In my experience, how a bike feels largely depends on its geometry, how it handles, how good its tyres are, how well it fits you, and so on. I know some of you reading this may be thinking “Lightweight bikes feel better, though, and that’s what I care about”, but I’m not convinced by that argument either. Just don’t expect it to make you much faster.
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It’s perfectly okay if the weight weenie life is just your jam – I’m not here to tell anyone how to enjoy bikes.
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So, unless you’re a hill climb racer, focusing on bike weight generally means spending a lot of money for little practical gain.Įven an all-out aero bike only contributes a relatively small amount of extra weight to the overall rider plus bike system compared to a climbing bike, but the performance benefits can be significant. It’s just that the importance of the relatively small weight differences between most modern road bikes has been greatly exaggerated. If you’re riding up long, steep climbs then improving your power-to-weight ratio will make you faster. It’s not that weight doesn’t matter at all. In order to shed that weight, lightweight bikes almost always compromise on things that tend to make a relatively larger difference to your speed, such as aerodynamics and rolling resistance (tubular wheels and tyres are lighter, but they also produce more rolling resistance than equivalent clincher or tubeless setups).Įven on a mountainous ride (like a recent Tour de France stage that included a double ascent of Mont Ventoux), using a lightweight bike might not be a net gain. Nine watts is a decent saving, but it also assumes all else remains equal, which is rarely the case. You can use a power vs speed calculator to try the maths out for yourself. On a flat road, bike weight is essentially meaningless, but the effects on steep climbs aren’t as significant as often assumed either. Hydraulic disc brakes have consigned ineffective hidden aero brakes, braking on carbon rims and bikes that are unfathomably difficult to work to the dustbin of bad ideas, for example.
Back in 2016, when the piece was published, aero bikes did generally come with annoying compromises, but things have generally moved on a lot since then. After all, my colleague Matthew Loveridge once wrote an opinion piece titled “ Aero is bunk (unless you’re racing)”.Īnd I can see where he was coming from. Whether aero is actually worth bothering with remains a point of great contention among road cyclists, and it’s far from a settled debate even within the BikeRadar team. Aero might seem pointless if you don’t race, but going fast is fun So, with that in mind, here are five things I noticed when testing the latest aero road bikes. In this instance, there was enough to spin out a whole separate article (and podcast, listen using the player below). Cannondale SystemSix Hi-Mod eTap AXS reviewĪs always with group tests, there are thoughts and findings that don’t fit neatly into any one review.You can find links to my reviews below.Įarlier in the year, I also tested the Merida Reacto 6000, while last year I reviewed the new Canyon Aeroad CFR. David Caudery / Immediate Mediaįull-blown aero road bikes may have slightly fallen out of fashion in recent years, but there’s still plenty of development going on, and I recently tested four of that category’s latest and greatest: the Cannondale SystemSix, Felt AR, Vitus ZX-1 and Scott Foil.
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