Road Race Bike Testing or Just Propaganda?

[ElChingon]

Sure, we see tons of reviews (some of us) on bikes and they state all these facts and characteristics but many are just stories with no hard numbers to categorize the bikes.

Well this may not be the end all of reviews but surely a different perspective on it if not at least a fun one to view. Again, will they test all bikes, even those not being advertised on their size/rag or review them badly if they are bad?

I like their anonymous tester's name Mr. Hematorcrit

Well view for yourself:

http://vimeo.com/29591521

 

[biker77]

This would be brilliant if the presenter had an ounce of emotion. Guess he is a weight weenie

 

[Parera]

So, they've basically lifted the idea of The Stig from Top Gear? Ok...

I like the idea, too, but it would be better if there was a larger sample size. And some semblance of "controls" would be nice for the whole business of "reviewing" cycling products, though I doubt it would ever happen.

I'm a big nerd, been building desktop PCs for computer gaming since the mid nineties (convinced my parents to let me build the family PC instead of buying a Dell). Anyways, there is true subjectivity in that type of review format. There are benchmarks with real performance numbers, things you can clearly point to as being faster/better. Something along the lines of "this generation of intel CPUs is 24% faster in a certain benchmark compared to its AMD counterpart" can be claimed, and it's not marketing bull****. Anyone can reproduce the results.

Cycling is not like this, unfortunately. Most reviews are just just regurgitation of marketing straight BS straight from the horse's mouth, not much of a review. I would love if some magazine had the balls to have a group of test riders, and control for everything when it came to reviewing a frameset. That is, group, wheels, course, weather, etc. AND hopefully this would mimic typical use.

Once again, getting back to PCs, people can overclock a CPU, GPU, crank up the FSB on a motherboard, put in really expensive RAM (and OC the crap out of it) to get crazy benchmarks out of a system...but this does not reflect typical use. Most people aren't going to install water cooling, most people aren't going to use fans louder than a jet engine, etc to achieve the level of cooling needed for those performance levels.

So, when it comes to reviewing a bike, don't test the damn thing with deep dish carbon tubulars simply because that is what Specialized or Trek sent them with. Ride them with some sturdy handbuilts clinchers, ride the same climb/descents/routes a half dozen times, disclose averages, have a group of test riders that can somewhat represent the general cycling population (by this I mean the super feather weight 130 lb midget up to the 240 lb behemoth). Then maybe the whole cycling review industry won't be a complete joke...

edit: also noticed the Moots from the video had non-aero wheels (Mavic Ksyriums, I think) comapred to ~50mm aero wheels. And who wants to bet that the tires were all different makes/psi's in each test? *facepalm*

 

[Milessio]

A slightly amusing joke, but (like Top Gear) that's all it is.

What would it mean if they tested a DH bike with slick tyres & it was fastest? Would roadies all start riding DH bikes? No.

And if a 'supermarket special' was faster that the Venge?

 

[powerste]

Agree with Parera, although I do give them credit for at least using the same stretch of road consistently. But even then, will the lines be the same (best) on every descent? What about cars...you can see Mr. H left of center when he's clear but obviously he'd use a different line if there was opposing traffic.

And of course the rest of the equipment is huge, especially forks, wheels/tires, and gearing. If you're testing complete stock bikes that's one thing, but those examples are often framesets built up by individual riders. Also, since they're different geometries, even in the same sizes, Mr. H is going to fit on them differently. Some may be a better aero position for him, skewing the results simply because he's the only rider.

All in all an interesting experiment, and beats the heck out of marketing copy being parroted as a "review." But of course YMWV!

Now to go back to the beginning of that clip so I can listen to 'War Pigs' again!

 

[Boeing]

Sure, we see tons of reviews (some of us) on bikes and they state all these facts and characteristics but many are just stories with no hard numbers to categorize the bikes.

Well this may not be the end all of reviews but surely a different perspective on it if not at least a fun one to view. Again, will they test all bikes, even those not being advertised on their size/rag or review them badly if they are bad?

I like their anonymous tester's name Mr. Hematorcrit

Well view for yourself:

http://vimeo.com/29591521

my favorite line from road bike reviews is "vertical compliance"