The world's 20 fastest bikes (on Strava)

[Elefantino]

Interesting breakdown by the folks at CyclingTips. (https://cyclingtips.com/2020/04/the-top-20-fastest-road-bikes-in-the-world-according-to-strava/)

The Dutch bike is definitely an outlier.

[Spdntrxi]

get a fail... from me.

[fa63]

I think this is a good example of correlation not implying causation. For example, one explanation could be that people who care about going fast tend to buy aero bikes.

That said, it would be interesting if the data were to be made available; someone with a good background in statistics could make much better sense of it pretty quickly, controlling for elevation gain, wind, fitness levels, etc.

[C40_guy]

"From a statistical perspective, that doesn’t make for clean data in a rigorous and aerodynamicist-approved sense. But it sure as hell makes for a fascinating list."

Right. The list provides nothing more than a non-rigorous back-of-the-envelope market share study of bikes ridden by fast riders living in flat, non-windy areas.

Would be modestly interesting to see how this varies by geo, age group, total miles ridden annually, gender, etc...

Shimano v Campy, tubbies versus clinchers... :)

Yawn. :)

[josephr]

this is like playing poker and that one guy wants to talk about how great Boston (the band is) because they sold a lot of albums and got a lot of airplay. :rolleyes:

[adub]

Nothing to do with the motor...

[RonW87]

The Sensa is the giveaway. If a bike tends to be sold in areas with fewer climbs, it will move up the charts. E.g. Florida bikes are always faster than Switzerland bikes, but it has nothing to do with the bike! Also, in flatter places, people will tend to buy a more aero bike. So its self-reinforcing.

[jamesdak]

Hmm, my few Strava KOMs (that are only over a couple of thousand people) came on this.

https://pbase.com/jhuddle/image/164992518.jpg

Why isn't it on the list? :confused::confused::confused:

:p:p:p

[Elefantino]

Hmm, my few Strava KOMs (that are only over a couple of thousand people) came on this.

https://pbase.com/jhuddle/image/164992518.jpg

Why isn't it on the list? :confused::confused::confused:

:p:p:p
Makes sense that it's your KOM bike.

Campy, after all. :eek:

[apple]

Do you have data on your claim that people with in flatter areas buy more aero bikes? Anecdotally that hasn't been my experience, and I'm really interested to know your source. Per your first point, they seem to have taken into account hills vs flats for their testing.

I think this article is a pretty interesting data point, though I'm not surprised it's being panned here because there's no mention of the boomer frames like the red and white one from the guy whose name escapes me now, or titanium bikes, or steel bikes. All the bikes are "plastic" as the insecure people here call them.

[Davist]

ha! I don't put the make / model of my bike in strava, never have, give it a name by its "personality". Also read a few years ago that in LA thieves had fairly easy pickings by targeting something like sworks and lack of privacy settings on strava.

[jb_11]

ha! I don't put the make / model of my bike in strava, never have, give it a name by its "personality". Also read a few years ago that in LA thieves had fairly easy pickings by targeting something like sworks and lack of privacy settings on strava.

He covered that in the article. There's a public name and a private name for gear in Strava. This pulled from the private portion (which, if you didn't enter would be an excluded data set).

[Davist]

He covered that in the article. There's a public name and a private name for gear in Strava. This pulled from the private portion (which, if you didn't enter would be an excluded data set).

so, once you click agree to the EULA, there's no such thing as privacy, just like all the tech companies, huzzah!

[C40_guy]

so, once you click agree to the EULA, there's no such thing as privacy, just like all the tech companies, huzzah!

As they say...when the service is free, you are the product!

[Toddykins]

Curious that they didn’t just use similar methodology to the Nike Vaporfly study. It would have been more useful to compare changes in speed for the same rider across multiple bikes.

[Spdntrxi]

He covered that in the article. There's a public name and a private name for gear in Strava. This pulled from the private portion (which, if you didn't enter would be an excluded data set).

1. I didn't read the full article
2. There is no not a "private" name and "public" name for gear in strava. There are public and private setting for your profile but that it's not like if you profile was public and it said you road a Walmart Denali 10speed and your private setting says you were actually on a Cinelli Laser from the 80s.

[Davist]

As they say...when the service is free, you are the product!

except I pay for summit.. but anyway..

[mtechnica]

Maybe they could have used average speed divided by average power.

[jb_11]

so, once you click agree to the EULA, there's no such thing as privacy, just like all the tech companies, huzzah!

Yup, pretty much!

1. I didn't read the full article
2. There is no not a "private" name and "public" name for gear in strava. There are public and private setting for your profile but that it's not like if you profile was public and it said you road a Walmart Denali 10speed and your private setting says you were actually on a Cinelli Laser from the 80s.

You can create a name for each bike (or shoes, etc.), which is displayed on your profile. That name is available to all who have access to your profile (user defined).

Within each bike you list in your gear you can enter make, model, components, etc. That data is seen only by you (and Strava, CyclingTips,...:))

That's what I meant by public vs private.

[ultraman6970]

I dont know but im under the impression that if you put all the world class TT professional guys in a relatively flat area to compete with the same bike and components like for example an steel de rosa, and you put money to it after 6 months. Strava would be dominated by that bike. Even, do that type of stuff but the guys using an old 80s EM corsa, not even a super corsa, just the corsa and the corsa would be on top of the list.

[unterhausen]

either the bike doesn't matter or they are not properly accounting for the terrain on rides. Probably both

[Hellgate]

Those are pretty low median speeds.

[RonW87]

Do you have data on your claim that people with in flatter areas buy more aero bikes? Anecdotally that hasn't been my experience, and I'm really interested to know your source. .

Purely anecdotal. When I ride in Florida (e.g. Mikes Ride out of Deerfield), I have the impression that there are more aero bikes. When I ride in Ontario, less so. Also for me, I would certainly prioritize aero over e.g. weight if I regularly rode on the flats.

[C40_guy]

either the bike doesn't matter or they are not properly accounting for the terrain on rides. Probably both

"It's Not About the Bike!"

:)

[Black Dog]

Next article is the top 20 bikes on zwift. ;)

[Spaghetti Legs]

My guess is that list more accurately reflects popularity of a particular model of bike among people who like to ride a lot rather than the “fastest” bike.