What aspects contribute most to me being slow on this bike?

Question

So this is my bike (don't laugh). I've had it for about 20 years, still rolls. Lately I've been seeing on Strava or Garmin Connect that I'm just too damn slow vs. everyone else and I don't think the problem is with me, but I'd like to confirm this with you. My average long-term speed is about 15 km/h and 140 BPM heart rate, I hardly ever go on unpaved roads, although I go uphill a lot. Some of my ideas behind the slowness:

• 17 kg, I've changed its accessories but it's mostly the same thing still
• 26" wheels, I believe 1.75" wide (current tyres are a bit less rugged)
• 21-speed. I don't know much about ratios, but going down I miss the gears that would allow me to pedal above 30 km/h (unless I go very high cadence, it feels like my feet are free spinning).
• No lockout on that front suspension.
• Regular pedals and my shoes are skateboarding ones.
• Posture is more upright than not. But I moved the seat to a correct height as I grew. Perhaps the frame matters, as I'm no longer teenage-sized?
• My clothing while technical, looks nothing like road bike wear. It's more like skiing/hiking gear but not tight-fitting. So: wind resistance?

I think I'm a fit person (30-something guy with 13% BF, 20 BMI) - I'm moving every day for almost two years doing various exercises and like to do long distances (with this setup 50+ km is long). However, I think I'm missing something. On level ground, 20 km/h is easy, 25 is a bit unsustainably tiresome, 30 is considered sprint. Yet I see for some people average 30 including uphill. For them, on level ground 30 seems like a casual conversational tempo, even a minimum under which "you are no cyclist" while I'm busting my rear with 170 BPM and 60 cadence... Due to this speed my excursions are mostly just about fun and sightseeing and not what you'd call training.

Here are two of my fastest rides, both in the summer, nice weather, around lakes so relatively flat, low wind, evening or at night, no traffic, very few stops and show 22.1 km/h:

• 60+ km
• 30+ km

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The picture is like 15 years old, but it's the same bike. I was smaller back then. Now the saddle sits pretty high, I can barely reach the ground with my feet. However, the cadence remains :) I have cadence sensor and the average is 56 over an 1500km period. I like to turn the pedals slowly "from muscle" and sail away.

Recently I tried higher cadence, 70-80 but I can only do that by easing up on the gear/ratio and I end up going slower, at a higher heart rate, and my legs don't become sore after rides like that. I guess high cadence is more cardio, while my approach is for muscles.

Answer 1

Since no-one else posted this as an answer (Vladimir touched on it in comments) i'm going to add it. Please don't take this the wrong way, its not designed to be insulting.

Simply put, you are slow because you are not bike fit (general fitness is not the same as bike fitness).

You are right about all of the things that make your bike inefficient and slowing you down, but the biggest factor is the 'engine'. Your answer contains several indications that you are not bike fit.

1. Your 15km/h average is very typical of an 'active' person that likes to ride, but is very much lower than a cyclist that commits to even basic training
2. You consider 50km a long distance - its not, its a typical training ride.
3. The assertion that your 21 speeds only allow you to reach 30km/h, when it more likely allows you to reach 40-50km/h with a relatively normal cadence (it is normal for untrained cyclists to use a low cadence)

Other riders you are seeing on Strava/Garmin that appear to be so much faster ARE that much faster. Some of it is about the bike, but a huge part is because they are training regularly, following training plans etc.

To give a little personal context, I was averaging around 21km/h on my MTB on off-road routes last year - on flat routes or taking the MTB on road this was closer to 25km/h for rides of up to 120km. I'd consider myself fit, but still not anywhere close to an elite level of performance.

Answer 2

For riding on the flat on a sealed road, bike weight isn't that important. It just takes you longer to get to your steady-state speed.

