Will a more expensive road bike help me ride faster?

Anyone who cycles will probably have looked at a top-of-the-range bike and wondered: ‘will a more expensive road bike help me ride faster?’

As with most questions related to cycling tech, the answer is ‘it depends’. Fitness and aerodynamic drag are the main things that hold us back while on flat and rolling triathlon bike legs. Given that the rider is responsible for 80-90% of drag, optimising your clothing, headwear and position delivers much more aero bang for your buck than buying a new bike. 

But if you are set on upgrading your bike, read on to find out if a more expensive road bike will make you faster. As our baseline model, I’ll use a $1,025 / £900 Cannondale CAAD Optimo 4. This excellent value alloy road bike is specced with a 2 x 8-speed Shimano Claris mechanical groupset and rim brake alloy wheels. 

For ease of comparison, I’ll set the CAAD Optimo 4 against more expensive road bikes in Cannondale’s range costing between $3,000 / £3,250 and $7,000 / £6,750. This is mid to high-end these days for the best road bikes for triathlon.

How much faster is a $3,000 bike?

Increasing our budget to $3,000 / £3,250 gets us the Cannondale CAAD13 equipped with Shimano 105 Di2, DT Swiss R 470 alloy disc wheels, a carbon seatpost and alloy two-piece cockpit.

The most obvious difference between the bikes is weight. The CAAD13 weighs about 4.4lbs / 2kg less at about 18.7lbs / 8.5kg. While that will increase your climbing speed at the same power output, the benefit on the flat will be negligible once up to speed. 

Because the CAAD13 also incorporates round tube shapes, a round handlebar and shallow alloy rims, it probably won’t be much more aerodynamic than the CAAD Optimo 3. There’s nothing between the bikes in terms of geometry either.

The pricier bike does get better tyres though. Their lower rolling resistance should help you ride faster for the same effort.

Electronic gears on the CAAD13 ensure quicker shifts. There’ll be smaller jumps between cogs on the cassette too, but these benefits don’t necessarily help you ride faster. 

Verdict

The $3,000 bike will be much quicker uphill and marginally faster elsewhere. 

How much faster is a $4,000 bike?

Adding another grand onto our budget lands us the $4,250 / £4,000 Cannondale SuperSix Evo 105 Di2, the entry-level model of the bike raced in the WorldTour by EF Education pros. 

Using the same tube design as the top-level versions, this frame should in theory be as fast. It is claimed to be 30 watts faster at 30mph / 48km/h than the previous generation. Compared to the CAAD Optimo 4’s round tubes, the budget SuperSix Evo’s truncated airfoil tube shapes should be considerably faster on the flat all things being equal. Internal cable routing and the flat-topped handlebar will marginally reduce drag too. 

The SuperSix Evo also has wider tyre clearance, enabling you to run a fatter tyre at a lower pressure to decrease rolling resistance on most road surfaces. Like most of the spec, the tyres are the same as on the $3,000 bike. 

As for weight, the SuperSix Evo Disc 105 Di2 is about 1.1lbs / 500g lighter than the CAAD13 and roughly 5.5lbs / 2.5kg daintier than the CAAD Optimo 4. That should further increase climbing speed at the same number of watts. 

Verdict

The $4,000 bike should be much quicker ascending, descending and on the flat.

How much faster is a $6,000 bike?

We’ll now skip up two grand because the $6,000 / £6,250 SuperSix Evo 2 is the next cheapest bike in Cannondale’s range.

With the Hollowgram R 45 50mm-deep carbon wheelset and Shimano’s second-tier Ultegra Di2 groupset, the spec steps up a notch, saving an additional 14oz / 400g of weight and probably significantly enhancing aerodynamics. 

This is because the mid-depth rims from Cannondale’s component brand share the profile of the best triathlon wheels. The Vittoria Rubino Pro is an underwhelming choice on a $6,000 race bike. But you can run this tyre tubeless on these wheels to decrease rolling resistance. 

The front end also looks sleeker than the budget bike’s thanks to the hidden cables and Vision Trimax Carbon aero handlebar. 

Verdict

Faster still than the $4,000 bike everywhere, but looking expensive now. 

How much faster is a $7,000 bike?

For $7,000 / £6,750, you can buy the SuperSix Evo 1, which represents a only modest upgrade on the SuperSix Evo 2, despite costing a grand more. 

Its version of the Hollowgram carbon wheelset is deeper at 50mm, which could fractionally improve aerodynamics. The bike is a tiny bit lighter (7oz / 200g or so) as well.

The SuperSix Evo 1 switches to SRAM Force AXS. This 12-speed, electronic groupset is equivalent in performance and price terms to Ultegra Di2. It’s hard to see what else you get for money.

Verdict

Poor value speed upgrade over the $6,000 bike. 

Overall conclusion: will a more expensive bike make me faster?

When buying a bike, you’ll often hear that you should prioritise the frame over components. And this advice holds true in my case study. The best value upgrade over the $1,000 bike is the $4,250 Cannondale SuperSix Evo 105 Di2 because its frame is identical to bikes’ costing multiples more. In its current build, it’ll make a lightning-fast training and race bike. Further down the line, you could invest in faster race-day wheels. Apply the same thinking to buying the best triathlon bikes and you won’t go far wrong.

Before upgrading to a more expensive bike, get a professional bike fit so you know which kind of geometry will suit you. Paying for this now can save a lot of money in component swaps and, in a case worse scenario, another better-fitting bike. 

And for review of fast triathlon kit, read our guides to the best clip-on aerobars, best aero road helmets and best tri-suits.