How Much Is Your Winter Bike Slowing You Down?
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- Опубликовано: 13 янв 2025
- Equipped with wide and grippy tires, bulkier frames, and fenders, winter hack bikes are designed to protect you more from the elements than they are to go fast. But how much slower are winter bikes compared to the speed machines we ride in the summer? Alex and Ollie have decided to pull on their metaphorical lab coats and put it to the test!
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What matters more to you in winter: speed or protection against the weather? Let us know in the comments below! 💬
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Leave us a comment below!
What matters more to you in winter: speed or protection against the weather?
Definitely weather protection. All my bikes have mudguards all year round, you never know when you might be caught in a summer shower!
Speed is not so important, i am observing more power output. But without of doubt, protection against weather is more important than speed. By the way, that Pinarello in a video is useless in Finland when it's winter and roads are snowy or icy.
Definitely, the weather. Full fenders, a size larger tires, 28mm Gatorskins, in my case. As you say, training on a heavier bike gives a boost when back on the summer bike. They also clean up twice as fast. The BB doesn't get wet from water pumped up by the tire running down inside the back of the seat tube. The rider and those behind him stay dry. Headset bearings last a whole lot longer.
Those fenders on the first bike are way out there in the wind. Look at those gaps! Put 'em close to the tires and they won't catch the wind, drafting. Take shorter pulls!
If road debris sticks in the tire, the close fitting fender usually scrapes it off. Snow build up? By that time, I'm always home. The next day, streets and MUTs are plowed with lots of wet spots. No problem.
Actually, mainly safety and not wearing out the expensive stuff
My riding is mostly commuting so the priorities don't really change. Weather protection, sything through traffic, consistent timing and getting there.
I do monitor my rides, though not gone to power meter budget yet so just speed HR and stuff like that. I think having the same bike year round makes that more meaningful, but I will confess if I had a really quick summer bike I have no doubt I would probably think differently.
GCN's winter bike is waaaaay higher specced than my all-season only bike.
Fully agree. Top Spec Grizl with GRX di2 and carbon.. average winter bike hands down...
Right😂 my 105 Canyon roadlite6 is the nicest thing I've owned to date, and will likely do a drop bar conversion when the time comes rather than spend the money to upgrade to an endurace
Yup then mine too, 23 year old titanium batavus with tiagra, 105 mix.
@@daispatrick winter bike is a tradition going back years. Typically it was an older bike with mudguards on. I started club riding in 1991 and everyone used steel bikes then, they were very susceptible to rust in the bottom bracket area, didn’t take much, so no one wanted to ruin their best bike!
Here to read this as GCN did not read the room. Come on lads that is not a winter bike. A winter bike is a Ribble Audax with heavy mud guards and tyres 10 years old that would survive a descent down steps.
Very different philosophy of a winter bike here, my winter bike is a 12 kg 20 year old steel beater with a creaky bottom bracket and gear shifters which u have to warm up with your hands before you can shift. My winter bike is also my summer bike
Sehr geil! 🤣
same lol
What a plot twist.
My winter beater is a tad heavier with 36-hole wheels, downtube shifters and vintage Dura-Ace shifting. Dog-slow, but makes me appreciate the summer bikes (still old stuff, but a little lighter--LOL).
My gravel bike is my winter bike. My spring bike. My summer bike. My fall bike! 4 bikes in 1!
My ‘winter bike’ is my titanium gravel bike which I was out on yesterday on 43mm tyres at 30psi-I do have a pair of road wheels for it with 34mm tyres-but yesterday’s 50 miler was at least 50% off road……. Complete with mudguards, saddle bag, pedals, and lights it weighs 10.5kg-but being Ti it laughs at grit and road salt-and being 73 I don’t give a dam anyway, it’s just a lovely thing to ride.
Riding a winter hack bike with mudguards makes us appreciate our shiny race bikes. It can also be more relaxing knowing that the parts are a 1/4 of the price if they need replacing.
Although I certainly wouldnt describe GCN's version as a 'winter hack'. I'd like that as my summer bike lol
My winter bike is a steel MTB from the 90s with 2.35 tires. Low budget, cheap maintenance.
Excellent!
Same here! I’m riding my sons old Saracen MTB that was just sitting in the garage for the last 20 years or so, tourney gears, new tyres, tubes, cables and brake blocks etc.