1. Tyre air pressure - for a MTB on the road I'd aim for 40-50 PSI (270-340 kPa, 2.7-3.5 bar, 2100-2600 Torr, 80-100 inHg) I was over 100 kg when riding something like this and 60 PSI (410 kPa) was needed in the back.
2. Bike fit - are you getting your power out? As an initial start point, your saddle should be "as high as it can go so that any higher makes your hips wiggle while pedalling" without exceeding the "minimum insertion" mark on the seatpost.
3. Losses from friction, brake rub, chain rub, etc - do the wheels free-spin for a while when the bike is off the ground? Do the pedals turn over a couple times when spun on their own axles?
   • Tyre knobs contribute to rolling resistance too - if you purely ride on-road, a smoother tread is helpful. 26" smooth tyres are rare but do exist - Continental has a "Grand Prix" with no numbers, that does the job.
4. Suspension losses - actuating the springs/elastomer/oils takes power away from your forward motion. If there's a lockout that helps. No "fast" road bikes have suspension.
5. Aerodynamics - as you get up above 20 km/h or so, the air stream can take a disproportionate amount of your available power.
   • Try less-baggy clothes, so shirts and pants that conform closer to your skin.
   • Bring your hands closer toward the center of the bars (though this makes it harder/slower to get to the brakes/shifters)
   • Lower your head and put your backside further aft
   • Keep your knees in-line with your feet and hips.

Two other things can help

• Have a working speedometer. Seeing the number in front of you can be motivational. Something wired like a Cateye Velo will be under $30 and batteries last years. Cheap chinese ones eat batteries.
• Use a tracker like Strava. Seeing your own progress over time is massively reinforcing. Seeing your own progress over time is handy.
• Hydration - there's no bottle cage on your bike. Having a sip of water can help your airways work better, getting more oxygen in resulting in more power. Kinda like porting the air pipes in a car's engine (kinda, no, not really)
• If your helmet has a visor/cap/brim/peak, try removing and storing it. This can let you see ahead easier while bent forward.

Those people averaging 30 km/h are probably on a road bike, which are probably half the weight of your MTB and 8-10 kg can make a huge difference when riding up a grade, or when accelerating. And they're possibly just more fit.

ULTIMATELY, you're riding a bike because you want to. Other cyclists are irrelevant to your riding and your enjoyment of that riding. Strava defaults to showing the "top 10" times for a segment - change the options to show your own top 10 times and make it about your improvement, not about competition.

Most of the suggestions above are free or cheap. Let us know how they work out for you.

Answer 3

You are a cyclist if you’re riding a bike and enjoying yourself.

Who is averaging 30km/hr ? You can’t hope to compete with road bikes on that bike. 15km/hour is not a bad average for a 26” bike with knobby tires so don’t beat yourself up.

Factors that will contribute to your speed are:

• The weight. 17kg is relatively heavy compared to a modern trail bike and especially to a road bike.
• The wheels. 26” will limit the amount of speed you can carry.
• Aggressive Off-road tyres. Lots of friction there. Maybe consider faster rolling tread patterns or even slicks.

Unless you’re race focused, your fun and sightseeing rides are perfect training for keeping yourself fit and healthy. Accept that this bike is not for going fast and long. If that’s your desire look at buying a different machine.

Answer 4

The easiest upgrades would be:

• Tyres without knobs, and good tyres at that. I think Conti Grand Prix are the only kind-of road bike tyres you can get for 26" (559mm) but even a Schwalbe Marathon would have much less rolling resistance. You should also run them at a suitable pressure.
• Get some less baggy clothing
• Is the saddle really high enough?
• Hard to tell from the perspective in the photo, but is the stem pointing upwards? You should be able to flip it 180° to have it point downwards for better aerodynamics.
• Find some way to lock the front fork. Or get a rigid one.

Regarding average speeds: They can be deceiving. 30km/h average speed on a road bike for an hour or more on public roads with elevation changes is quite good, especially for a training ride. To reach those kinds of averages your “normal” speed on flat terrain has to be in the ballpark of 33 or 34km/h. You’d really need a power meter and compare W/kg to get any indication of real fitness. The typical road bike speed is 30km/h, the MTB equivalent is around 25km/h.

