Could the world’s best cyclist, two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar still win the race if he rode the groupset of the people, Shimano 105? Could a bike fitted with mid-level components compete with groupset worth over $10k? Dr. Oliver Bridgewood is here with another GCN Tech Test!

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    21 Comments

    1. What's the error margin and what is the one Watt worth in seconds, would have been nice if the mid was the higher power (is the three second difference within the error margin ? More runs, smaller error margin)

    2. Come on Dr Bridgewood, you are scientist, you know that is a poorly designed test, made for entertainment. There is not enough data to conclude that. What if the guy was tired after the first run and that was his best? Go to the Alps, find a route with 3 or 4 continuous climbs and run them a couple of times with each bike on 4 different days. That may be more approximate to what they go through.

    3. its about the bike reaching 6.8 kg for the big Tour climbs not drive train weight…. my bike is 7.5-7.7 kg with mostly 105… If I threw climbing wheels on it were talking 7.0 kg with almost all 105 except wheels. Many Tour winners have mixed components to add ballast over the years… My old rim brake bike with dura ace is like 6.5 kg probably not allowed in a UCI race.

    4. But what about Sram Rival, which on paper matches up with Ultegra? Or a mix of Sram components + Shimano crankset, which is lighter than Ultegra and barely heavier than Dura-ace?

    5. You got your 10K likes… so can we revisit this topic with a true enthusiast-level bike? Title says Shimano 105, but the test on the lower-level bike was Dura Ace.

    6. Seems like 3 seconds is within a margin of error unless you guys are extremely precise with timing. I'd like to see a longer test if possible. Anyway, great video and it's always fun to see Mr. Feather!

    7. That was interesting but you didn’t just swap the group set you did a whole bike swap. Obviously it would be more time consuming to do but using Feather’s frame and swapping the dura ace for 105 would be more accurate. I suspect there’d be no difference in performance.

    8. Meh – much of the climbing would also be – when not a summit finish with or w/o small decent – conducted in the/a peloton/group. Over the course of a 3-week GT the added weight of the 105-set just might put a bit more strain on the physionomy of the rider, hence presenting a small disadvantage 🙂

    9. It was a fun test, but you can't draw any conclusions on a sample size of one. Secondly for the test to be valid you would need to do the test on the same bike to eliminate the possible variance caused by the bike itself, which in this case easily could have been the difference. What we need is a wealthy person to sponsor a top tour team and then fit the team with mid level components. I am sure the SRAM, Shimano and Campy wouldn't like that. In my humble opinion, Jonas Vingegaard would have still won last year's tour with Ultegra or 105 and this year's with Force or Rival. His mechanics would have those mid level components working flawlessly. Weight difference would be addressed by making reductions in other areas of the bike. But I love the way GCN mixes the serious videos with stuff just for fun and entertainment!

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