Context:
My brother races this bike in u17 category
Early 2000’s race bike, with 20yr old dura ace and an aluminium frame (carbon fork) and a 42 wide handlebar. Only meaningful upgrade since the early 2000 is a new set of continental gp5000 (25mm with inner tubes)
How much of a handicap is it realistically versus his opponents with brand new aero carbon bikes, fully equipped with deep carbon wheels, tubeless tyres, 36 wide handlebars and di2 groupsets?
Yesterday for example he raced a 13Km TT where he came in in the middle of the pack out of 190 riders at 40.02 km/h (19:29) (winner went 45kph (17:02, top 10 was in 18:05))
And in the afternoon he did a regular race, with the same 190 riders, where he got in the bunch at around the 80th position
by Orcahhh
4 Comments
Feel like you already answered your own question?
Some narrower aero profile bars, with modern profile drops, are probably the easiest upgrade to make. (Other than wheels).
Races are won by experience and race craft, not by bikes.
Racing is mostly about the rider, the team, and the strategy.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with learning racing on a bike like that. Lots of people will tell him that he needs a new bike, but realistically, even if he could afford the latest carbon fiber butterfly, the bike can make an improvement of only a few percent. The pros need all that stuff because they need every single edge they can get when seconds matter.
It’s probably more psychological at this point. I don’t think any tech/fit would cut 1 minute 20 in a relatively short tt.