I think it’s been well established that aero is faster than light weight in most cases, including going uphill. I’d take the aero bike. They’re the F1 machine of pro cycling!
I wanna say a balanced build with some aero like deep wheels and some slight tube profiling but not full on aero as that can take away from comfort and add up the weight real quick... buuuut I sold my carbon bike and hung up my carbon wheels in favor of a steel single speed with cheap alloy rims
I'm a sixty-year old male who rides a 40-pound comfort hybrid 30 miles a day minimum, and I can get up to 30 mph on level asphalt. I imagine what I could do on a bike weighing 17 pounds!
@@veganpotterthevegan It means a lot for fast acceleration, especially with a lightweight wheelset with lightweight tyres, but also faster deceleration when going downhill. Lighter bikes are simply more fun to ride frequent start/stop style. On a level road that goes for miles bike weight is less important, however, aerodynamic drag of the rider is the dominating component to gaining speed, so if kewgardensstation is built like a brick shithouse, which he likely is, then gaining further speed above the 30mph is going to be more and more difficult regardless if the bike is light or heavy.
@@kewgardensstation On a level road it is more your own body's aerodynamic drag that is limiting you than the weight of the bike. Provided the road is actually really level.
It’s worth remembering that the weight quoted by manufacturers are for bikes without pedals, bottle cages etc, when pro bikes are weighed they have these things fitted, meaning they’re 3-400 grams heavier than the quoted weights we’re used to.
Bike manufacturers never quote bike weight - there’s no point. They quote frame weight and they are exact in order to pass UCI cert. Components and groupsets are where the weight comes from.
All new bikes are heavy because of disc brakes and tubeless setups. Bring back tubulars and rim brakes! Every gram matters in the world tour, why have anything over 6.8kg?
Lol, try 9.8 kg then add pedals and 2 water bottles and your looking at 11-12 kg that’s what the majority of Aero rd bikes weigh in the local group ride. 😂
ALL THIS AERO ,DISC hard to work on BRAKES ,CARBON EVERYTHING is too expensive ,unsafe for us average cyclists !! ITS ALL SALES GIMICKS TO STEAL YOUR MONEY . GO BUY A GREAT USED RACE STYLE BIKE FROM 10 YRS ago or more 7kg or less for a fraction the price and have fun first !!
Disks ! Disks ! Disks ! It’s because weight got under 6k and ballast had to be re added. Thus add disks and heavier frames cope with disks and he presto. Re set weight game. Now it’s just under 8kilo. Performance bike. That’s a good 5-7 years get back to 6kilo or the 6.8 UCI for a mid range road bike.
What most people dont understand is that riders must consider 2 factors against their power input. Weight and aero drag. Weight is a constant regarless of the speed but aero increase the faster you go. Putting it simple it will be ideal to have a light bike in the mountain stages but the faster you go the more drag you face, since most areas are flat or with little % hills then is better to have an aero bike. If TDF was a pure uphill race then lightness will be the priority.
Correct. Weight IS a constant. A lighter bike will CONSTANTLY be lighter than a heavier bike. And aerodynamic drag will be (about) the same at any given speed and cycling position, regardless of weight. Certainly, an aero bike will have an advantage when it comes to drag. SO, regardless of aerodynamics, a lighter bike will ALWAYS be easier to pedal given any amount of aerodynamic drag than a heavier one. By the way, WHO the hell is switching bikes when they get to a hill? Who's swapping a heavier bike for a lighter one? I live in Queens, NYC. It's nearly as flat as Kansas here, so hills are not a big issue.
@@kewgardensstation learn some physics, aero drag increase at the square of the speed. The faster you go you need more power and/or less drag to achieve the same speed (obviously considering weight it´s the same). That´s the reason in higher speeds you need a more aero one, in uphill areas where you cant increase power lighter is better.
@@matthiasbr3656 yeah, carbon is more stiff vs aluminium per de same weight applied you lose power when the bottom bracket flex (of course you cant notice it more of the time but the laptimes reveal it).
LITE WEIGHT ALL DAY LONG aero may help on flat stages but THAT more to do with you on the bike and aero wheels ,40mm MAX ,maybe oval downtube . l still feel disc brakes lock up too fast and cause more crashes watching the close up videos of TDF proves it !! Disc brakes require way tire contact grip to be safe on a road bike something gravel/MTB bikes provide !! Now l know disc brakes on wet raods n carbon wheels work better BUT l argue then use alloy wheels ,there s still lightweight options that work great with RIM BRAKES they have for decades !!
@@1rickqwert And my 2011 or smth Look 595 Ultra with 440 mm aluminium handlebar and quite heavy Selle Italia Turbomatic TE saddle (220g), pedals, garmin, aluminium bottlecages is 7,3 kg.
My S3 is about 7.9Kg with 60mm wheels, lighter with my Durace c24s of course but doesn't look right :) When i let non cyclists pick it up they are stunned at how light it is compared to their bike at home. Picking it up with one finger always impresses.
A lot of these calculations are flawed.... it is important to remember that most of a bike race will be spent in a draft, and thus when taken into account, on a mountain stage, a light bike is still a prevalent choice, because the riders know that there is usually a really key section to a stage that dictates the result. If that key section is a 10% climb, you have wasted all your aero advantages sitting in a bunch and then get dropped when it matters..... Just an engineers thoughts.
Pro bikes are heavier today because that’s what their equipment sponsors tells teams to ride. There are no more rim brake pro bikes today because the groupset makers no longer provides that option for you on high end electronic groupsets.
