Hi I'm training for the london triathlon with a friend of mine. I have a Scott sub 10 with 700c wheels and continental sport contact tyres. He has a boardman hybrid, not sure of the model but has the same size wheels as mine.
I struggle to keep up with him and I thought it was just fitness until last night we swapped for a mile or so and the roles reversed. His bike seems to roll better and you can pedal in a higher gear without your legs muscles feeling it too much in comparison to my bike.
This is obviously going to make training difficult if we wish to train together and also puts me at a disadvantage. Does anybody have any suggestions as to what it may be? I think his tyres are slightly thinner than mine but the cranks look a very similar size, both bikes were around the same price so I can't imagine the kit is very different.
So can I make modifications, is there something I should be checking or do I need to buy a more road based bike?
Regarding components, your 8 speed internal gear set is a disadvantage for racing, and is more at home as a city/commuter bike (if my component research is correct).
Beyond that, there are numerous other possibilities. Maybe your friend's bike:
Hi Thanks for the reply. It has a deralleur (spelling) gear set I believe, and everything else seemed pretty much the same. in fact I'm 4" taller than him and his bike felt a bit on the small side yet still less exhaustive to ride for both of us.
Check to ensure that your brakes are not dragging at all. Then get some better tires than the Continental Sports. There are other better tires out there with less rolling resistance as long as they are inflated to the recommended pressure. If your rims are small enough, try a tire somewhere around 28mm rather than the 32mm tires that you are using now. If this doesn't help or if you are going to get serious about triathlons, get a real road bike instead of a commuter.
Check to ensure that your brakes are not dragging at all. Then get some better tires than the Continental Sports. There are other better tires out there with less rolling resistance as long as they are inflated to the recommended pressure. If your rims are small enough, try a tire somewhere around 28mm rather than the 32mm tires that you are using now. If this doesn't help or if you are going to get serious about triathlons, get a real road bike instead of a commuter.
In addition to ensuring that the brakes aren't dragging (I know people who have their pads set only about 1 millimeter away from the brake surface ... I prefer a larger gap), you also want to ensure that the wheels AND crank are spinning freely (remove the chain from the crankset & spin it by hand).
