We know that Ollie Bridgewood is not as good as the pros (despite what he might tell you about dropping a certain Alberto Contador). However, what about if he was racing against a pro on the very cheapest of bikes? We enlisted the help of professional cyclist Rory Townsend to find out!
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What would you like us to do next with the Eurobike?
Eurobike vs 2nd hand 80s lightweight "Pro" bike, like Colin Sturgess used to set his 18min 10mile TT record.
Conor + Eurobike + Whistler = KZhead gold
I'd like to see it burn please. that thing is hideous
@@Pionirish Great idea, old "pro" vs new high tech.
The real test is a 10,000 pound bike Vs a 1,500 pound bike. That is the test. Love to see those results.
Ok, new idea for a challenge. The presenters are given £300 to buy/build a bike, be that new, 2nd hand or super cheap specced up, or whatever. Then those bikes are compared to Eurobike and a reasonably expensive new bike to see which is fastest/nicest to ride. Hopefully show people the best way of getting a decent bike on a budget.
Pretty much top gear w GCN twist
Yes, like this idea
100% would be amazing
I like this idea👍🏼
I bought a triban 520 used for around 250 dollars a proper roadie
I love how 80% of GCN videos include the phrase "that was one of the worst experiences of my life"
That is what happens when you ride an Eurobike… 80% of your life is ruined! :)
@@lgarcia67 me
Rory's biggest problem, as he stated, was lack of top end gearing. He had to spin excessively on the flats and couldn't really apply power on the downhills.
And because of that, I don't consider the main question to be answered at all. "Will you go slower downhill if you lack top end gearing?" That question has been answered instead.
so inadequate gearing is primarily the issue, more than the lower price components. what if the cheaper bike simply had a change to a wider range gearset? would that level the playing field sufficiently to flip the results?
thanks for repeating what he stated in the video.
@@dubmob151 just thinkin the same thing, that bike probably has a 14theth cassete in the lowes gear, change to a 11T and the pro could crashed this test.
@@TheOriginalDogLP he restated the problem but with proper emphasis. As others have pointed out this one issue - easily corrected for a small investment - might have accounted for nearly ALL of the difference. This invalidates the relevancy of the test beyond a very limited and easily correctable case. The larger question remains unanswered. A more relevant test, for a serious amateur, would be to compare a 1500 bike vs the 15000.
For Rory to make such a garbage bike move so quickly, it’s absolutely impressive. Also makes me happy to know that I don’t have to upgrade my bike anytime soon, just to get faster.
i don't know what you saw, but i saw a pro cyclist torturing himself, i have never tasted a super bike worth 10-15k, but i can guarantee you that if you upgrade from a cheap $300 range bike to a 2-3k bike,or used 2-3k bike you will notice a crazy significant difference in the speed and the joy you get out of riding, i felt younger the first time i had a decent bike, there are junk bikes with good riders who pass me here and there but i am having allot more fun, i think they need to make a fitted old bike vs a too big or small super bike
@@silence-humility-calmness my bikes worth around 500, i only translated the money to euro, i love my bike to death tho. I spent a lot on upgrades which made it a lot better
@@silence-humility-calmness I saw the same thing you did, and it doesn’t change the fact he still made that bike fly. Obviously for daily riding or harsh riding, you’re going to need to spend more money on a sturdy bike, but I think it’s impressive he made that bike move that fast
@@Rocky4719 indeed it is an impressive feat, but if he only had that old bike from now on he wont be able to keep that up and may be enticed to give up riding sooner, some people use this as an ergo a cheap bike does the job,, i had a cheap bike but i spent less time on it, i fantasized about doing 50 to 100 mile rides but my average ride was 7 and max 13,now i do around 20 on a regular basis, have done 50 mile rides and maxed out at 75 in a day (wanted 100 but cramps forced me to quit) the more fun you have the more you like doing it
@@silence-humility-calmness oh that’s true. My personal experience has kinda been reversed. I have an older city bike from 2019, and in 2021 I bought a budget road bike that was twice the price ($500 and $1000, respectively, obviously none of them are cheap but in the world of cycling, the road bike costs dimes and the hybrid is mere nickels and half a Turkey sandwich). I rarely use the road bike anymore because of the harsh conditions of the roads around my town wrecking those thin, weak wheels and the crappy shifting being a headache (had to get it fixed a week after purchase, and even now it skips gears or doesn’t shifting into the larger chainring). In contrast, the city bike’s been through a whole lot more and still shifts well and the hydro disc brakes stop it flawlessly. At the end of the day, I suppose price doesn’t always indicate quality and smiles per hour, and anyone fortunate enough to have a sturdy bike should cherish it and ride as long as their body allows.