Answer 5

What you’re saying about your typical speeds sounds exactly like what I typically get on the hybrid 3-speed I use as a commuter. 15-20km/h is actually reasonably good for someone who is not cycling like a competitive cyclist and not using a high-end road-bike.

Things I would change though:

• Don’t use Strava as a point of comparison. Data there is inherently skewed towards more competitive and more athletic cyclists. You wouldn’t compare yourself to people leading the Tour de France, but comparing yourself to people on Strava is essentially the same thing on a smaller scale. Unless you specifically want to be competitive or want to ride in a group, just don’t worry about anybody else, and simply focus on maintaining or improving your own performance.
• Make absolutely certain you get the seat height correct. Either as high as it can go without being above the ‘minimum insertion’ mark on the seatpost, or just high enough that your leg is at full extension at the bottom of the pedal stroke, whichever is shorter. This is seriously important for making sure you can put full power into each pedal stroke. This is also totally free.
• Use sensible tire pressures. For road cycling on a mountain bike or gravel bike, you want the max rated pressure for your tire. Higher pressure equals less rolling resistance, which means less power lost to friction. Just like seat height, this is totally free, and it’s also a pretty noticeable impact (though you will likely notice it more as being easier to reach a given speed than being able to go faster).
• Proper hydration. At minimum, get a bottle cage (these are something like 10 USD a pop and can be easily installed by hand without needing to go to a mechanic) and a decent cycling bottle (also inexpensive), and make a point to hydrate while cycling. Doing this without stopping takes some practice, but it will likely have a big impact on how well you perform, and also how you feel after a ride.
• Get better tires. Even the least rugged MTB tires have a pretty high rolling resistance on hard surfaces, which eats into your effective power output. I would recommend either commuter tires (like road tires, but better designed to safely handle wet roads) or hybrid tires (kind of like commuter tires, but designed to work acceptably (but not optimally) almost anywhere). Acceptable tires can usually be gotten for less than 50 USD each, and this will also have a very noticeable impact.
• Look into a new fork. Suspension may sound nice, but in practice it eats into power output as well (when you go over a bump, some of your forward momentum is lost as energy put into compressing the suspension springs or cylinders). In practice, if you’re just doing road cycling, then you will not actually be dealing with significant enough bumps to make the suspension worth it anyway. This will be potentially expensive, but probably cheaper than a whole new bike.

Things I would specifically not worry about:

• The wheel size is not ideal, but not bad either. Larger wheels would probably be better, but would also require a new bike (that is definitely a frame designed for 26-inch wheels), and the improvement would not be as drastic as most of the stuff I listed above.
• 17kg is not horrible in terms of bike mass. Yes, it’s not light either, but unless you’re racing it likely does not matter, and in practice you will get better results for cheaper by worrying about other things first (and also, worrying about mass translates to a new bike before any other improvements, which is potentially very expensive right now).
• Flat pedals are just fine, and skateboarding shoes are actually a reasonable option for use with flats (because they’re designed to provide a good grip on a flat surface). Just like mass, clipless pedals are not likely to matter unless you’re racing, and they are a potentially expensive (and recurring, because you need new cleats as the old ones wear out) investment when you can improve other things for cheaper. Also, for certain types of cycling, flats are arguably safer (for example, if you’re cycling in the winter on an icy road, you probably want flats).

Answer 6

Lots of answers, but I also see a lot of common bicycle myths in the answers, so let me add some gas to the fire.

17 kg, I've changed its accessories but it's mostly the same thing still

Cyclists vastly overestimate the effect of weight on speed. However, that's a fairly heavy bike! Assuming where you live is moderately hilly but nothing too extreme (say, 300m of climbing per 30km), and that you're an average weight, this decreases your average speed by about 1kmh compared to a 7kg racing road bike, calculated using BestBikeSplit. However, it only really affects your speed on hills, not on flats.

