. The differences you can make to the rider are greater than those you can make to the bike within the current UCI guidelines.