How long do you take to adapt a new bike?

[Emp]

Hi guys I am wondering do you guys have the same problem as I am facing at the moment?? Before this I owned a alloy bike which is around 9kg++ for training and racing.Few weeks ago I bought a full carbon bike with 50mm carbon wheels for racing.The outcome when using the bike is not that satisfying till now.The weight of the bike seems less about more or less 2kg compared to the one I am using.What I experience is that I felt that it is much slower compared to the previous bike I am using when climbing and it feels heavier when out of the saddle on when climbing.Is it because of the size of the bike which is bigger now compared to previous??The 50mm wheels??Or the drop of the handle bar is deeper??The bike still havent combine with my body at the moment??Perhaps??

 

[Peter@vecchios]

Hi guys I am wondering do you guys have the same problem as I am facing at the moment?? Before this I owned a alloy bike which is around 9kg++ for training and racing.Few weeks ago I bought a full carbon bike with 50mm carbon wheels for racing.The outcome when using the bike is not that satisfying till now.The weight of the bike seems less about more or less 2kg compared to the one I am using.What I experience is that I felt that it is much slower compared to the previous bike I am using when climbing and it feels heavier when out of the saddle on when climbing.Is it because of the size of the bike which is bigger now compared to previous??The 50mm wheels??Or the drop of the handle bar is deeper??The bike still havent combine with my body at the moment??Perhaps??

Two things come to mind. The sizing/fit, how you fit the bike and-
You are falling for the same thing as many...lighter isn't necessarilybetter or faster, just lighter. Methods of making a carbon bike frame is as varied as the makers of carbon frames. Some transmit energy well, some don't, some feel 'bright', some feel like they are made of concrete, even tho 'light'.

I say get a bike fit with a competent bike fit person and like Eddy says, "ride lots".

 

[alienator]

Throw a 70 kg rider on top of a 9 kg bike, then on a 7 kg bike: the performance difference between the 77 kg package and the 79 kg package is nowhere near what people's imaginations tell them.

Ride more. Get your fit checked.

 

[Peter@vecchios]

Throw a 70 kg rider on top of a 9 kg bike, then on a 7 kg bike: the performance difference between the 77 kg package and the 79 kg package is nowhere near what people's imaginations tell them.

Ride more. Get your fit checked.

Saw a thing on Trek on the telly the other day. When these jamoks say things like, " steel is heavier and slower" and " carbon is lighter and faster",the myths of cycling stuff will stay in place for a long time. When that bunch on Cyclingnews fawn over anything new and make the point of weight, weight, weight, people will think lighter is better when it's really just 'lighter' with many, many other things much more important that go into a 'bicycle'.

Bike is there to get you there. It should disappear beneath you. The object of the ride is the ride, not the bike. The market is backwards, has been for decades.

 

[alfeng]

Hi guys I am wondering do you guys have the same problem as I am facing at the moment?? Before this I owned a alloy bike which is around 9kg++ for training and racing.Few weeks ago I bought a full carbon bike with 50mm carbon wheels for racing.The outcome when using the bike is not that satisfying till now.The weight of the bike seems less about more or less 2kg compared to the one I am using.What I experience is that I felt that it is much slower compared to the previous bike I am using when climbing and it feels heavier when out of the saddle on when climbing.Is it because of the size of the bike which is bigger now compared to previous??The 50mm wheels??Or the drop of the handle bar is deeper??The bike still havent combine with my body at the moment??Perhaps??

If you still have your older bike (which you should have kept for "training" & bad weather) AND (in particular) the wheelset, then put the old wheels on the new frame & subjectively compare how the carbon frame feels ...

Similarly, put your new, deep dish wheels on your old frame & see if it makes it feel heavy when climbing ...

To state what others have observed, deep dish wheels are not ideal for climbing.