26" wheels, I believe 1.75" wide (current tyres are a bit less rugged)

The actual diameter has practically no effect on speed itself. However, tire construction is a major factor in bike speed. Since the performance market has somewhat-arbitrarily decided on 700c wheels and to some extent 650b wheels, most available high-quality performance tires are only available in those sizes and not in 26".

I am a fast cyclist, regularly averaging over 32kmh if not 35kmh on solo rides with hills, on a road bike. My commuter bike though has fast 26" tires and it rolls along just fine -- pretty much the fastest 26" tire you can buy, which is the Continental Race King Protection. However, I occasionally ride bikes like the one you posted and the decrease in speed due to the tires only is noticeable.

Your tires could easily have 40 watts of rolling resistance each at 30kmh. Scaling down to 22kmh, that's about 30 watts each. Compare to a nice road tire at about 9 watts each at 22kmh. 2*(30-9) = 42 watts, which is massive. Popping that into BestBikeSplit, that's worth about 3kmh.

Tire pressure is complicated. Blindly pumping up tires to their max pressure, despite the belief of many beginners, often decreases speed. And in addition to the possibility of decreasing "raw" speed, it also decreases your comfort level, which in turn decreases your power output on long rides (both mentally and physically). However, in your case with relatively large tires on paved roads, it's fairly safe to pump them up high to get free speed. Though personally I wouldn't go above 50psi with 1.75" tires.

21-speed. I don't know much about ratios, but going down I miss the gears that would allow me to pedal above 30 km/h (unless I go very high cadence, it feels like my feet are free spinning).

The number of speeds doesn't really matter, but the ratios do matter. However, your cadence is also pretty low. 80-90rpm is probably the average cadence for moderate to fast cyclists these days.

So, either pedal faster, or get a larger chainring/crank.

No lockout on that front suspension.

Little to no effect on speed. Videos testing/explaining it: here and here, both strong cyclists.

Regular pedals and my shoes are skateboarding ones.

Little to no effect on speed. Video explaining it here.

Posture is more upright than not. But I moved the seat to a correct height as I grew. Perhaps the frame matters, as I'm no longer teenage-sized? My clothing while technical, looks nothing like road bike wear. It's more like skiing/hiking gear but not tight-fitting. So: wind resistance?

Multiple things here. First, are you sure you have the correct saddle height? The majority of casual cyclists run their saddle far too low. This hampers power production. As a baseline I would suggest using the Competitive Cyclist fit calculator to make sure your saddle height is roughly where it needs to be.

Second, yes, generally wind resistance increases if your position becomes more upright or you wear loose clothing. Wind resistance is the main thing you're working against when you ride your bike at higher speeds. You don't necessarily have to change anything on your bike; it might be as simple as articulating your elbows so that you can lower your torso. But you might benefit from a longer stem to increase your handlebar reach.

140 BPM heart rate

It's hard to tell too much from this, because some people naturally have a low heart rate. However, this could also be a sign that you could be riding harder. An average 35 year old male can probably sustain ~170 bpm for an hour at max effort, for example. Granted, you should't ride at that intensity all the time, but try bumping it up to 150 or 160.

Answer 7

Very good answers already say what I would, but a I'll add correct maintenance matters.

From the picture the bike seems to have been taken care of. But, just in case: make sure the drivetrain, bottom bracket, hubs and pedal axles are cleaned and lubricated correctly.

In the drivetrain, excess oil, specially if it's thick, will retain dirt and gum up to a thick paste (edit:)if neglected for too long or cleaned only superficially and new oil added on top of dirt. That makes the drivetrain less efficient and you get more tired traveling a the same speed.

For hubs and non sealed bottom brackets, if the grease gets too old it can also degrade, get dirty and thus produce too much resistance. (I have used some grease that lets solvent evaporate and turn into a thick paste after one year or so. using bad, cheap stuff from the hardware store). At least in my case, using non sealed hubs nor bottom bracket, on a bike used on dry roads/streets with only ocasional exposure to rain/mud, requires disassembly and cleaning and adjust about once a year. (For generic parts).