@@AbiShafi Yo I have tourney gears on my bike too! mine is atleast 30 years old to my knowledge
Not a big difference considering all the aero claims around in the bike industry, and considering the fact that the tyres probably make up most of the difference. In reality though, I guess that most winter bikes look much more like my winter bike: covered in mud, flappy mudguards, rusty chain etc. Then we are probably talking 50+ watts.
Your winter bike is not slowing you down. It's making you stronger and tougher, more resilient and appreciative of just how f-in awesome your race bike is. Perspective!
Ollie is jealous of the sunny California winter but I envy not having to worry about wildfires and terrible air in the summer.
My winter spiked fat tire bike averages about 5 mph in snow and ice. My normal fat tire bike averages about 10 mph in summer.
In my humble opinion: as you guys said that these numbers might play a factor when being in race; however, these are not material differences for training purposes and/or to keep the creative juices flowing. Cheers mates.
My winter bike is an entry level endurance road aluminium with Claris groupset. It is extremely slow but it is still way fun and l enjoy every minute of it. At least for myself, this is the perfect bike for long base rides
It would be interesting to see if you can determine which aspect of the winter bike contributed the most to the slowness. For instance, repeat the loop with summer tires/ wheels on the winter bike, then back to the winter tires/wheels but remove the mudguards. I just wonder what you'd learn isolating each contributing factor. My money is on the tires.
The body position is also important. Ollie kept all the spacers on the winter bike. What if all those spacers were to be removed?
Chainset
Tyres
Tyres
Tires definitely make the biggest difference I think. I also think the fenders honestly contributes a lot too, the aero around the wheels
I'm curious if a front fender that wraps the entire top half of the front wheel might be more aero than just an exposed tire.
I kind of remember that some inventor once mad a track bike with a velomobil like cover for the top half of the front wheel
My winter commuter is a heavy 2014 Trek Crossrip LTD with fenders and studded snow tires for icy, snowy, sandy, salty, New England winter roads. The rolling resistance is crazy it’s average speed is 4-5mph less than my summer bike over the same daily route. I can’t wait to get back on the summer bike and feel like I’m flying! Also, double digit (Fahrenheit) mornings would be nice too!
Sadly due to health I no longer ride but winter riding in the uk tends to focus more often on wind.It doesnt matter how light the bike or rider but a headwind is obviously hated by any keen cyclist.I still have my old winter bike which is a 50 year old reynolds frame Holdsworth "ClaudButler" olympic 5 speeder.A fantastic bike and joy to ride.
I don't mind it being slower - easier to stay warm because less wind chill.
I just fit my winter tires and mudguard yesterday, this morning we woke up to snow, so we went for a short ride, pulling my dughters on a sled. It was great fun, but would have been impossible with summer tread (or lack of).
A few years ago went out on a late fall ride with some friends, even though it was mostly dry one of the guys came out on his winter commute bike with Tannus (solid) tires. We dropped him in the first mile on a mild rolling road. We weren't pushing the pace, he just said he felt like he was riding through mud. He rode the same bike some time later but with his normal GP4K tires and stayed with the group just fine. Tires make a huge difference.
I don't have a winter bike. I just have one nice road bike, with fast summer tyres, and keep it well maintained though winter. Makes riding more fun all year round.
Winter hack bike - Carbon Canyon Grizl, with carbon seatpost, disc brakes, with GRX DI2. Proper hack bike = singlespeed steel frame, with a dent or two in the top tube, with fenders and some canti brakes. ;)
My winter bike IS my bike! It does feel slower in the winter, but that might be because I’m going slower as I’m fully wrapped up and doing ‘piano, piano’ stuff?! My other bike is an MTB…
The front tyre on the Grizl is not fitted correctly. Part of the tyre bead isn't fully seated, and there's a visible wobble in the tyre as a result (see 9:04). I'm surprised Ollie didn't notice.
Well spotted!
Sabotaged 😱
...Fitted with lower quality components!
'*pans to DI2 GRX*'
Yeah, right
My thoughts exactly!
My winter bike is my first road bike. I have done some upgrades to mitigate some losses. I have mimicked my position on my summer bike I built last year, I upgraded my work-out wheels for some custom built tubeless alloys which are very stiff laterally so are very responsive. I upgraded from Sora 3500 to Tiagra 4700 a couple of years ago. Both bikes run 380mm bars, a low flat stem (summer bike has a shorter head tune so there are spacers to keep the height the same in relation to the rest of my body geometry). I am also running a mix of 105 R5800 and R7000 due to parts availability on my summer bike.