While I agree regarding the groupset, as mentioned in the video teams can decide between a lightweight or an aero bike and they choose both depending on the situation. Consequently saying "they ride what the sponsors give them" in this context is simply incorrect.
They say 1kg is around 7 watts. Uphill it matters for sure ... It's basic science. In a bunch better wheels helps and weight could matter less. The GC riders go for the lightest bikes as we see now. They trying to shave off every gram and massive costs using components
Really!! Err disc brakes possibly. Weight does matter for pros its called watts per kilo. You can get the bikes below 6.8kgs with non sponsored products my SL7 is 6kgs with 50/60wheels
The Pro versions are less than the UCI limit so they add lead weights into the frame to make sure the bike is within the limit, especially a small size frame. You can’t be sure what a Pro bike is like from putting it on one of those the scales.
I am sure all of you are less that 10% body fat and cannot lose weight without losing power. For the rest of us, it is far cheaper and easier to lose some KG off of your body than try to trim it off your bike. What we need are bikes that are stiff but comfortable and reliable. I do not care if the bike is 1-2kg heavier. I do care that it fits me, transmits my (non pro level) power to the road and works when I need it.
Pro bikes are never heavy but they need to at a safe and reasonable weight. They are lighter or at most same weight as the top end spec stock bike u can buy. No fool will want to ride a bike 6 kilos or below unless u want to end ur life real quick.
Brand won’t start building light bikes again if the limit goes away. Do you remember the tarmac sl7 recall, or the canyon aeroad stop ride recall? If there was any way to make them lighter without being weaker they would. The negative publicity risk is too great.
A cheap used car is faster than these $10,000 bikes these guys use. LOL. All it takes is someone not paying attention while driving to ruin your day riding your bike. Cycling is a amazing way to get fit to be honest though. I do it myself to do everything from training to commuting to places.
7+ kg bike is already heavy? My previous road bike was 11+ kg, when I built a new steel bike that weighs just over 10 kg and it already feels light for me.
Black is the lightest color for carbon frames, since carbon is also black and a thin layer of paint is therefore sufficient. Sponsored bikes must not be painted black as the paintwork is an important part of the advertising.
Altho the pro's dont need heavy discbrake bikes, they, and we as consumers, get disc only bikes forced down our throats because thats brings in the cash.
@@justaletdown if discs are so bad then why don't brands just keep using rim and winning races with them? Surely people would buy the winning gear don't you think?
Additional equipment such as a power meter, start number holder, aero computer mount and a transponder is used or required in the race. This results in an additional weight compared to an enthusiast's bike. Furthermore, a setup with large chainrings is used on professional bikes, which increases the pedalable speed and the drive efficiency.
If you watched the Tour, you might have noticed Israel Premier Tech did not ride the newly released O2 VAM on the mountain stages. Michael Woods rode the Ostro VAM on his way to the win up Puy de Dome. They didn't even ride them on the queen stage. I paid very close attention to this because I own an Ostro VAM and wanted to see the new O2 VAM in action. I could only assume the Ostro is a stiffer bike and they were able to get it down to an acceptable weight. Not much of a vote of confidence for the climbing bike from a pro sponsored team.
Frames must also be designed to avoid sudden failure under shock loading, and they must also be stiff enough to avoid steering oscillation (which is more of a risk when very high downhill speeds are encountered). Durability and stability are just as important as climbing weight and aerodynamic drag. The ultimate end of weight reduction may very well be frame fractures or instability.
If you want to use deep carbon wheels then I really wouldn't call consistent breaking in every condition (without grinding down slowly the rims) a useless feature...
@@yonglingng5640 rim brake ecosystem will evolve into a niche market, I will wait and I buy, yes I will, and let's not forget the Chinese, they will fill-in the gap!
They are not heavy 7,5kg is not heavy, especially on flat stages where it don't even matter. But the reason some bikes weight more than the others, is simply manufacturers. Bikes cost money, and bike parts and components cost money. If you aren't the best of the best, you can't modify your bike with all the expensive stuff. You go aero, or lightweight. Pogacar has some 3d printed carbon stuff on his bike to make it close to the UCI weight limit. Vingegaard also has his bike modified to be close to the limit. I'd guess many of the GC riders have some stuff done to their bikes. At the highest level, if you are in a team but not the GC rider, then usually you opt for the more aero bike, since you need all the help you can get to pull your team, or group or whatever.
7.5kg is heavy in the year 2023. Modern day so called “high end” road bikes should be lighter than ever compared to high end bikes of 10-20 years ago. Guess what, they’re not.
@@nugginusslover476 C'mon, average person complaining about disc brakes in 2023 has IQ below room temperature, expecting them to have attention span longer than 3 seconds is way too much.
2:49 I respectfully disagree. Aerodynamic in fact is a highly important factor when riding solo. In a bunch however aerodynamic does not play that much of a role - even when riding at 45kph.
I respectfully disagree, aerodynamics makes a difference whatever the speed. The gains get bigger as the speed climbs. Gone are the days of 6.8kg bikes across the board. You save so much energy in the bunch with an aero bike and i know this from testing and personal experience in races
I added 7 Kg of weight to my gravel bike and it rides smoother, dampens vibrations and has more speed momentum. Heavier is better if not racing. And it is not harder to pedal up to 27 Kph.
Dear Liam, I'm one of your fans from China. I would like to translate this video and reprint it into Chinese bilibili video website. Now, I just need to confirm whether you allow me to do so, if you MIND what I did, please tell me, thanks
Pro Bikes are heavy because they are NOT using the same retail-spec level frames as us mere mortals. The amount of wear and tear pro riders put on their frames, you can imagine that the frames are reinforced with a different carbon layup.
