Riding my superlight the other day I was entirely unimpressed. Yes it accelerated more rapidly but the aerodynamic drag also made it decelerate more rapidly. Someone seems to have forgotten the term "inertia".

While a racer or high end performance cyclist has to pedal continuously, most riders don't do this. They pedal a short time then coast a bit before picking up again. Lighter bikes slow down rapidly in this time whereas heavier ones slow down less.

The late 90's steel bikes had top speeds almost identical to now, but they had fewer speeds, no power meters and training methods that simply didn't work as well as the Froome Revolution.

People haven't suddenly gotten stronger or lighter bikes made much of a difference since we're seeing TdF TT bikes with tubeless tires and rim brakes that weigh the same as older steel bikes setting records. Does AERO make a difference? Not if you listen to the riders. It is training methods that emphasis power where necessary and high rpm to rest.

I've tried this and it most certainly works for the hour or so in which I can hold it. But being a little faster than slow is still slow.

As for power meters - they are nice to allow you to know how much average power you're generating and improve that through training methods. As a sports rider I really couldn't care less. And I do find that I would rather ride my 22 lb titanium bike rather than the 16.5 lb aluminum bike which I keep forgetting to carry the flat kit on which no doubt I will be sorry for if I continue this bad habit.

On Wed, 15 Dec 2021 10:55:12 -0800 (PST),
Tom Kunich <cyclintom@gmail.com> wrote:

> ...being a little faster than slow is still slow.

Okay, that made me laugh. It's certainly been my experience!

--
Ted Heise <theise@panix.com> West Lafayette, IN, USA

On Wednesday, December 15, 2021 at 2:15:02 PM UTC-8, Ted Heise wrote:
> On Wed, 15 Dec 2021 10:55:12 -0800 (PST),
> Tom Kunich <cycl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ...being a little faster than slow is still slow.
>
> Okay, that made me laugh. It's certainly been my experience!

Well, now all three of my titanium bikes are set up almost identically. I have to pull the SpD's off of the Douglas and put Look Keo's on it and they will really be identical except for tubeless and tube tires.