Though I don't really disagree, I do think the case is overstated a bit here.
I think my stout two top tube Bombadil with nitto mini rack, steel bullmoose bar, lugged post, b17 saddle and kick stand is only about 5 lbs heavier than my AHH (which has no rack, no kickstand, no extra stout components, and a ti rail plastic saddle). Ann, I think you have a Rodeo and an Atlantis. Is one 10 lbs lighter than the other? So cutting the weight difference in half, but accepting the nearly 8.5 hours of hard climbing brings the time saved down to more like 10 or 15 min. For a rider bumping into the 13.5 hr cut off for a 200K rando event, I suspect taking slightly shorter stops at controls and such would save more than 15 min. In my experience, when I am getting dropped I usually have more than a 2 or 3 percent problem. So sure being lighter can make you quicker, but I doubt a few lbs off the bike really changes the overall outcome very often. Particularly if nobody is making a point of trying to drop somebody. Since "its not a race" folks in a rando event aren't out there trying to drop each other are they? On Friday, March 20, 2015 at 9:49:06 AM UTC-7, Anne Paulson wrote: > > This is quibbling. At the start of a randonnee, the rider is as fit as > they are. They can't choose to be more fit today and use a bike that > is slower for them. It doesn't matter if another rider would be able > to keep up with the group using their heavy bike; if they are slower > on one bike than another, and using their slower bike means they can't > keep up, they can't keep up and that's the reality. > > In my area, the randonnees have a ton of climbing. If one bike is 10 > pounds heavier than another bike, that bike's rider is going to be > slower going up hills than she would be if she were on a lighter bike. > If my bike is 10 pounds heavier, I'll be about 5% slower climbing > hills. For a hilly 200K, that's going to mean I'd be twenty minutes > to half an hour slower than if I rode on a lighter bike. And that's > just the hill climbing difference: there is also the speed difference > between keeping up and being able to draft, versus not keeping up and > having to ride alone. It's not nothing, and for riders who are near > the time cutoff, it could easily be the difference between finishing > within the cutoff and not. > > On Fri, Mar 20, 2015 at 9:15 AM, Jim Bronson <jim.b...@gmail.com > <javascript:>> wrote: > > I've been rando-ing off and on since 2006. I view the getting dropped > > and riding alone issue to be one of fitness and not of equipment, just > > my $0.02. Seen plenty of fast riders riding heavy steel bikes and > > plenty of slow riders using crabon fibre. > > > > -- > -- Anne Paulson > > It isn't a contest. Enjoy the ride. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