Also, make sure your brakes are not dragging (touching the rims slightly) and for that matter, that rims are true, as this allows for better brake adjustment.

If you want to upgrade your bike, I'd invest in tires first. Good slick tires are gold. They do not need to be the skinniest to have noticeable effect. On 26 bikes I use 26x1.5 slick tires (with very narrow channels, not entirely slick). This size works well for me, at around 60-70 psi, being that I weight close to 170 pounds. For commuting and confort rides I lower the pressure to 50-ish psi.

Answer 8

As a fellow "weekend warrior" type rider who also had a hybrid bike (with thicker tires) who also struggled with Strava numbers way higher than mine (note: still working on that - at least I'm no longer on the bottom of the leaderboards), I can sympathize with your situation.

Here's what I did for myself to make myself more "bike fit" and my bike faster (in order)

• Decided to bike more regularly (and ignore others' Strava stats)
• Replaced my hybrid tires with some road tires (28c700) - only possible with a hybrid that supports road bike tires.
• Talked with my coworkers and bike-fit friends on what they'd recommend
• Finally, I just purchased a starter road bike so I could ride (albeit slower) with some of my friends.
• Bike had mountain bike pedals (one side with clipless, other flat) so I could also use the bike without committing.

Honestly with your bike, I wouldn't expect much better. I would upgrade the bike if you have plans (or already started) to take biking more seriously. You (like me) seem motivated by better Strava numbers, and if you can afford it I'd strongly recommend a road bike - after purchasing I got comfortable with all the little details: how to use clipless, getting fitted for bike clothes (to reduce draft and remain comfortable), planning rides, etc. A lot of fun with friends (biking is outdoors and COVID-safe).

Answer 9

A point worth mentioning that seems to be missing from the other answers:
Hills kill your average.

Say you are riding up hill, 12km at 5% average slope (600m height difference). You take two hours to get up there, that's 6km/h. At the top, you turn around and ride back home in 12 minutes (60km/h).

Now, what is your average? (6km/h + 60km/h)/2 = 33km/h? No!
Your average is your total distance divided by your total time, so it's (12km + 12km)/(2hr + 12min) = 24km/132min = 11km/h. Because your total time is dominated by the ascent, the ascent controls your average. In this example, you simply cannot get an average of 12km/h and above by riding downhill faster because you have already lost two hours on the ascent. On flat terrain, you might have done the 24km in 1.5 hours at a leisurely pace, averaging at 16km/h, but the mountain killed your average.

As such, average speed in hilly terrain is useless without also considering the elevation profile. You cannot compare the speed of another cyclist to yours unless you've both done the exact same tour. If they've circled the mountain while you went over the top, they will very likely have a significantly higher average than you, no matter how fit you are.

Answer 10

You can't compare speeds and distances between a knobby tire heavy bike like that and road bikes on paved surfaces. End of story. Get a basic road bike and feel the difference. It's not your fitness. In fact your fitness will go up on a road bike on paved surfaces doing the same basic training. You'll get a better workout with the road bike. Just make sure its fitted well. Get cleated shoes too after you get used to the road bike in general.

You can't go fast on paved surfaces with that bike compared to a road bike. I know this from personal experience when I switched from mountain bike to hybrid to aluminum road to carbon road to carbon time trial.

Answer 11

Nice bike mate! To achieve that speed of an average of 30km/h on level ground, I would recommend you avoid braking. Yes, instead of slowing down try to devise faster ways that will ace your personal skills. Pedaling faster can help you ride faster as well. Less muscle strain, and faster pedaling should be less tiring once you get used to it. Cadence is simply the number of pedal rotations per minute.

There is no ‘perfect' cadence, but trained amateur riders typically ride at 80-90rpm, while pros may ride at 100rpm. Even on an uphill finish, Chris Froome will pedal at around this number.

Souplesse is a smooth, efficient riding style that puts power down through the pedal stroke rather than just pushing down.