Making the switch to tubeless was an eye opener. I was running Conti GP4000 during the summer with butyl tubes at 90-95 PSI, and used to switch to Gatorskins for winter. When I went tubeless I now use Vittoria Rubino Pro with the Graphene compound (at 73 psi front, 78psi rear) and I found I lost so much less speed I was actually much closer to tubed summer setup, if not as fast in some road conditions. For reference, I used 25c across the board as it is the biggest my dinosaur rim brake bike can handle with mudguards.
I use a cyclocross bike with 38mm Schwalbe Almotions + latex innertubes and 32mm wide aero carbon wheels and full fenders. Above 25kph it's noticable and for that reason I installed some basic tt bars. I do a lot of head work for my cycling group and there are some that are using a summerbike for the winter. I loose about 0.8~1.4km/h compared to my summerbike. At high speeds the gap is bigger, on the winterbike we usally maintain 36~40km/h maximum cruising speed and in the summer that always 40km/h at minimum.
Train on a heavier bike, race on a lighter bike.
Those mudguards are like parachutes! Not surprised they slowed you. Much nicer and snugger guards available!
I'm guessing that the original gravel tyres were quite a bit beefier and they couldn't be bothered to adjust the fenders properly LOL.
Would be interesting to repeat this experiment (same bikes) in warmer, summer weather. Greater air density affects drag in winter
Interesting stuff GCN. Winter bikes are for getting dirty and neglected where performance is not key. I love getting on my best bike after a few months on the winter bike. It feels so much quicker .
You need to do a follow-up with spiked tires. That's what we need here
They are called studded tires, spiked tires would be the ones you use in ice racing on motocross bikes.
I don't wish to come off macho or anything but this is truly a soft winter you are discussing. My winter bike: 25 year old steel frame, 2.5 inch studded tires, low 1X8 gearing. I also wear electric gloves and socks.
Having in mind that these Cinturato Velo TLR are extremely puncture resistant and installed in tubeless setup these rubbers still roll fairly nice… Not as fast as summer tires, but for winter as well as the cool option for a bit or a bit more gravel here and there, this flexibility makes this a great allroad tire setup. Great to turn right trough the gravel way where the road bike has to stop.
Great video as well, to both of you!
I feel that time spent on the road is more important than top-end speed...
I have been riding a 50 pound stretch cruiser... with a single speed. grinding up hills is similar to constant leg presses that just never end?
My gravel is my summer bike, and my road bike is my winter bike. Kinda the other way around ;)
You and my big brother would be best friends.
@A Rodriguez why do you say that?
Cube Attain SL or Attain GTC SL (Axial too) has a very slick version of mudguards designed by Cube specifically for that frame. The only downside is max width of tires, when the mudguards are installed, is limited to 28c.
My winter bike is Attain SL, absolutely love it. I use it on smart trainer too
Regarding the video - Ollie needs aero bars on his winter bike and difference on flats will be offset!
Can you guys do a video just on mudguards, from Ass-Savers to full coverage mudguards?
I am from the UAE - our summer bikers are called indoor trainers :)
700x35c and mudguards on my gravel bike. Perfect on crappy winter roads.
The rear mudguard on that GCN winter bike is totally inadequate for a group ride, it stops too short and would guarantee a faceful of road grime for the rider behind.
As always i enjoyed this video.
But as Ollie already said ,this Grizl is not really a winter low specs bicycle and it would be much more academic if a aluminum or steel frame was used.
So far in my riding groups those with a winter bike seem to have a steel or aluminum frame , 9 or 10 speed gears and usually weight about 11kg , mine is 11.5 kg . So the difference on those results should be much much more .
But in the end we are not racing but enjoying the cycling outside so as long as i can keep up with the others (same minded ) its totally fine.
Thank you guys .
Winter / commuter bike is a 1980 Carlton Clubman, running Campag Racing-T 9 speed triple and Fulcrum 7 wheels. Weighs a ton, but rides lovely and is comfy like an armchair.
Glad to see you have a winter bike, I've never heard you mention winter bikes before.
"Yeah, i use more heavier bike because im training a lot"
"Im not really concerned about speed, all i concerned was a great technique with my training bike"
- some of excuse for those who brought winter and summer bike with one bike 🙂 (me)
While I'm sure "speed" aspects involved sells a lot of bikes, there is a whole world out there of other reasons to ride a bike than just going fast. Once you learn those, cycling takes on a whole nother pleasurable purpose than mere speed.
