>>2018041>min-maxing comfort and speed on a road bikeAlright, you're asking for quite a lot here because min-maxing comfort and speed is the whole point of competitive cycling. The straight forward answer is so arbritary, it honestly solves nothing unless you already know what you're doing. So here's the answer, to min-max speed, you have to be comfortable, to be comfortable, you have to be uncomfortable. What do I mean exactly? The pursuit of speed is an ongoing effort that never ends because your body changes, the goal gets higher, and your will is continuously tested. Anyways, I digress, now onto the real answers. To objectively be comfortable at speed, it will require the ideal combination of geometry, fit, fitness, gearing, and loadout, all of which will change over time as your fitness and flexibility and goals change.
Now, everyone has different priorities at min-maxing comfort at speed because each human body is unique, the ideal bike would be custom made with the considerations of each of our body size ratios, fitness, and flexibility, but we live in a world of mass produced goods until you hit a certain level. With that said, I will now list my personal ranking of factors that are most important at producing speed with comfort from most to least important
>fitness>diet>flexibility>geometry>bike fit>aero>gear ratio>crank length>wheel weight>tire compound>tire width>low friction bearings>bike weight>bike materialNow, a lot people focus so hard on the bike that they forget about the most important part of cycling, the engine. Notice how my first 3 points were about the rider, not the bike. There is no shortcut to being FAST, train hard, eat well, and rest right.
