Racing bike vs tourer?

I do about 20 miles most lunchtimes (more at weekends) and as a result
of this I'm reasonably fit now. I'm using an Edinburgh Country tourer
and I'm very happy with it. I generally do the shopping on the way back
so pannier space is very handy. Plus I often get rained on so proper
mudgaurds are nice.

But I'm thinking about a racing bike for weekend use. Never really spent
much time on one. Two questions:

1) What's the difference in comfort like with racing vs tourer tyres.
Roads aren't great up here. How easily do racing tyres puncture (I've
never had a puncture on my tourer)?

2) How much will going from a 14-15ish kg bike to a 10kg bike improve my
average speed. Right now I'm averaging about 18+ around a route with
lots of hills.

--
Who needs a life when you've got Unix? :-)
Email: , John G.Burns B.Eng, Bonny Scotland
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John Burns opined the following...
I do about 20 miles most lunchtimes (more at weekends) and as a result
of this I'm reasonably fit now. I'm using an Edinburgh Country tourer
and I'm very happy with it. I generally do the shopping on the way back
so pannier space is very handy. Plus I often get rained on so proper
mudgaurds are nice.

But I'm thinking about a racing bike for weekend use. Never really spent
much time on one. Two questions:

1) What's the difference in comfort like with racing vs tourer tyres.
Roads aren't great up here. How easily do racing tyres puncture (I've
never had a puncture on my tourer)?

A modern alumium frame with unraked sprint forks and high pressure tyres
will rattle you. The only time I've had tyres puncture was when I left
them too long before replacing them. The initial tyres on my Giant OCR
were Hutchinson Carbon Comps. They were very nice and stuck well to the
road, but did so by being soft compound and wore out quickly.

I don't find the Giant too comfortable over long distances (50miles+)
but that's probably as much to do with the fact that I've never really
set up the riding position properly. Hmmm.... must do that at some
point!

2) How much will going from a 14-15ish kg bike to a 10kg bike improve my
average speed. Right now I'm averaging about 18+ around a route with
lots of hills.

I would probably expect to see you push that up by a few mph at least.
What will really make you grin is the acceleration (Assuming reasonably
light wheels).

I think the geometry will also make it easier to tuck in for downhills.
I reached a point long ago where my limiting factor on long downhills
was fear.

Jon

in message , John Burns
') wrote:

I do about 20 miles most lunchtimes (more at weekends) and as a result
of this I'm reasonably fit now. I'm using an Edinburgh Country tourer
and I'm very happy with it. I generally do the shopping on the way
back so pannier space is very handy. Plus I often get rained on so
proper mudgaurds are nice.

But I'm thinking about a racing bike for weekend use. Never really
spent much time on one. Two questions:

1) What's the difference in comfort like with racing vs tourer tyres.
Roads aren't great up here. How easily do racing tyres puncture (I've
never had a puncture on my tourer)?

You've slightly more weight on your hands; the tyres are somewhat less
forgiving, so you really feel bad road surfaces particularly in your
hands; very very hard tyres rarely puncture, but when they do it's more
of a hassle because where you might ride a fatter tyre with a slot leak
for a mile or two between pumpings up, with a little skinny racing tyre
you really can't do that and you *have* to change it. And if you don't
have a racing tyre very very hard it will puncture, because there's a
lot less structure there than with a touring type tyre.

2) How much will going from a 14-15ish kg bike to a 10kg bike improve
my average speed. Right now I'm averaging about 18+ around a route
with lots of hills.

Several things will improve your speed. Weight is only one of them.
Balance is another and stiffness is a third. A racing bike with steeper
angles and a stiffer frame really is much more responsive than a more
relaxed, more forgiving geometry.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Ring of great evil
Small one casts it into flame
Bringing rise of Men ;; gonzoron

John Burns wrote:

I do about 20 miles most lunchtimes (more at weekends) and as a result
of this I'm reasonably fit now. I'm using an Edinburgh Country tourer
and I'm very happy with it. I generally do the shopping on the way back
so pannier space is very handy. Plus I often get rained on so proper
mudgaurds are nice.

But I'm thinking about a racing bike for weekend use. Never really spent
much time on one. Two questions:

1) What's the difference in comfort like with racing vs tourer tyres.
Roads aren't great up here. How easily do racing tyres puncture (I've
never had a puncture on my tourer)?

2) How much will going from a 14-15ish kg bike to a 10kg bike improve my
average speed. Right now I'm averaging about 18+ around a route with
lots of hills.


I continually have this debate myself - I ride a Dawes Sonoran, with the
supplied 40mm tyres, which can't do much for the rolling performance of
the bike.

And yet, I've done 170km of road riding in a day; taken it on all but
the Black Route in Thetford Forest Park, ridden the Peddars Way, and
(today) the Marriot way; so for general, all round on and off road
performance - a treking/touring solution is excellent. Just don't try
and do it in a time frame - I'm probably "reasonably" fit now (done
2800km so far this year) and still can't better a 23kph average.