2:19 I love how he explained the spec of his Pinarello while Rory flipped down the bike stand in the background😂😂😂
Is that you? Antony van Leeuwenhoek.
And buttoned up the panniers 🤣
£15,000 and you don't even get a kick stand? Waste of money.
Observation is good, flexing not
Well, I removed my bike stand 2 months ago. And in the eternal quest for marginal gain, I took the odd front shopping basket out 2 days ago. I was expecting to get much faster today but maybe that was that front wind…
If we give Rory the gear ratios he needed, even capping the budget at the same crap bike, the result could be very different. But this is entertaining nevertheless.
Yeah, especially since a 53 chainring and 11-19 7 speed cassette wouldn’t even have cost more than this set up as a second hand.
You can polish a turd, but it's still a turd.
@@mihalis1010 the point is that it's a faster turd
Just oiling the chain my do it!
And decent tires so he would not need to worry about them slipping.
I started riding "seriously" at 40 years old. I fell in love with cycling. As I began taking part in group rides I noticed that some riders were spending inordinate amounts of money on equipment in order to shave weight off their bike. I found myself contemplating lighter pedals, wheels, seats, etc then it dawned on me that it would be much cheaper to shave a pound off my waistline. It also dawned on me that a heavier bike takes more effort to pedal, so you burn more calories, and, when it came down to it, I was just there to keep fit and have fun. I was not deluded into believing I was going to be in the Tour de France. Fortunately for those that make bikes and all of the expensive accouterments, many of my fellow riders were appropriately delusional and kept buying more and more expensive equipment. In the long run, this hurts the sport as it increases the perceived "cost to enter". Though you don't need a $2,000 bike to enjoy cycling, many cycling wannabes are intimidated into believing that is the price point needed to start. And this cost doesn't include the sundry of other "necessary" gear.
I've had a similar attitude to the weight loss with harder paddeling on a heavier bike but wht completely blew my mind was when I found a guy on yt who did a test, riding something like 8kg and 12kg bikes over 100km on constant power output and the difference was around 15mins on a hilly rout and 5min at a flatter one...sure it makes a difference while racing but when i do a 100km for recreation i couldnt care less if i finish +-15mins
Lighter bike is more fun. But of course: value for money.
I'm very similar to this.... I ended up keeping my heavier bike, ... put some paniers on it and used for work.... I then purchased a 2nd hand carbon bike and it felt beautiful ..... and for the cost of a standard bike ( 720 euros) I added cycle shoes and a cheap 2nd hand mavic cosmic wheels.... in total bike cost 1000 euro and in my opinion is sensible money for the love I have for cycling
@@carlwilliams9624 You are riding high tech for limited costs, that's simply the best thing you could do
true. and there's a lot of bike snobbery out there. i know of two cyclists who spent 1000s on carbon bikes but are over 2-3 stone overweight
I just loved how Rory was pushing so hard and you could hear the bike squeaking with each revolution! I thought it mad the point very well. Great video.
i thought the thing was going to just fall apart at any moment
Rory's "No shortage of downforce on this bike" was fantastic tongue in cheek! 😂
I don't get it :(
@@holdenmcgroin3995 Classic british humor ironically mentioning something bad (heavy and crappy bike) in a positive way. “This bike feels so heavy (bad thing) that downforce (keeping road contact and stability, good thing) is not an issue.”
@@dorianbruns1085 thanks! I'm just getting into biking so didn't know about downforce
Rory even used the wahoo computer as an air brake to give Ollie a better chance.
Just a hint for the younger guys: Back in the 70th and 80th riders diagnosed a serious disease of their steel frames as soon as a new model came out: softened frames due to frequent use. This was also very helpful when explaining to your wife why you had to spent once again two or more salaries for a new bike. A softened frame obviously is very dangerous and expensive frames are more resistant to frame softening.
