On Mon, 29 May 2017 08:06:21 -0700 (PDT), jbeattie
wrote:

On Sunday, May 28, 2017 at 9:25:08 PM UTC-7, James wrote:
On 29/05/17 12:54, John B. wrote:
On Mon, 29 May 2017 07:29:33 +1000, James
wrote:

On 28/05/17 21:50, John B. wrote:
On Sun, 28 May 2017 13:00:49 +1000, James
wrote:

On 27/05/17 23:13, John B. wrote:


But a professional anything wants to win and will work hard to win. If
the choices are a bike that is comfortable and another that goes up
hill like a scalded cat then the comfortable bike gets left behind.


But the differences are not that pronounced.

Probably not but my point was that any real competitor wants to win
and given the choice of a comfortable bike and a bike that is, say 10
minutes faster up "Big Bad Mountain" my guess he will ride the faster
bike.

For a 1 hour long steep climb where wind resistance is negligible, to be
10 minutes faster, the weight of the fast bike + rider would need to be
about 5/6ths the slow.

That would mean somewhere in the vicinity of 10kg weight reduction.

Is that why Froome threw his bike away last year in Le Tour and began to
run, do you think?

Well yes, a 10 minute faster bike is a bit of a stretch but the point
is that you, or any other serious contestant, will take every
advantage that they can and if a bike is faster for a certain race
then I suggest that you will select it over a more comfortable bile.

I knew what the point was. I suggest that when you spend 4-6 hours a
day racing over mountains and such on public roads, comfort isn't
ignored because at the end of the day a rider that feels a bit fresher
by not having been beaten by his bicycle, is more likely to win - all
else being equal. Comfort, to some extent at least, is an advantage.

I think John B. is envisioning a TT or aero-bike where rider position is learned and totally uncomfortable for civilians. I've never found a properly fitted racing bike uncomfortable. I've never had a bike that "beat me to death" on ordinary roads when it was properly adjusted, although some of the early clincher tires were like riding on wagon wheels as compared to tubulars. Those days are gone, and I would bet that the best clinchers with latex tubes are pretty close to tubular comfort.

-- Jay Beattie.

You can still buy them good old, 19mm, 150psi, sew-ups :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.