I think some of it has to do with the fact that you have to commit or walk on a single speed. Whereas on the geared bike you can always gear down and take it easy. I would imagine there are many times on the quickbeam where you shift down if you could but you don't because you can't, so you end up riding a bigger gear ultimately moving faster than you would if you could gear down. Try riding the Bleriot in just one gear that is similar to the Beam's. Are you faster or slower.
Personally I only have an SS/Fixed Quickbeam bike right now but the geared one is in the works. I will report back. On Thu, May 20, 2010 at 3:13 PM, Tyler <mock...@gmail.com> wrote: > 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<rbw-owners-bunch%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > -- 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.