Having ridden bikes with and without mudguards over many years I would suggest that removing those pesky things can make a considerable difference in the enjoyment of a ride. Your bike is going to get dirty whether it is fitted with mudguards or not but an arse saver can protect your back and/or you could just wear a rain jacket. And mudguards also tend to act as sails slowing the ride.
My winter bike is an almost 10 year old Btwin Triban 3 which cost me £300 that weighs 12KG after adding pannier racks. My summer bike is an 2021 Orbea Orca with SRAM AXS groupset and deep section wheels which cost over 10x more. So for me personally, the answer is "a lot slower".
I don't care though because my T3 has been on 6 cycle touring trips (inc. NC500 last year) and it's the bike that I fell in love with road cycling on 😍
Winter = belt drive, internal gears, guards = unstoppable!
Actually real winter is the easiest possible weather for "chain salad" drivetrain, because of snow being clean and non abrasive.
Mine is real slow, used in heavy rain and snow, where it excels. And with future saddle bags for the shopping when I can't hold plastic bags with the heavy stuff on my fast single speed handlebars namore. Pleasurable to ride if speed isn't the issue; good old 4130 cro mo.
I was nice to see the summer bike had rim brakes. 👍🚴🏻♂️
The winter bike discs were squeaking before the test even started 😂
This reminds me about a letter I read in a cycling magazine, a long time ago. A guy wrote in, complaining that his wife said she couldn't see the difference between his hack bike and his racing bike. I bet she could. (She was probably annoyed at all the money and time he was spending on cycling, which could've gone to 'better' use.)
I have a trek dual suspension mountain bike at my parents for cycling with my mother and sister. My main bike is a giant rapid. I use it all year round though when weather is bad I don't really use it. Winter bike theory is alien to me
My winter bike is 72 inch fixed gear full mudguards love it keeps me warm great for summer fitness 😀
The up side...training on the winter bike...when chaging to the sumer one...you get some wings
Tried to go on roadie ride on my gravel bike with 40c gravel tires. About died keeping up. I felt this video.
Most of us might call mud gaurds "mud guards" here in the states too.
Ollie working hard for the money!
My winter bike is a cheap but well maintained mtb with off road tyres and mudguards. It weighs twice as much as my road bike but I feel safer on it and it still gives me a good workout.
did you forgot the impact of air density as it incrase by square as the temperature go down every degre loss?
Great vid, the difference was about as significant as I expected. But could you please 'retest' this with the addition of 'winter bike' (frameset, handlebars, groupset etc.) with no mudguards and with the wheelset with fast tires from the summer bike? I bought a nice cyclocross bike a few months back and I wonder if I could use it with a different wheelset also as my no. 1 road bike in the summer. Thanks in instance.
They have similar videos where they look at gravel / allroad bikes with different wheelsets! My guess is that you'd be pretty good with a cyclocross frame racing road if you get a decent set of wheels, but obviously the more competitive you get, the higher the penalty
@@matthiaswuest7271 Yes, I've seen that video of Si racing road and offroad on 3T Exploro, but the outcome of that is only "Yes, you can race one bike on road as well as in terrain, " but it doesn't give any numbers. That's what I'd like to know.
I love my Aluminium mudguarded winter bike .... makes your summer bike feel that much faster .. get on the winter, and give yourself a better workout. I sometimes take my hybrid bike out when on slower social rides, gives me a proper workout - winter pain = Summer gains
In the off season, my road bike is on the Zwift trainer, so I naturally ride my gravel bike outside, that doesn’t mean that my gravel bike is my winter bike. Sort of the same way I treat my cars. I have a car that I only drive in the summer, that doesn’t make my other car the “Winter Car”.
My winter bike is my Cervelo Aspero with carbon wheels and 40mm Schwalbe G One Evo R’s and my summer bike is the same bike with summer 32mm slicks. It feels awesome either way, ass saver stays on. I just clean the bike super well after each ride. I assume that would help regarding potential component wear ? A clean bike is a happy bike 🚴 just wondering.
I have two roadies. One on the smart trainer with mudguards to ride in winter on road when it’s not too cold and my summer super bike. For the trainer bike I also have a set of summer wheels which run latex tubes and I can tell you when the mudguards come off and these fast wheels are added, it’s nearly as quick as the super bike even tho it’s a couple of kilos still heavier! But when I get on the super bike I feel like a super hero 😎
All that I know is that I went from a newer Trek Domane SL5 with 700x30c tires to an older Felt F2 with 700x23 tires and it was night and day. Felt like I was driving an old bus when I was on the Trek compared to the Felt. Much happier now, not to mention faster!
