How much speed can you buy?

I would test the BH bike again, with a higher tier tyre and tube, for example: GP5000 + latex inner tube, because at this point, that gatorskin might be the biggest 'issue' on the older bike.

Biggest difference is the tires and wheels. I think it can be way closer for another 500-600$ and get some good tires and some used aero wheels

Anyone else impressed by just the ability to put down almost exactly the same power through both tests?? Nicely done

I'm a steel frame guy myself, but this test misses something very significant, which is that speed gains will be compounding the longer you're riding. As your energy depletes throughout a race, the minor differences become more pronounced. So while you may get a 4% gain for a 20 minute ride, that might turn into a 10% gain for a two hour ride.

Next video idea: BH with GP5000's vs. the Foil with Schwalbe Marathon Plus 😂

Elves Falath Pro could be an interesting choice for the next test, but with their rim brake version frameset with deep carbon wheels. That would require a used SRAM wireless Force or Red rim brake grouppo, which could be a fun comparison.

I understand there has to be a price difference, but if you're talking purely bike comparison, you need to setup both bikes with same tires/innertubes. This will give a much more interesting view of data, because the only difference (for the most part) is going to be the aero dynamic advantages of the bikes.

Gatorskins are too slow. It would be more interesting if you put equal tires or similar tires (GP5000) on the BH.

So a 400 dollar bike to a 10.000 dollar bike.. that's 2400% more expensive, and a 4.3% difference. People are getting absolutely robbed out there.

I can comment on a old vs new Chinese bike debate. I was riding 2010 SCOTT Speedster with 105 and 2011 BMW M Carbon Racer (very rare bike, but still a oldschool type of carbon tube frame) with 6800 Ultegra spec. This summer I switched to Elves Falath Pro with an R8000 Di2 groupset and for the same power I go about 2-3 km/h faster on averages riding my usual 60-70 km routes. The difference was astonishing. It was really surprising. All of my Strava segments pretty much instantly got PR'd. Oh and all of my three bikes had the same wheelset (rim brake 60mm deep carbon fiber wheels). That sounds like a great idea for a test, you should do it.

I think discussion on bike fitting is really important because everything 'rides' on your comfort and ease of motion whatever style riding you set out to do. So there may be people out there who want to maybe pick up a nice used bike online, but have no idea how to get fitted, why it's even important, or even know about bike fitting in the first place.

The tests is so nicely done, this is a textbook video of how these kind of tests should be done. GCN used to do a lot of these power-controlled field test, which I believe is of great value and that's where their initial "reputation" comes from. Unfortunately for the obvious reason, fast-forward to 2023, they don't even to do these anymore like they now don't have a power meter anymore. Now the same tests were done with a description of "all-out", "flat-timetrial", "comfortably", "feel" without mentioning or controlling any power numbers. I mention this because it reminds me of "the-good-old-days". I read the comment sections and I can see as others have already mentioned, the tyre should be matched because that's not an "upgrade", that's consummerables that eventually gets changed at the same frequency no matter it's a $10000 super bike or cheap bike. When the initial stock tyre runs out after 10000 km, they both face the same question of "which tyre should I go". And there's no rule book or "maintenance bulletins" says you can only fit $150 tyres on $10000 bike and $30 tyre on a $1000 bike or you are in danger. The chances are if they are both well-informed (rolling resistance knowledge), the $10000 guy and $1000 guy will get the same $150 or something tyre, after the initial 10000 km. So the sanity of matching tyre is like "$10000 bike vs $1000 bike after 10000 kms". It's legit, practical and inline with anyone actually rides his/her bike, long-term. I know it's me trying to change another man's mind but I think my point is fair and worth a thought. Keep doing what you are doing, I love these tests!!!

We would love to see the same test but with same tires. You don't need to spend $10,000 to benefit from Conti 5000s, you can put them on a $500 bike too. GCN does the same thing when comparing cheap vs expensive bikes, new vs old, the tire difference is an automatic handicap for the lower end spec, makes the new tech look like a bigger improvement than it actually is.

Did you mention what the power meter on the BH was? It's bot the 4iiii on the Scott. 4-5% difference is not that far off from the accuracy you'd expect from comparing two different power meter models, especially the newer Shimano crank-based PMs that are notoriously inaccurate.

Thanks for the video! Would love a video comparing BH with better rubber (that should make up most of that 4% difference), vs winspace, vs scott foil. Thanks for the videos!

That BH would be a really great bike in a hillier area. For crits and flat stuff, sure it's gonna be slower (although UK crits often are so tight that shallower wheels are better for the acceleration).

Very nice content, no shilling and just the truth!

really appreciate these videos. Would like to hear your opinion on bike sizing and frame sizing

I built a nice falath evo with full mechanical red/force mixed groupset. I also built up my own custom 50mm deep carbon wheel set. The rims were 445g a piece from a seller on Aliexpress ( communication was excellent). This is also including a P505 spider power meter, the bike came in at 7.6kg (without pedals) and I managed to keep the price bellow 3000 euros. I recommend something similar. My only issue is the top tube is quite fat and my knees brush it sometimes. I've never ridden anything similar to this before, I've been riding titanium frames prior but holding 400w gets me above 40km/h on the flats. I'm finding it harder to gauge wind direction I think because of the improved aerodynamics. I like to tinker on my bikes so saving weight by foregoing the electronic groupset and hydraulic brakes made sense to me. I'm running the F1 juintec brakes and they feel close to the hydraulic rivals I had on another bike but with 280g sram red leavers that are going cheap these days because of people leaving rim brakes. To be clear, I'm into long distance endurance riding, or at least was when I had time. I'm doing a lot more day riding now in my local area which is what i built the bike for, rather tan crits and alike.

This was a comparison, I didn't know I needed but am glad to see. I am looking at upgrading an "entry level" bike I got in 2015 (aluminium frame, carbon fork, 105, rim brakes. With changes in bikes over the last few years, I am thinking of getting an entry level carbon bike in the 3-4k range. I would love to see how they compare.