v20 vs v20c UPDATE

cruzKurt

Guru
I posted before about a performance decrease when I went on a similar ride with my 'new to me' v20c. I have made two changes to the bike and went on a maiden voyage this morning. I have a longer chainstay now and ditched the tubeless tires and replaced with Continental 5000 tubular tires. Running 85 psi this morning. Similar ride as far as temperature and wind. Dramatic difference and actually my fastest average speed to date on a Cruzbike. CdA still higher than my v20, not sure what to make of that.

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LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
Looks like you have most the kinks worked out. If you would have been able to do the exact same ride on your V20 while the conditions were the same, I'de bet you would have a much close CdA.
Don't get hung up by the number is my suggestion. I would look at the power it takes to get the average speed on a repeatable course. You have all but proven that they V20 and V20C are pretty much the same.
Next thing is to optimize the bike you want to ride all the time to get it to go faster at the same energy output (i,e watts) - that's where the fun begins!
 
Looking pretty close now. Are you using the same power meter on each bike. Even a variance in the PM could make that kind of difference. I use Garmin Vectors on my bikes. I am pretty sure they read on the low side compared to other brands. When I ride in groups on my DF road bike I always get the lowest power when doing equal turns. Going up hills I have lower power than others doing the same time and weight as me. My CdAs read very low compares to others on my V20. It is possible I am just very aero... but I suspect my PM just reads on the low side.
 

cruzKurt

Guru
Looking pretty close now. Are you using the same power meter on each bike. Even a variance in the PM could make that kind of difference. I use Garmin Vectors on my bikes. I am pretty sure they read on the low side compared to other brands. When I ride in groups on my DF road bike I always get the lowest power when doing equal turns. Going up hills I have lower power than others doing the same time and weight as me. My CdAs read very low compares to others on my V20. It is possible I am just very aero... but I suspect my PM just reads on the low side.
I have wahoo speedplay power pedals, swap them from bike to bike, so they are the same. I had .241 on a 25 mile ride this AM. Comparable to my v20.
 

Frito Bandito

Zen MBB Master
While the MWS CdA data is okay, I noticed mine fluctuates more than is expected despite me wearing the same clothes on different rides. Tire pressure could be part of it, as well as wind speed and direction, but sometimes it fluctuates probably more than what I think is reasonable so take that data with a grain of salt. Unless you are meticulous about your clothes, position, tire psi, and more, it is easy to get wildly different numbers. After many rides I find my CdA to be about 0.200 consistently. I've had it to as low as 0.177 last week, but for the life of me I can't figure out why it was so low. The only thing I can think of is perfect tire pressure because I didnt change anything else that drastically recently.
 
I get fluctuating CdA with MWS. Mostly from different routes. If I do the same route it is fairly consistent. I ride on roads with cars, and sometimes I get a tow from a truck or something that can make a difference. Also, it is always most consistent in very light (no) wind.

But if you do the same routes regularly, you can see trends to improve.

I have seen as low as just below 0.14. I think I am more commonly around 0.16-0.17. I think realistically because my PM reads low, I am probably in the 0.18-0.2 range.
 

cruzKurt

Guru
I get fluctuating CdA with MWS. Mostly from different routes. If I do the same route it is fairly consistent. I ride on roads with cars, and sometimes I get a tow from a truck or something that can make a difference. Also, it is always most consistent in very light (no) wind.

But if you do the same routes regularly, you can see trends to improve.

I have seen as low as just below 0.14. I think I am more commonly around 0.16-0.17. I think realistically because my PM reads low, I am probably in the 0.18-0.2 range.
Interesting, I never had power meter before, so this is kind of new to me this year.
 
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