Well.... race style bikes are significantly faster when climbing due to low weight and light wheels and when going fast due to increased aerodynamics (due to the position your body takes) but..........on a long ride they beat you up and its not enjoyable. The Mavic rims are heavy and if you don't need 36 spoke wheels you could go to fewer 32-28 depending on your weight but I imagine your greatest gain will come from a lower /narrower bar and your clothing, if its currently all loosey goosey. I'll bet Grant won't deny there is a reason that so much money is spent on R&D to improve race bicycles when it depends on mere tenths of a second to separate winners from losers. For the rest of us, what difference does that really make......1.5-3 mph slower really? So an extra thirty minutes on average to finish a 100 mile ride. That's about as much time as it takes to eat some bananas and bagels at the end of the ride and could mean something to you, I don't know but I seriously doubt you would be that much slower over that distance. I'll bet your riding pals being in poorer shape won't last and you will pass them 1/2 way through a century, regardless of what bike you ride. Lower bar, tight clothes, lighter wheels/tires and strip off any extras but personally I'd only change the tires and enjoy my ride and probably stop on the way for a beer too.
On Apr 26, 9:10 am, "Darin G." <dbg...@mac.com> wrote: > Alright, this will probably sound un-Rivish,...please don't pick my > bones over. I'm new to this type of bicycle. > > I need my commuter/tourer Sam to go faster, if possible. I have a > slate of century rides and a 200 km brevet lined up for the summer and > I'm being dropped by my riding companions who are significantly less > fit and heavier than I am, but are riding zippy road bikes (including > my old Roubaix). I'm about 1.5 to 3 mph slower over the same course > than I was on "road bike." I've never been a racer but I really don't > want my centuries to take 7 hours and I don't think I can make up the > difference with pure horsepower. I'm planning on a second bike to > take on this duty, but that will be at least a year away. > > So, where would this group look to speed up my Sam? Wheels? Tires? > I'm riding 36 spoke wheels with Jack Brown Blues. And if it just > can't be done, tell me so and I'll practice smelling the flowers until > I can come up with the appropriate tool for the described job. > > D.G. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group > athttp://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