 

[alfeng]

Two things come to mind. The sizing/fit, how you fit the bike and-
You are falling for the same thing as many...lighter isn't necessarilybetter or faster, just lighter. Methods of making a carbon bike frame is as varied as the makers of carbon frames. Some transmit energy well, some don't, some feel 'bright', some feel like they are made of concrete, even tho 'light'.

I say get a bike fit with a competent bike fit person and like Eddy says, "ride lots".

FWIW/IMO. Unless you (Emp) were really unhappy with way your old bike fit, then the new bike's cockpit should (probably) have been set the same way as on the old bike ...

As I've stated before, ALL of my various bikes more-or-less "fit" the same regardless of the length of either the top tube or seat tube OR any of the other components (e.g., handlebar width) whereby the distance from the rear of the saddle (an arbitrary point to measure from) to the rear of the 'horn' of the hoods is less than a 1/4" difference.

On one, vintage frame (i.e., dimensionally LARGER than most of my "regular" frames), I opted to use a Cinelli 66 handlebar to acheive a similar difference between the height of the saddle & the drop portion of the handlebar as on my other bikes ...

BTW. I deduced (correctly, or not) that MY carbon fiber frame was "engineered" to feel the same as a steel frame because it feels the same as a mid-range steel (Reynolds 501) Peugeot which has the same geometry except for the length of the chain stays (which speaks well, I guess, of the CF's comfort in THAT regard), and vice-versa. Also, the LOOK fork that I had put on the Peugeot did not change the way the bike felt when compared to the Peugeot's original, steel fork. BOTH bikes had comparable components.

Whether-or-not "engineering" a carbon fiber frame-or-fork to respond like any steel frame-or-fork is "a good thing" (or, not!) is a matter for others to decide.

 

[alienator]

Saw a thing on Trek on the telly the other day. When these jamoks say things like, " steel is heavier and slower" and " carbon is lighter and faster",the myths of cycling stuff will stay in place for a long time. When that bunch on Cyclingnews fawn over anything new and make the point of weight, weight, weight, people will think lighter is better when it's really just 'lighter' with many, many other things much more important that go into a 'bicycle'.

Bike is there to get you there. It should disappear beneath you. The object of the ride is the ride, not the bike. The market is backwards, has been for decades.

I don't think the market is backwards: it just has more elements to it, now. Now, ads are not only in magazines, but they're also in ezines, forums, email. Cycling is also being watched more on TV and is also being watched online. The ability to reach the intended targets or new targets is much easier for admen/women. As with any ads, a person's got to highly filter what is being said or claimed to find a nugget or truth, if there is one at all. That is also a bit easier, now, with all of the forums about. A guy isn't just stuck with asking clubmates or his LBS about some lesser known product.

The problems you see with the bike market are in every type of market. I saw the same damned stuff when I sold backpacking and climbing gear. Saw it again when I sold motorcycle racing bits and general motorcycling accessories. I guarantee you that there are more than a few tennis players who think the thing keeping them from the grass courts is not having a racquet just like Roger Federer's.

Deep wheels? Deep rimmed wheels are fine for climbing. The theoretical differences between "light" climbing wheels and those oh-so-heavy "not for climbing" deep rimmed wheels is very small. That difference only gets smaller on the road. Imagination is a powerful thing.

 

[EoinC]

...I guarantee you that there are more than a few tennis players who think the thing keeping them from the grass courts is not having a racquet just like Roger Federer's...

I agree, Alienator. When I started roadracing in the 1980's, I used to get regularly beaten by a vet who rode with mudguards and lights on his Hillman clunker. The fact that he smoked made it even more humiliating. It took more riding, not a better bike, for me to improve.

 

[alfeng]

Deep wheels? Deep rimmed wheels are fine for climbing. The theoretical differences between "light" climbing wheels and those oh-so-heavy "not for climbing" deep rimmed wheels is very small. That difference only gets smaller on the road. Imagination is a powerful thing.

