Which is more important for carbon road bike, aerodynamics or weigh?

Which is more important for carbon road bike, aerodynamics or weigh?

In the field of  carbon road bike, they are almost dominated by pneumatiand lightweight (climbing) road bicycles. It has to be admitted that with the advancement of technology, pneumatic road bike are becoming increasingly lightweight, but in most cases, ultimate lightness and ultimate aerodynamics cannot be achieved simultaneously. Which one do you prefer, lighter vs more aerodynamic?

Weight is an intuitive thing, and you can easily distinguish the weight of a bicycle, while the aerodynamics of carbon bicycle require complex and expensive wind tunnel testing. The aerodynamics of carbon bikes do not only affect professionals, but lightning engineers have found through extensive testing that when the rider's speed reaches 13 miles per hour (20.9 kilometers per hour), aerodynamics will play a significant role. This speed is a relatively low threshold for road bike riders (in fact, there are also calculations that this threshold is 15 kilometers per hour.

Bola engineers simulated a data that when a carbon bicycle is rated for power and cycled at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour on a flat road for one hour, a bicycle that reduces its weight by 2 kilograms only moves 0.05 kilometers per hour faster. Of course, the roads we ride on are not all flat, but rather undulating hilly terrain.

Bola conducted more tests by inputting data from pneumatic bicycles and lightweight bicycles into a model, simulating two bicycles riding 75 kilometers at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour and climbing 1200 meters. By changing the aerodynamic and weight properties, the final result is that when the weight and aerodynamic properties are reduced by the same percentage, pneumatic road bikes save six times more time than lightweight bicycles.

Bola engineer also stated that aerodynamics and weight have different critical points for riders of different strengths. For amateur riders, the impact of weight is greater than aerodynamics when the slope is 4.5% or more. And for professional cyclists, the slope ratio is 7.5%. When a bicycle travels at 35 kilometers per hour, the impact of aerodynamics on speed is four times greater than the impact of gravity on the bicycle.
To improve the aerodynamic performance of bicycles and gain more aerodynamic power, the three most worthwhile parts to upgrade are the bike wheel.
The carbon bike wheels are the first part of a bicycle that comes into contact with air, just like the frame. Bola bike wheels conduct wind tunnel tests on bicycle wheels to improve their aerodynamic performance. wider wheels often have better aerodynamics.


Bikers are always the biggest factor affecting aerodynamics, so in order to achieve the highest aerodynamics, it is still necessary to do a fitting in the bike shop, so that youself and the bicycle can reach a degree of fit, in order to achieve the most perfect aerodynamics. If you want to pursue speed, then 90% of the time, you should focus on the aerodynamics of the carbon bicycle wheel rather than its weight.

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