On Aug 18, 4:10 pm, Steve Palincsar <palin...@his.com> wrote: > To me, the real question is, other than styling and the whole fantasy > wannabee pro racer let's play pretend, what real advantage does > something like a Madone give you for precisely that kind of riding over > a racing bike that Eddy Merckx might have ridden?
a friend (also a framebuilder) and I go out for fast rides that average 25mph for 40 miles or so. He either rides his modern bike (handbuilt, lightweight steel - so not an exact comparison with a Madone) with full SRAM red, etc. or a classic Masi Gran Criterium with vintage parts. my observations when we ride: 1. he's wicked fast on both bikes 2. he can't accelerate as quickly on the Masi, although he seems to climb just as nimbly (hard to tell if he's working harder or not because he's a natural climber) my conclusions based on these observations: 1. fast riders are fast regardless of what road bike they're on. 2. fast riders seem to accelerate better on lighter, modern bikes. my answer to your question based on this anecdote: I think there is probably no advantage unless one is riding a pace that demands quick acceleration to avoid getting dropped, which sounds an awful lot like full-blown racing. if somebody is getting dropped just-riding-along and nobody is "attacking" or pushing the pace, a Madone ain't gonna help. -- 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.