Great video (again)! I'm not totally convinced that a winter bike is THAT much slower overall. The weight difference between setups could probably be offset simply by cutting back on pastries. I'm guessing that the majority of the performance difference on display here is mostly down to the rolling resistance of the tires. It would be interesting to see what would happen if someone used good all-around tires with low rolling resistance, like GP 5000s (which happen to be the tires I use year-round, no pressure).
I’m from Australia… winter bikes are a completely foreign concept to my understanding
Depends where in Australia 😂 Tassie or Vic you need them
I'm Canadian, it looks like winter is a foreign concept for GCN.
@@cycleyyz haha true that!
@@jarrodfife242 In Hobart Tasmania the rainfall doesn't change much throughout the year but it certainly gets colder but you don't need a winter bike for that. The worst time for cycling is summer because the UV exposure is brutal down here.
@@drooghead uv wouldn’t ruin your bike though?
LOL! GCN jumps the shark! Keep pumping out that content lads…..and Manon…
Cloud you do a comperison of the winterbike with Sommer tyeres with the sommerbike? I am Thinking about getting just One Bike an just Switch fenders an tyers depending on season
How long is a piece of string??
My winter bike is a late 90s steel 3x Mtb 26" with puncture proof 40mm commuter tyres, lights and mudguards....not faster at all, but so much more practical, and good training as it is 13kg.....v 9kg summer road bike.
The rear guard on Olly's bike only protects him. It is not low enough to the road to stop the muck that the rear wheel throws up from hitting any rider behind. The guard at the front will do little to protect his feet or the chain and front mech.
Short guards demonstrate that a rider wants to stay drier and cleaner but not that they care about those behind them.
Get a grip, winter riding is not about massaging egos in terms of average speed but about getting the miles in. If it's important to actual performance then it's the time spent at given intensities which count in training and not the speed we do.
Also, the test is not relevant as much of the time in a group is spent behind another rider and there was nothing in the 'test' to measure the effect there.
It is hilly where i live, so the extra weight of the Giant mountainbike and added weight of apparel to keep warm in temperatures that descend to 270°K, as well deal with snow, slush and ice make riding significantly slower, roughly 40%+ versus my 2021 carbon fiber Trek Emomda SLR, 800 series carbon fiber and mechanical Ultegra groupset. My concern is not speed in winter, but rather safe travel and not destroying my Emonda which costs much more to maintain when subjected to conditions it's not designed to handle constantly. I'll take my cheap used Giant mountainbike over the go-straight-fast machine in winter every time without fail.
Around 2 - 4mph on avg I’ve noticed season to season.
Obviously you have to take weather conditions, clothing and bikes into consideration.
I ride a Trek Emonda ALR Ultegra disc in winter with carbon components and wheels, a manageable budget. (Pretty decent winter stead)
BMC Teammachine SLR01 in summer with top of the range everything, That bike is on another level, with regards to performance.
The bike you ride makes a huge difference to your ability
I commute 73 km year round. I have noticed that my speed in winter falls about 5 km/hour (!!!), no matter what I do...Besides wider and heavier bike and more wind resistance from more (and heavier) clothes, I have to consider minimum 7% more air resistance from 20 to 0 degrees Celcius and about 10% more down to -8 C (as on these days). I have powerfull lights on and many (12 in total...).
I ride on the countryside. As a runner I always ran slower when dark, even when I could see everything. SO is the case while riding in darkness. On the afternoons when I get to go home before darkness = I ride the same distance significantly faster. Conclusion (after 3 1/2 years of commuting): We ARE day animals. We instinctly ride slower during darkness, no matter how much we can see.
Additional test pls: pop those winter tyres on the 'Summer bike' and repeat. [Am intrigued as to how much difference they alone would be]
Also, were/are there any real differences at all in the wheels on this test?
Only asking as I've been on Phil, 'The Everything Else Bike', for 5 years [Recently broke. Phil Jr is mid build] and finally got a new 'The Good' Bike', Judith, to which I'm stunned as to the difference that Judy rolls better than Phil did (as well as less pedal input loading). Different wheels but same tyres/tubes... I'm now thinking I need to change ALL the bearings below the headset on Phil Jr (wheels, BB, jockeys)
The simple factor for speed in the winter time is wind resistance. My theory is that cold air causes more resistance than warm air. I have ridden year round for many decades and recurring question is why do I move slower in winter than summer? Another factor is the increased layers of clothing.
