Lightweight Vs Aero - What’s The Fastest All-Round Bike?

When it comes to road bikes, there are two main types: lightweight and aero. Lightweight bikes are designed to go faster up the climbs, whereas aero bikes are faster on the flat. But if you’re doing a ride that combines the two, such as a gran fondo, which bike is best for you? Ollie & Alex compare the two bikes over varied terrain to find out which is faster overall!

00:00 Intro
00:46 The bikes
01:39 The course & predictions
04:58 Disclaimer
05:36 Run 1
09:17 Run 2
12:27 Results

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Which do you prefer: lightweight or aero bikes? Let us know in the comments below! 💬

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[gcntech]

Which do you prefer: lightweight or aero bikes? Let us know in the comments below! 👇

[dominicbritt]

So, in conclusion, if you’re not a World Tour Pro get the type of bike that you prefer the ride feel of 👍

[johngannon]

Climbs is the hand my local geography has dealt so I opted for lightweight over aero. Plus there is a bit of a price difference and I was pushing affordability to get an electronic groupset. And a double thumbs up to Ollie and Alex - that was a lovely co-presenting job. A really enjoyable watch.

[flouserfehler]

I love these kinds of comparison videos! Keep 'em coming :)

[kirkbeatty]

I’d go Aero, they look so much cooler. Also most of my riding is on flatter terrain, I’ll just have to work a little harder on the climbing which should make me STRONGER! Thanks for your work, you two always do top notch content.

[courtdavidson]

Ollie is looking more and more like Dan every day, even down to the posing. At this rate, he’ll have stopped riding altogether by Christmas next year.

[rsbullock]

Having purchased a new bike yesterday I did not consider aero or weight. I was looking for comfort and build. For the last 47 years I've have ridden exclusively steel frames with down tube friction shifters. My old body wasn't liking the harsher ride and limited gearing. So with my new Giant Defy with mechanical Ultegra. I have gotten less weight, more aero, wider gearing, better shifting, and more importantly comfort. I have moved into the modern age. But I still appreciate my steel bikes.

[Rocky]

The lightweight bikes of the mid 2010s were my dream to own, but even if the same bikes these days have changed quite a bit (in spec and price…) I’d still choose them because I love climbing!

[cebeaupierrot]

Amazing video ! You should do another one with the third polyvalent bike category like the Tarmac SL7, BMC Teammachine or Pinarello Dogma F. I guess this category should be faster on your course as the specs should be more balanced.

[JonReid]

With all the disclaimers in place, this was still super interesting and informative. One thing you only briefly mentioned is acceleration. For an individual effort like this one, acceleration isn’t a factor, but when adding group dynamics, it becomes a major factor. Getting back up to speed multiple times potentially negates the aero benefits.

Chris Miller pointed this out with Plaps victory in the Australian nationals. He won with shallow, lightweight rims as it seems he planned to win from one big acceleration away from the group.

[niceracleous]

Aero v lightweight, just have both! Go rim brake, i have and f10 that weighs 6.7kg with bottle cages and power meter included.

[rfladvogado]

Given that the rider’s position makes the biggest aero gains, I wonder if the difference on the test came from a more aggressive position of the rider on the aero bike. I’ve setup a good aero position on my lightweight bike and it’s certainly not slower than my aero bike.

[ridealoha]

Have 1 of each and love them both! The joy outweighs the differences.

[donaldryder]

I think Ollie perfectly said why, even in the face of evidence, most amateur riders choose light weight. On my group rides, we stay together on the flats and race up the hills. Every hill. The aero advantage is wasted on our group rides. Maybe an aero bike gives a rider slightly more energy for the climbs (less effort on the flat parts), but given the differences in your climbing results, probably not enough to offset the light weight advantages on a climb.

[tomheenan]

I love these vids, great work. Please do one looking at the effect of weight on a flat course where speed changes are common. We spend more time accelerating on bikes than maybe we think, speed is always changing.

[Stewensson]

It is very nice to have a lightweight bike in the black forrest here in Germany. I am with Ollie, climbs are more challanging than fast flat outs. Nice vid again folks, keep up the good work! :)

[huntos]

I think an important consideration is that in both friendly group rides and road races, the big efforts and attacks tend to be on the hills, even in a race situation alot of the riding on the flats it’s relatively steady state and not too challenging to keep pace. In this regard the balance of what bike is faster over a course could swing the other way, even a fairly flat course with a couple of steep kickers could favour a lightweight bike if that is where the attacks happen.

[homerunhomeshow]

All Arounder / hybrid bike I would say, which is pretty much what I already have. A race-influenced lightweight, DeRosa R838 with aero features and components such as flat aero bars, aero seat post, and fast HED wheels with optimized Specialized tires. You guys have confirmed I have a great and practical machine. So cheers to your video!

[UncleMike]

I would love for you to revisit this topic. But I would like you to ride the current bikes as well as past aero bikes and lightweight bikes from 10 years ago as well. It would be very interesting to see how much faster the newer bikes are or are not than bikes that old. So older aero bike vs newer aero bike, same thing as lightweight bikes.

[christosandreev]

Great video. Here is another good idea for a video: Where are your watts better spent? On climbs or on flats? Go on the same mixed terrain and do tried with the same bike. On one try, try going z2 on the flat and threshold on the climbs and z1 on the descends. On the other try go Z3 throughout the whole course. Try averaging the same watts. This is how we can see where are watts worth spending.