Thanks for the input everyone! * I've checked the whole bike for "drag" except the wheel bearings, I'll give those a look.
* I need to confirm that my body position is the same between bikes. I tried to set them up as close as I could but it's possible one or both configurations have drifted from the original setup after dozens of tweaks over the last year. I particularly need to look at saddle setback given that the bikes have different seat tube angles. * The bleriot probably weighs a few pounds more than the quickbeam, though given my own weight I don't think that would make much of a difference. Even if the weight difference was 5 lbs, that would still only be about a 2% difference in total weight. The efficiency difference between the 2 bikes feels well over 2% to me. * I ride with the hetres as high as 60/65 psi, usually closer to 50/55. Yesterday I dropped them to 45/52 (based on my guesstimate of 15% tire drop from the chart in VBQ) and noticed a pretty substantial difference (mostly improvement). Today I did some hill climbing on the way to work. I found myself exhausted like I was fighting against both the bike and gravity. The tires feel squishy to me when I'm standing which might be why climbing while standing and accelerating from a stop feel "inefficient." Aside from the hill climbing this morning, I've been riding the bleriot in the same gear that I use on the quickbeam for around town riding. The bleriot still feels more difficult in this gear but I need more time in the saddle to really confirm that. * The quickbeam uses 32mm paselas with tourguard which I don't consider to be racing tires, so I don't think it's a completely unfair comparison to the hetres. The paselas feel like the perfect combo of comfort and speed for me, I don't get that squishy feeling when I stand (which I frequently find myself doing on the quickbeam) but the tires are plenty comfortable even for long distance riding. If panaracer made 650b x 32 paselas I'd buy a pair in an instant. Maybe I just need to take the plunge on a pair of cypres since they're probably the closest I'll find to paselas for 650b. -- 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.