Safety first, pension pot a distant 57th!
in truth, they'd eventually harden
I'd like to see this event recreated with a cheap bike that had proper gearing for the course. At first blush, it seems the bike makes a huge difference with Rory coming in 1:30 slower than on his nice bike, but what if you took the cheap bike and just changed the gearing, so he could pedal the downhills? I think that would substantially lower his time.
Exactly, most of what we saw here was not a difference of bikes in the end, but a difference of gearing.
@@harpoon2445 Exactly, especially on that short distance. I mean, this Eurobike looks already a lot better than what I see most people ride on the roads for commuting.
@@Alex-kr7zr I know! Those wheels are surprisingly decent looking for a $300 bike! I can't believe for a minute they're actually carbon though. Probably just the name of the wheels is "carbon one" and they're actually metal lol. Still I had no idea you could get a reasonably modern roadbike for under $500. Might just have to get one of these for when I want to lock my bike outside a restaurant or cinema but don't want to risk my irreplaceable TIME getting stolen.
@@michaelstratton5223 They are indeed steel rims. It's mentioned in a different video from GTN I think.
@@Alex-kr7zr you think?
Rory’s cadence is insane! It looked like he was pedaling well over 120 in some spots.
Spinning out on those tiny tiny Eurobike gears
I had a trackkie pass me going downhill - on a fixed-gear! 120 is nothing. It was like watching a sewing machine.
@@barondugger It's all fun until the metal pedal clips your leg somehow :)
@@barondugger lol I do spin ups to 120-125 and that’s about my max for 30-45 seconds. I can’t even fathom holding a cadence higher than that.
@@danielakerman8241 I can go over 130 prob even 140
I feel like some people are missing the point of this video. Yes the eurobike could use some tlc and i agree with that. However the big take away is that even a bike in as poor condition as the eurobike is all a pro needs to stay a few seconds behind Ollie. I’m more impressed by the rider’s ability to use such a faulty tool rather than the focusing on the failures of the bike.
The problem with your analogy is that of no consideration to the duration and intensity of the ride. On longer, hilly rides, the wear and tear on the body is exponentially greater with the Euro bike. As fatigue sets in, few seconds on a 12 minute ride turns in the minutes if not hours on longer rides.
@@spontaneousexpress If that's the case then I'd guess it's time for UCI or at least al hobby riders to switch to recumbents. A diamond frame on long distances is bearable at best, masochism at worst.
@@spontaneousexpress Fatigue after hours of riding will be terrible and the bike will arrive at destination in two pieces.
@@4nz-nl I could only imagine the crashing that would ensue. Not to mention the sad futility of trying to sprint. Racing is not recreational riding. As much as I might be more comfortable sitting down it doesn't look like it would be as safe in traffic with cars or in dodging pedestrians and other typical urban challenges. Probably awesome out on long country roads, certainly makes sense on the right ride.
@@frankbaker5174 "It doesn't look like" -> I'm close to six figures in kms of bicycle commuting in metropolitan areas. Trust me, it's no more dangerous than a quick road bike. Both require defensive driving just to survive. A recumbent IS different though. Concerning crashing: you'll have less crashes in velomobile races. Downhill, speeds can get completely crazy though. I'm sure we would get to see 160+ km/h descents with the right recumbent + rider. In the peloton, it might be a bit more boring because there's no need to stay close to each other. The battle is not so much chess, and more poker. Pacing is important! Concerning sprinting: I have a sprinters' build, but I outsprint riders on speed pedelecs (including f.e. Strömer ST5, although the first few meters from standstill it's quicker). Especially in a faired recumbent, sprinting is more complex, but not more difficult. You have a choice between going for the highest top speed (takes a while because you need to hold the power much longer), or the most agressive acceleration (like in the end of a road race). This makes timing an end sprint a lot more complex. If you would like to have a go, let me know where in the world you are and I'll try to point you to nearest recumbent enthusiast/dealer.
You always make me smile, Ollie. Thanks for these great "shootouts".
Great video - it was so fun to watch. Great job for both of you. The video showed that fun is first when go for cycling.