If you want a real taste of winter cycling, come join me in Canada.
They didn't state the temperature during their tests. I agree that cold temperatures slow us down. I've noticed a huge difference as temperatures dip below 5°c. There is an even bigger difference as temperatures dip below -5 to -10°c. As Pete stated cold air is denser and we wear more or heavier layers but the cold also makes lubricants thicker. Imagine all of that grease in your hubs becoming like molasses!
@@DavidMulligan Effect of air density is negligible compared to other variables. (like more/thicker clothing)
I would much rather ride in -5C than +5C, because unpaved roads become hard lowering rolling resistance huge amount.
One bike, cleaned and maintained appropriately for the season you're riding in.
Same bikes, no mudguards, same tires and re-test to see the real penalty between the 2, much more interesting for those who are considering 1 bike for both purposes ! #GCN
What mudguards is ollie using ??
Nice to see Alex using a rim brake bike - rim for the win!
And if you're training to power zones, doesn't matter anyways! Convincing your summer bike riding friends to mount mudguards so you don't eat spray hanging on to their draft is another matter...
That's how my all-road aluminium bike works for me. Swap tyres between 32 Pirelli TL and 28+25 conti in Summer.
Would be interesting to see the same test but with both bikes having same wheels and tires! I think the difference will be close to zero...
the gravelbikes front is 3-4cm higher in this scenario, that will make at least as much aero penalty than wheelsets and a few mm tire width.
@@Digi20 would be interesting to see if this or tires make most difference
I'm riding a Winter bike and a gravel bike, both with mud guards and heavier than the summer Tarmac SL7. But it's apples and oranges comparing to the summer bike, the Winter bikes ARE heavier and slower but it's all about the right bike for the conditions, and I love how both bikes ride and feel, and I know that when spring summer arrives you will fly like the shit off a shovel! 😜 👊
8:19 ~ Really Dr. Bridgestone? Dressed in Red-Robin attire and fair hair? A pair of dark glasses and actually it does remind one of Robin. Batman was the dark brooding Knight akin to Alex's physique and style. Alex = Batman. Tyre resistance is quite a difference. I just placed winter tyres on my hybrid and the handling, speed and descents are quite different. Fun vid thanks for posting.
The difference between my winter and summer bike is pretty big. For a given power output on the summer bike I'd average around 19.5mph over a ride, the same power on my other bike would be between 17-17.5mph.
Have you calibrate all power meters or use the same for each test? I mean for example Garmin Vector pedals or Axioma and replace them between Olies Winter and summer bikes?
My winter bike has 3.8" (96 mm) tyres, with a carbide studded one on the front. It's considerably slower. Even it, though, gets much, much slower around 0 °F / -18 °C and below. I go from averaging 13 MPH (21 km/h) on my commute to work, to more like 9 MPH (14.5 km/h.) I think the tyre rubber may go through its glass transition. In nice weather I average 16 MPH (26 km/h) on a gravel bike using the same commute route.
Would be interesting to see if you swap the wheelset of the grizl with the summer bike and remove the fenders the difference the aero frame makes
I like those mudguards on Ollie’s Grizl. What brand are they?
My winter bike (Kinesis 4s disc with scope R5a rims) is on average 2mph slower than my summer bike (cannondale Systemsix). The Kinesis fend off mud guards are amazing and worth the speed penalty at the moment in the UK
Definitely the dynamic duo!
GCN keeps talking about winter but I have yet to see them put on proper spiked tires like Schwalbe Marathon Winter or similar. Ride on some literally frozen roads with gnarly refrozen mush, 10 cm of packed snow or in a blizzard.
My winter bike is a 3x steel workhorse, surly disk trucker, my summer bike is a Trek Domane Alr 4, my surly is WAAAY slower, just rode my summer bike around a lap the other day and beat my steel time by 18 min!!
loved it if you out on your winter bike great enjoy speed is not a option just get out there fyi 105 group set of the people is indestructible in winter even the old stuff love it
What happened to the theory that wider tyres = lower rolling resistance???? 😁
I’d like to see a winter bike video, but with gcn presenters on a commute race in some nordic country, when there’s snow on your knees. I’d think that would be super entertainig.
Question is really in rain or sleet how do they compare?
Imagine being in a position to have 2 bikes