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- Now it could well be that you've come to a part
of your training where it's simply not going to plan.
Or maybe you've just reached maximum peak performance,
and you still want to go faster.
It's time for plan B.
The marginal gain game.
Let's look then at five ways
on how to make your bike faster.
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Well there is no doubt about it,
tire pressures totally transform the feel
and comfort level on your bike.
However, you can actually get some speed for free
by playing around with that pressure too.
Now years ago we used to all put our tire pressures
up to virtually maximum,
and hope for the best really being bounced around
from left to right, up and down,
with every little bit of bad surface on the road.
So adjusting your tire pressure to suit the road surface,
as well as your weight, can actually make
a massive difference.
So go ahead and experiment.
However, if you're a track rider, then don't.
Still stick to the maximum PSI.
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Yep, that's right.
Long floppy cables are far from ideal
if you want to cheat the wind.
Now before you go ahead and start chopping
them really really short,
you wanna make sure that you can still
operate your brakes and your gears
and actually still turn your handlebars too.
In the case of poor old Ollie Bridgewood's bike here
that I've borrowed, well he can actually chop
them I recon about two centimeters shorter.
And believe it or not, all of these things do add up,
especially if you're going for marginal gains.
Now if you've got yourself an electronic group set too
think about joining up the electronic wire
with the rear brake cable where it enters the tubing.
That way, you can save possibly a fraction of a second
there too over your ride.
Go on, give it a go.
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Nothing screams slow bike more than a bike
looking as though it's entered a bike shop
covered in super glue and it's left covered in every single
accessory you could imagine.
Certainly not if you want a bike
that's gonna go really really fast.
So perhaps you want to set a PB on your local climb,
well you're gonna need to remove those bottles aren't you?
So leave 'em at the side of the road
until you get that PB.
Come back, put them on.
The same can be said for a humongous saddle bag.
Think about what you really actually need
to take with you on that bike.
This one here, more than up to the job for most people.
Silly horn.
You don't need one of those on the bike either.
Full frame pump, take a mini pump.
All of these things, if you get rid of them,
you are gonna go faster.
Less weight on the bike.
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Something I will never get bored of telling you all about
is washing your bike.
That's right, a clean bike is gonna be a happy bike.
And what's a happy bike?
A faster bike.
But why exactly?
Well for a start, there's gonna be less dirt on it.
And secondly, all of your gears are gonna be working
absolutely spot on, helping you ride faster.
No more slipping gears or miss jumping gears for instance.
Plus, it's gonna give you a psychological boost too
because you're gonna be happy riding that bike.
Yes I know there has been some research
that said that an angry cyclist is faster,
but that's only over a short amount of time.
So don't worry about that.
Go for the clean bike.
Now whether you choose to go high tec,
ultra sonic chain cleaning,
or a jet wash over the whole bike,
or maybe the old traditional white spirit on the chain,
it will make a difference.
Go ahead, clean that bike.
It will go faster.
And don't forget to lube the chain.
(upbeat music)
Now this one is gonna put the cat amongst the pigeons,
and I do expect to get a fair bit of flack from you
down there in the comments section,
but I'm gonna put it in anyway because I truly believe
this one could have some effect
on marginal gain performance.
Removing your bearing seals.
That's right, these seals, they can in fact increase
the drag when that bearing tries to turn,
especially if you've got contact seal type bearings
where the rubber seal here actually touches
the inner ring of that bearing.
Now, if you were to do this,
it will certainly shorten the lifespan
of your bearings considerably
because all the rubbish from the outside world
is gonna go inside of it.
Well not all of it.
But, bits of grit and dirt will go inside.
The only place where I could recommend it,
where I have done it,
is if you were going possibly for the hour record
on an indoor velodrome because there you have a lot less
foreign bodies floating around that could get sucked
into those bearings.
So there we are, five different marginal gains
that you could take on board to make your bike
a little bit faster.
But as ever, what have you done to your bike
to make it all bit quicker?
Let me know down there in the comments section.
And who knows, maybe your little hack
or botch will make it into the next video.
I love to read what you've done.
Now remember to like and share this video with your friends.
Give it a big thumbs up.
As well as sharing it with maybe someone
who could do with riding a little bit faster.
Don't forget too to check out the GCN shop
at shop.globalcyclingnetwork.com.
And now for another great video,
this time the latest GCN tech show,
how about clicking just over there.