NB. "Deep rimmed wheels" may be "fine for climbing"; and, if there aren't strong side winds, I suppose there isn't any particular reason not to use them if you have them, but their aerodynamic advantage over low profile rims is extremely limited ... so, they are not ideal for climbing, but better suited for other riding conditions (e.g., solo TT).

 

[macaj]

+1 on the fit of the bike. Try to match it as close as possible to your previous bike. I had a similar sort of problem when i got my new bike this year. It took me forever to work out why it felt so much harder to ride than my prvious bike. Turns out it had an 11-23 cassette as opposed to my usual 12-25 .

 

[Emp]

+1 on the fit of the bike. Try to match it as close as possible to your previous bike. I had a similar sort of problem when i got my new bike this year. It took me forever to work out why it felt so much harder to ride than my prvious bike. Turns out it had an 11-23 cassette as opposed to my usual 12-25 .

Yes this is a ultimate headache but i checked everything.The thing which I knew before buying the bike is that both of the cassette is same size but just that the big chainring on the new bike is 1 tooth more(53-->52)compared to the previous 1.The thing is that I cant relax on my ride even on the small chainring(slow)even if it is same size (39 tooth) compared to my previous bike at the moment.I think I need more time to adapt to it than blaming "hey you sux"on the new bike .

 

[alfeng]

Yes this is a ultimate headache but i checked everything.The thing which I knew before buying the bike is that both of the cassette is same size but just that the big chainring on the new bike is 1 tooth more(53-->52)compared to the previous 1.The thing is that I cant relax on my ride even on the small chainring(slow)even if it is same size (39 tooth) compared to my previous bike at the moment.I think I need more time to adapt to it than blaming "hey you sux"on the new bike .

Presuming you haven't developed a cardiopulmonary problem since you bought your new bike, and since you apparently don't have OR don't want to swap wheelsets with the pair that were on your old bike, check the clearance on the brake pads to ensure that they aren't rubbing the brake surface because some shops/riders like to set their brake pads inordinately close to the rims ...

And, if your wheels (vs. just the rims ... aero rims ARE generally very stiff) are not laterally stiff (i.e., how "stiff" the rims are in relationship to the hubs) and/or the pads are close to the rims, then they may be scrubbing the brake pads (and, vice-versa) & consequently making the bike feel sluggish.

 

[Emp]

Presuming you haven't developed a cardiopulmonary problem since you bought your new bike, and since you apparently don't have OR don't want to swap wheelsets with the pair that were on your old bike, check the clearance on the brake pads to ensure that they aren't rubbing the brake surface because some shops/riders like to set their brake pads inordinately close to the rims ...

And, if your wheels (vs. just the rims ... aero rims ARE generally very stiff) are not laterally stiff (i.e., how "stiff" the rims are in relationship to the hubs) and/or the pads are close to the rims, then they may be scrubbing the brake pads (and, vice-versa) & consequently making the bike feel sluggish.

Hmmmm.....I checked it.The wheels braking surface did not scrub with the brake pads during the ride.

 

[alienator]

When checking your fit, compared to a previous bike, make sure you check things in the right order. First make sure the center BB-Saddle top distance is the same on the two bikes. Make sure the saddle's nose is in the same position, with respect to a line, perpendicular to the ground, passing through the center of the BB. After that, you're ready to compare drop from saddle to bar tops and reach from saddle nose to shifters. This assumes, of course, that the saddle is the same.

 

[Emp]

When checking your fit, compared to a previous bike, make sure you check things in the right order. First make sure the center BB-Saddle top distance is the same on the two bikes. Make sure the saddle's nose is in the same position, with respect to a line, perpendicular to the ground, passing through the center of the BB. After that, you're ready to compare drop from saddle to bar tops and reach from saddle nose to shifters. This assumes, of course, that the saddle is the same.

Ok!Thx alot for the info.I think I felt much better now after making the changes compared to previous setting on the new bike