Why Is This Bike So Hard To Pedal?



Try removing some grease. Did you put in so much that it may be getting in between the hub and axle? I don't think it would be a problem unless most of the gap was full.
 
I guess I need to clarify that afleng. I have three bikes I'm working with, a full suspension "silver" bike, and two nonsuspension bikes, in black and red. I can swap parts between all three, but regardless of the parts I have on each bike, the red frame always feels, and GPSs much slower. I've moved cranks, wheels, and derailers. I may have to get full measurements this evening, though the few frame measurements i have gotten, namely centerline of the seat stay (excluding the seatpost) to the centerline of the head tube (not counting the handlebars, fork, and related) is the same for all three bikes.
 
lectraplayer said:
I guess I need to clarify that afleng. I have three bikes I'm working with, a full suspension "silver" bike, and two nonsuspension bikes, in black and red. I can swap parts between all three, but regardless of the parts I have on each bike, the red frame always feels, and GPSs much slower. I've moved cranks, wheels, and derailers. I may have to get full measurements this evening, though the few frame measurements i have gotten, namely centerline of the seat stay (excluding the seatpost) to the centerline of the head tube (not counting the handlebars, fork, and related) is the same for all three bikes.
FWIW. I think that I've got a picture of what is-or-isn't going on, now ...

This is the worst case scenario ...

If the joint between one of the chainstays & BB is cracked then THAT would probably account for the problem which you are experiencing ...

The EASIEST TEST is to clean the area carefully & place a ~4" piece of masking tape securely/perpendicularly across each joint ...

Take a quick ride ...

If the tape has pulled away-or-split, then the joint is bad.

Of course, a crack could have occurred in another part of the lower portion of the frame; so, a careful inspection may be required if the tape test doesn't reveal a problem.
 
That is a good suggestion alfeng, but it one has to have bad luck to see that happen. Also, to discover where it's cracked it's not an easy task too, it's not just for everyone to find it.
 
I moved the crank between bikes. I have not seen how to get the bottom bracket out yet. I'm using a one piece crank btw.
 
Why don't you reassemble the crank carefully and do some sort of coast-down test where you see how long it will keep spinning? That should show whether there's a problem in the BB.

Could bent or misaligned dropouts possibly cause the axle to bind so much that the rider could feel the drag?
 
lectraplayer said:
It also feels like the crank is way back behind me, though it's in the same place as my other bikes. Even "stand and stomp" doesn't give me the speed it does on my other bikes, while being harder.
Can it be you used a crank with shorter arms?
 
lectraplayer said:
It also feels like the crank is way back behind me, though it's in the same place as my other bikes.
Did you measure the angles of the frames? One could have a steeper seat tube and the fit could be wrong for you.
lectraplayer said:
How can I shorten the arms of a crank when I move it between bikes? I doubt I did. ;)
You could have mixed up the cranks when they were out of the bikes. I doubt one piece cranks look that distinctive. A shorter crank may make a bike feel like its bottom bracket is further back. I am also wondering if you really counted the teeth on the chainring.