I've had my bleriot for 2 years and my quickbeam for 1 year. I bought the quickbeam to essentially be a simpler, single-speed version of my bleriot. Since then the quickbeam has become my preferred bike. I find that I'm (empirically) more efficient on my quickbeam and don't tire as easily. After a 50 mile ride on the bleriot I feel tired; after the same ride on the quickbeam I feel fine. I don't ride with a computer on either of my bikes, the only constant being my cycling partner. I find when I'm on my bleriot that I'm regularly slower than her but when I'm on my quickbeam I'm regularly faster. I'm at the point where I only ride the bleriot if there are going to be hills that I can't tackle on my quickbeam.
"Being slow" doesn't bother me as much as the perceived difference in efficiency. The bleriot feels like it's dragging some extra weight regardless of the gear that I'm in while the quickbeam feels like it wants to keep rolling. If the bleriot felt similarly effortless I wouldn't be bothered if it was actually slower than the quickbeam. I wish that I had a way to definitively gauge this "dragging" feeling. The bikes are setup very similarly: Quickbeam: 60cm frame, 700 x 32 paselas, 32h stock wheels, sugino crank with 40/32 x 16/19 gearing, noodle bars, brooks saddle, MKS touring pedals without clips/straps Bleriot: 61cm frame, 650b x 42 grand bois hetres, 36h lesnik-built wheels, sugino crank with 48/38/26 x 11-30 gearing, noodle bars, brooks saddle, MKS grip king pedals Sometimes I wonder if the hetres are just "slow" but that seems to go counter to the ride reports of dozens of people who ride with hetres and claim they're quite fast. I thought about swapping to cypres tires (650b x 31) but that's a $120 investment I'm not ready to drop.. especially given that I've read you won't tell much of a difference between hetres and cypres on paved roads. The quickbeam is the first single speed bike that I've owned. Is it common to find that a single speed bike is noticeably more efficient for its 1 gear relative to a multi-speed bicycle in a gear of the same gain ratio ? Can any other quickbeam owners tell me about the perceived efficiency difference between their quickbeam and their geared road bike(s)? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