--
Chris

John Burns wrote:
I do about 20 miles most lunchtimes (more at weekends) and as a result
of this I'm reasonably fit now. I'm using an Edinburgh Country tourer
and I'm very happy with it. I generally do the shopping on the way
back so pannier space is very handy. Plus I often get rained on so
proper mudgaurds are nice.

But I'm thinking about a racing bike for weekend use. Never really
spent much time on one. Two questions:




1) What's the difference in comfort like with racing vs tourer tyres.
Roads aren't great up here. How easily do racing tyres puncture (I've
never had a puncture on my tourer)?


Both my racers and tourer have hard tyres but the frames are different
geometry so react differently to the bumps. The tourer is more comfortable .
All my bikes are steel so they will be more comfortable over bumps than many
aluminium bikes.

2) How much will going from a 14-15ish kg bike to a 10kg bike improve
my average speed. Right now I'm averaging about 18+ around a route
with lots of hills.

Dunno, my average is about the same on all bikes, I don't really care much
for speed, use my car for that.

John,
I take it you want the truth and not cycling myth??

1.The frame material makes NO difference to the ride. "Experts" cannot tell
what they are riding if the frame is covered up.

2. The geometry of the frame affects stability and comfort to some extent,
the tyre pressure etc. do have an effect.

3. 18mph plus is fast cycling. I used to do it years ago but wouldn't try
now as it is a recipe for getting fed up. Just enjoy yourself.

4. The weight will make almost NO difference on the flat. It will on hills
but not a lot.
At touring pace 1lb extra will delay you 30 seconds climbing 2000 ft at the
same effort. Not a lot, though it would lose you the tour de France.

5. Don't believe any bumpf about "responsive" etc. It's all in the mind.

If you don't believe this read Jobst Brandt's cycling FAQs on the net.

Dunno, my average is about the same on all bikes, I don't really care much
for speed, use my car for that.


LOL!...that's a classic line, really is.....I might just remember that
one, especially now I'm well past 40 :-)

Garry

"Jon Senior" jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOTco_DOT_uk wrote in message
...
John Burns opined the following...
I do about 20 miles most lunchtimes (more at weekends) and as a result
of this I'm reasonably fit now. I'm using an Edinburgh Country tourer
and I'm very happy with it. I generally do the shopping on the way back
so pannier space is very handy. Plus I often get rained on so proper
mudgaurds are nice.

But I'm thinking about a racing bike for weekend use. Never really spent
much time on one. Two questions:

1) What's the difference in comfort like with racing vs tourer tyres.
Roads aren't great up here. How easily do racing tyres puncture (I've
never had a puncture on my tourer)?

A modern alumium frame with unraked sprint forks and high pressure tyres
will rattle you. The only time I've had tyres puncture was when I left
them too long before replacing them. The initial tyres on my Giant OCR
were Hutchinson Carbon Comps. They were very nice and stuck well to the
road, but did so by being soft compound and wore out quickly.

I don't find the Giant too comfortable over long distances (50miles+)
but that's probably as much to do with the fact that I've never really
set up the riding position properly. Hmmm.... must do that at some
point!

2) How much will going from a 14-15ish kg bike to a 10kg bike improve my
average speed. Right now I'm averaging about 18+ around a route with
lots of hills.

I would probably expect to see you push that up by a few mph at least.
What will really make you grin is the acceleration (Assuming reasonably
light wheels).

I think the geometry will also make it easier to tuck in for downhills.
I reached a point long ago where my limiting factor on long downhills
was fear.

Jon

Your average is very good if you ask me.

Graham

"MSeries" wrote in message
...
John Burns wrote:
I do about 20 miles most lunchtimes (more at weekends) and as a result
of this I'm reasonably fit now. I'm using an Edinburgh Country tourer
and I'm very happy with it. I generally do the shopping on the way
back so pannier space is very handy. Plus I often get rained on so
proper mudgaurds are nice.

But I'm thinking about a racing bike for weekend use. Never really
spent much time on one. Two questions:




1) What's the difference in comfort like with racing vs tourer tyres.
Roads aren't great up here. How easily do racing tyres puncture (I've
never had a puncture on my tourer)?


Both my racers and tourer have hard tyres but the frames are different
geometry so react differently to the bumps. The tourer is more comfortable
..
All my bikes are steel so they will be more comfortable over bumps than
many
aluminium bikes.

Bit of a bold statement is it not ?

Graham



2) How much will going from a 14-15ish kg bike to a 10kg bike improve
my average speed. Right now I'm averaging about 18+ around a route
with lots of hills.

Dunno, my average is about the same on all bikes, I don't really care much
for speed, use my car for that.

garryb59 wrote:
Dunno, my average is about the same on all bikes, I don't really
care much for speed, use my car for that.


LOL!...that's a classic line, really is.....I might just remember that
one, especially now I'm well past 40 :-)

Garry

I surfed into some American guys site where he had several short articles
about his cycling. One was ranting on about those cyclists who are obcessed
with going faster, he likened them to motorists in the morning commute,
getting irate as they wait at lights then charge as fast as possible to the
next one. Cycling is my stress reliever I certainly will not worry about
going faster or failing to.