“Mostly”
Pulling the bunch against a head wind, I find my aero bike works best.
They make good bikes, I have a few and no major complaints.
I’m sure it is, but… put it into perspective. How many times that happens? For how long? 15w less would be game changing?
Hey, just to be clear, I’m not trying to persuade anyone that aerobikes are garbage. I myself would buy an aeroroad if I have the money. But I’d do that because I find it beautiful, and I’m sold on the handlebar, not because it would save me 10w in straight line.
My point is, aero gains are overrated. I wouldn’t buy a bike because of that.
Edited (overrated when it comes to frame. wheels, position, clothing, tires, are truly interesting, but this isn’t new)
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Pics?
Does anybody know if Tour Magazine reviewed the Factor Ostro VAM 2.0 2024?
I don’t, sorry.
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This new bike makes the decision more complicated:
Here is a pic of the Factor. Weighs in at 7.7kg which was a little disappointing.
It’s still fast, very comfortable, and I’m sure I can cut 300-500g off of it, but was hoping to have it closer to 7 as a daily driver.
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Beautiful bike!
What size?
How would you go about it if you were to reduce weight?
Size 52
Would change the wheels/tires (currently running PCW Dual 5550’s and GP5000TR 30s), crankset/pm, and maybe saddle to something carbon. Was hoping to be at 7 or thereabouts with current setup, but here I am.
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What is the weight on these?….these are not too bad at 1450g with DTS180….if you want aero max savings here are 150-200g
A nice saddle would be around 165g and not that expensive.
Carbon chainrings and cranks are a bit more expensive and pretty bad if you add an SRM pm.
I’m really conflicted between aero vs climbing bike. I live up in the mountains. A big day in pavement is 80-100 miles with 9-12k feet of climbing.
Wheels are (apparently) 1440g, though not sure if that’s with Tune hubs like I have or the lighter version ones they offer.
Current saddle is sworks Romain, so 220ish vs 100 for one of those pure carbon ones.
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I guess I can run some simulations on best bike split. I wonder if I could use an LLM also.
Those are big days for sure.
I’m in the mid-atlantic, so the terrain is more rolling, and while I can still get 8-10k feet in a day, the gradients aren’t quite as steep or as long as they are out west in the Rockies. I think I get more benefit from the aero vs the weight anyway, but I did want something on the limit light for my own entertainment if nothing else.
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Romain Bardet did the Giro on the Foil and not the Addict.
Another comparison:
I likely won’t be adding any value to this discussion for my N=1 scenario.
I got an aero bike over a climbing bike and run 4 different wheel sets. I’m in the aero>weight camp and didn’t have the budget for two separate bikes.
Everyday riding set is 45/56 mm rims with 11-34 cassette, aero race rims are 60 mm with 11-30, fast race but with more climbing but not hills is 45 mm rims with 11-30, and pure climbing races I use 33 mm rims with 11-34.
I too live in a hilly area and usually rides are an average of 1:18 km:vm.
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I gotta look at the average. My last “big” road ride was 92 km 2450m…. So more like 1:27. Km:vm. My usual shorter climbing route is about 2h30m, 30 miles with 6000ft, so in that scale is 1:38 km:vm.
HOWEVER, before I can ride the hills, there are a couple of 75m / 5000ft routes that would be amazing in the aero bike.
The question is. If I can get the aero bike .8-1kg max heavier than the climbing bike, maybe the difference is not as dramatic……
OTOH - I really love going for KOM’s……
It’s going to take me months to make this decision. I don’t have the budget for 2 expensive bikes.
The comparison would be:
2025 Scott RC 6kg vs Factor Ostro VAM 6.8kg
Another perspective: