Light aero bike - pointless or best of both worlds?

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waltthizzney
Posts: 269
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2016 6:35 pm

by waltthizzney

Lewn777 wrote:
Sat Feb 03, 2018 5:02 am
waltthizzney wrote:
Sat Feb 03, 2018 4:51 am
realistically when every part is proprietary you are going to drive yourself crazy if you ride and travel a lot. The aero gains of a aero bike vs a traditional bike are not much in terms of the frame.
This seems less of an issue with the cheaper end of the market or self building and some manufacturers are worse than others. Although yes, that seatpost will always be an irritation. :(
stem, handlebars, headset ect, your mechanic will hate you if you are putting in big miles and need to change your cables and drivetrain often

Gary71
Posts: 267
Joined: Wed Aug 21, 2013 5:25 am
Location: Brisbane Australia

by Gary71

How did you get on Lewn777? What did you end up with?

I had a similar dilemma when I was doing Triathlons 2 or 3 times a year. Do you spend up big on another bike to only use it for a limited time throughout the year or get something that is slippery and can be adaptable and do a reasonable job at TT's for a Tri?

I ended up going with a Cervelo S3 with a Enve SES Aero-road bars.
Day to day the bike it is comfy for all day rides. Climbs great and when it comes time to train or do some time trailing, I can put on some clip on aero bars (you can get the complete Enve aero set) to go fast.
It descends like a demon and with some deep dish set of wheels……., i think it is as fast as anything out there.

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RocketRacing
Posts: 964
Joined: Thu May 10, 2018 2:43 am

by RocketRacing

Your question is dear to me, because i have debated it myself.

I say the ideal is a climbing bike for climbs, an aero bike for mixed riding, and a tt for flat riding.

If i had to get one bike only, it would be a climbing bike with aero bars and wheels, or a aero bike (the felt ar has clipon ready bars and a seatpost that flips for a more tt friently tt position)

If i could get two bikes it would be a tt bike and a climbing bike. I am trying to convince my wife to let me get a tri bike...

Currently i have a light climbing bike that i just added deep wheels to because they look so awesome!!!

Lewn777 wrote:
Sat Feb 03, 2018 2:13 am
I like a light bike, but I also like it to be functional too. I live in area with very flat and smooth roads but around 45-60kms away there are a few ranges of 1000 meter or so mountains with plenty of 600-700 meter passes mostly cat 4 and cat 3 with the odd cat 2.

I mostly ride on my own and I currently have a a Fuji SL with lightish 1300 gram alloy DT Swiss climbing wheels and SRAM Force components, bike weighs about 7kg. I could have it lighter, but I'm kind of happy with it as is, mostly because I still need to get a few kgs off my body.

I recently fitted carbon fibre clip-on TT bars and I've been enjoying the boost in average speed on the flats, so I've been thinking about getting an aero bike, simply because I have local conditions that are able to exploit the extra speed of this kind of bike.

So I have a few questions for people that have or had aero bikes......
  • How comfortable are bikes like the Madone, Propel and aeroroad especially for all day enduro rides?
  • What kind of weight do you think you could realistically build an aero bike to without getting ridiculous, let's say 5000 euros or us dollars complete bike.
  • What wheel depth would you consider ideal for normal use?
  • How much time do you think you lose on the climbs if any?
  • Do you think you descend quicker or slower on twisty mountain roads given the geo?
My heart is in the mountains, I just want to get there a bit quicker. :thumbup:

Also anyone know of an aerobar that can take clip-on TT bars?

Imaking20
Posts: 2260
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2011 5:19 am

by Imaking20

Sounds like a real pain if you go for a flat ride, get lost, and end up having to climb! Good thing we all train with follow cars at least...

Light bikes are fun to build because weighing things is easy. My aero bike is lighter than lots of folks' climbing bike - at which point - what's the difference between a "climbing bike" and an "aero bike"? At lightest, my Wilier was 5.7kg with 35mm wheels and 27mm tires - and I prefer climbing on this bike over the Supersix Evo by a large margin.

alcatraz
Posts: 4064
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2016 11:19 am

by alcatraz

Aero isn't so much in the frame shape as it's in the body position.

An upright position on a madone is 1/10 aero.

A low position on a climbing bike is 9/10 aero.

Get as low as you can while still being able to maintain it for the time you need.

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