Bought Speed (Page 2)

The even better question, is how many people who bought this 'free speed' of up to 1, possibly 1.5mph per hour in BEST circumstances, with aero frame, wheels, etc., would have spent the money in the first place had there been zero cosmetic gains. For example, would you have bought your race wheels if they looked completely indistinguishable from stock training wheels, yet gave the same speed gain. 

My wager is that the vast majority of folks buy the stuff for the cosmetics, and speed is way down on the list. Take away the cosmetics, and buying purchases would be pretty different.

I do think cosmetics play a factor in justifying a purchase, but I and many other people don't train at all on our race specific equipment that looks cool.  If I made a purchase based on cosmetics...with speed gains as a secondary bonus, I'd probably use that equipment all the time.

Yes.   We must quash this (or at least hide it from the CFO)

Did you have to explain the concepts of your bike purchases to your wife?  I would have loved to hear that conversation.  Maybe next time you want a new bike tell your wife that this bike doesn't have the brakes rubbing.  

LOL.   For full disclosure, and my own peace of mind, my wife is actually the one that said "you need to get a new bike" the last time I got a new tri bike.  

Hmmm... I thought that was a training feature on his current bike, like a drag suit in the pool. 

My most recent (tongue firmly in cheek) justification was that my mid-life crisis of choice (triathlon, 'course) is a whole lot cheaper than some of the folks in the neighborhood driving around in fancy new sport cars (or with fancy new spouses). 

Matt

I went from a Kestrel Talon setup as a tri bike to the SC 9.9.  The Talon, at it's core, is a somewhat aerodynamic road bike.  It has an adjustable seat post which allows for a seat tube angle between 72- 76 degrees so it can be setup as a road bike or a tri bike.  I bought it configured as a tri bike.  When I got the Trek I changed the bars, brakes and shifters and switched the Talon back to a roadie.

So, in answer to your question, it wasn't really a fair comparison.  The fit was considerably different, and the Trek has better wheels.  Fitness and tires were the same.

At the end of all of that, yeah, it was pretty close to 2.5 mph difference.

When trying to determine faster across a population maybe fit should be normalized somehow, but for a specific individual I would still include fit as part of why one frame is faster than another. If the range it can be adjusted to does not include what is ideal for the rider they will be going slower because of it.

The OP's question was, "Is there a difference and if so, how much of a difference?"  I didn't take the question as going from any specific vendor's low end bike to the same vendor's high end bike, rather going from a low end bike to a high end tri bike.

Of course there is a difference.

If there were no difference, there would be no need for any of the manufacturer's to produce $12,000+ superbikes.  Everyone would just buy an entry level triathlon bike and pedal on down the road.  It's when we try to quantify the difference that we run into a challenge because there are so many variables.  In my case, it was a completely different bike from a different manufacturer.  The fit on my new bike allows me to comfortably get in to a MUCH more aggressive aero position on the bike - that's worth a little bit.  The new bike has aero wheels, the old bike did not.  What's that worth?  How much difference in speed is there between Shimano 105 and Di2?  I have no idea.  The list goes on and on.  At the end of the day, I know the Trek looks fast just leaning against my truck.  I FEEL fast every time I even think about riding it, let alone actually getting on - that probably is worth something, but how do you quantify it?  Certainly you can't measure that in a wind tunnel.

The calculus is actually pretty simple.  If you step up to a high-end bike with all the associated bells and whistles, you ARE going to be faster.  How much faster?  The answer to that will be found in your legs.

The data has been plotted out by Jack Mott over at ST.  He did that because people keep trying to use the Kona winner bike split argument.  Here's the most recent blather about it on ST: http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=5540757

To quote the great Brad Hamilton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8E7_u2qgjE

Learn it.  Know it.  Live it.

bzzt, try again.

Back to what Marc said: that's your more fit/position, less the bike itself. 

It's good to see that n=1 never dies.