Worth changing tyres or.....
Discussion
Hi Folks,
Last year my mountain bike and road bike both got nicked from my basement... wasn't cycling that much on either so decided to buy a hybrid and went for the Carrera Gryphon Disk Spec which was on special at the time.
It's a decent bike, pretty light, and fine for my general cycling around / commutes.
I've been cycling more and more of late and also entered a duathlon (cycle leg just 13m). I'm not expecting to be top5 or anything so had planned to just do it on the hybrid but now wondering whether a few tweaks might be an idea;
- It's got 700 x 28c tyres, would it be worth putting some 23's on?
- Is there any options on the bars, seen a gryphon with drop bars for sale on gumtree but had previously read changing over is a real pain?
In summary, two key questions;
1 - Is it worth trying to make some tweaks to existing bike or will it make no noticeable difference?
2 - If i was to buy a road bike like the Triban 500 or Carrera TdF would this actually be a noticeable improvement over the Gryphon pace wise? (don't want to spend much over £300 as i have a bad habit of going through "fads" with sports!)
Cheers for any input.
Chris
Last year my mountain bike and road bike both got nicked from my basement... wasn't cycling that much on either so decided to buy a hybrid and went for the Carrera Gryphon Disk Spec which was on special at the time.
It's a decent bike, pretty light, and fine for my general cycling around / commutes.
I've been cycling more and more of late and also entered a duathlon (cycle leg just 13m). I'm not expecting to be top5 or anything so had planned to just do it on the hybrid but now wondering whether a few tweaks might be an idea;
- It's got 700 x 28c tyres, would it be worth putting some 23's on?
- Is there any options on the bars, seen a gryphon with drop bars for sale on gumtree but had previously read changing over is a real pain?
In summary, two key questions;
1 - Is it worth trying to make some tweaks to existing bike or will it make no noticeable difference?
2 - If i was to buy a road bike like the Triban 500 or Carrera TdF would this actually be a noticeable improvement over the Gryphon pace wise? (don't want to spend much over £300 as i have a bad habit of going through "fads" with sports!)
Cheers for any input.
Chris
Unless your current tyres are 'knobblies' then going thinner will only give marginal gains. Pros use 28mm tyres in Paris Roubaix and they don't hang about.
A road bike would be faster due to your position on the bike - less frontal area due to narrow bars and upper body in a lower position. For a one-off 13 mile ride I would't bother with any changes.
A road bike would be faster due to your position on the bike - less frontal area due to narrow bars and upper body in a lower position. For a one-off 13 mile ride I would't bother with any changes.
Re: changing the tyres? I probably wouldn't bother, as the current trend is a move from 23c to 25c on most road bikes anyway. Tyre pressure will most probably make more of a difference, especially on such a short bike leg. Experiment with pressures over a timed, repeatable section now. Start as high as the tyres are rated, then adjust downwards until you hit a sweetspot. Comfort (or to be more accurate, discomfort) won't be a big issue on a short blast, so go for the pressure which allows the highest maintainable speed. FWIW, I've got 23c tyres on my new road bike, and I'm considering going the opposite way, up to at least 25c, possibly 28c for my next set of winter tyres (if they'll fit).
Going to a drop bar on the Gryphon will also mean new gear shifters, as the current (SRAM SX5?) flat bar shifters just won't work with a drop bar. Add in new cables (probably) and just finding the right shift levers for what you want to do on it, and I'd say it'd be too much faff. Keep the Gryphon as it is, and blow some cash on a BTwin if you really want a speed-focussed road bike.
If you are running a 12-26 tooth rear cassette, then fitting a cassette with an 11 tooth sprocket will give you a slightly higher 'top' gear. If you can find an 11-28t cassette it'll spread the range even further, adding a lower climbing gear (although at the expense of bigger jumps between individual gears on the cassette), and it's the gearing change with the least amount of knock-on problems with the rest of the system. SRAM and Shimano cassettes/chains are fully interchangeable too, so you could look to Shimano for the cassette if SRAM don't sell a compatible (9-speed, I'm guessing?) 11 tooth cassette.
One other place where change is often advised in the interests of efficiency and speed is shoes/pedals. Normally going faster for longer is a trigger to move across to clip-in pedals/shoes. In your case, though, with only a 13 mile bike leg, you'd probably be better off riding standard flat pedals in your running shoes, and saving a chunk of time not swapping shoes at the bike/run transition.
Good luck with the event!
Going to a drop bar on the Gryphon will also mean new gear shifters, as the current (SRAM SX5?) flat bar shifters just won't work with a drop bar. Add in new cables (probably) and just finding the right shift levers for what you want to do on it, and I'd say it'd be too much faff. Keep the Gryphon as it is, and blow some cash on a BTwin if you really want a speed-focussed road bike.
If you are running a 12-26 tooth rear cassette, then fitting a cassette with an 11 tooth sprocket will give you a slightly higher 'top' gear. If you can find an 11-28t cassette it'll spread the range even further, adding a lower climbing gear (although at the expense of bigger jumps between individual gears on the cassette), and it's the gearing change with the least amount of knock-on problems with the rest of the system. SRAM and Shimano cassettes/chains are fully interchangeable too, so you could look to Shimano for the cassette if SRAM don't sell a compatible (9-speed, I'm guessing?) 11 tooth cassette.
One other place where change is often advised in the interests of efficiency and speed is shoes/pedals. Normally going faster for longer is a trigger to move across to clip-in pedals/shoes. In your case, though, with only a 13 mile bike leg, you'd probably be better off riding standard flat pedals in your running shoes, and saving a chunk of time not swapping shoes at the bike/run transition.
Good luck with the event!
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