Jeez, that Eurobike was abused by Rory. You can hear it crying out in pain at the speed it was going literally falling apart as he road. Somebody save that poor bike from GCN please!
time stamp
@@signordon1987 06:29
#prayforeurobike 🤣
#prayforeurobike
If they don't service it and let it fall to pieces, what do you expect? The least they can do is to keep it in tip-top condition. Not to mention that if they put in a good set of tires, higher gearing and good quality bar tape (things which won't break anyone's bank) the performance would drastically improve (not thanks to the bar tape 😂)
QUALITY - Rory's face when he gets given the super Eurobike at the start is a timeless classic! 😁
It looks quite good
Thanks, Lee! Glad you enjoyed the video as much as we loved making it!
This truly is why I love you guys, great vid! Smiles from ear to ear overhere!!
Also congrats to Ollie as he did a 14 minute time around this course with no slipstream. With this form I think he would have been able to keep up with the others during 4 vs 1 and 5 vs 1.
Hats off to Rory for being brave enough to ride that bike. Putting in any more power would have most likely twisted the crank off. When I first started mountain biking back in the early 90's, I tried a cheap bike, which lasted exactly two rides and was then deemed un-repairable.
With that in mind, the Eurobike has survived nicely
That's not a thing with bike's I can repair anything.
Im using a 150$ bike and so far used for 2 years and used prettymuch everyday because i dont have a car. Its still working today. Tho i had to change a pedal and one wheel, one tire, one tube, speed cable and thats it !
Yes I too had a bit of concern about overstressing the cheap bike. They have a place as a learning ride and when it's stolen you can laugh at the thieves....also the wheel disk gives huge aero advantage. I have used them back in the day and you can ride one gear higher with less effort.
@@markdove5930 That's nice, but a smart man knows when something is far beyond being worth the time or the money to repair, so they would deem it unrepairable in the same way a broken lcd screen is deemed unrepairable.
That poor bike was squeaking worse than the birds outside my window.😅 But this was nice to wake up to. Enjoy your Sunday
Lol 🤣😆 this is one of the best comments....
What was nice to wake up to? The bike or the birds?😂
So happy to discover this channel, finally I can enjoy this beaitiful sport
You guys should definitely do this with both bikes having the same gears. I bet the gap would be even smaller! Thats amazing!
The efforts GCN has to go though for Oli to win I think GCN should get the eurobike upgraded with ludicrously expensive parts see how quick they can make it
Yeah, that would be interesting.
Yeah - I’d like to see that. Crap (but safe) frame, top-shelf bits.
"Average 314 watts, which is not great". That made me want to cry. I wish I could get close to that average.😛
Go PEDs
I can hold on... for 5min.
7:00 the sounds coming out of the Eurobike - mice!
What about a bike that costs about 1500 vs the 15000? That seems like a more apt comparison for a serious amateur vs a pro who may worry that they are losing big time because they didn't invest an arm and a leg into their hobby. I suspect the difference will evaporate down to a very slim margin.
Yes but races are won by small margins. People don't invest 15k plus in a superbike to come second or third. They want every advantage possible. To the average poor cycling enthusiast. Spending even 2k on a bike seems crazy. But we are not the elite. And we will never know what it is to win a major tournament like the Tour De France. That said the fastest speed ever on a bike remains the record set in 1986 on a 17 inch wheel Moulton. By Jim Glover. No advancement in technology has ever been able to better that godly performance by Mr Glover..
Well Done Rory, I think if he had been on a normal cheap bike something about £500- £800 it would have been different, I know that you need sponsorship to pay for the channel but it would be nice to see you guys and girls on 105 level bikes rather than the most expensive ones always remember when canyon did the 105 with Matt Sttephens and Si ? More like that please
They could simply start servicing the Eurobike a little between riding it. I still feel like, aside from the awkward shifting, it's holding its own pretty well in those videos and doesn't really deserve the treatment. I think funktional lube, bartape and screws are not really a feature of expensive bikes. A well serviced Eurobike looks like it could well be worth twice or three times as much. I'd much rather see how much you can get out such a bike with little money instead of deliberately shitting on it all the time and producing ads for the big brands
We all know that a 105 groupset is more than most cyclists will ever need
Another amazing GCN video! Priceless British humour mixed with some actual useful information many of us normal weekend cycling hacks wonder about: How slow am I because of my budget bike? LMAO, Ollie just keeps getting better and better and of course I don't mean on the bike! Well done GCN.
@@PHHE1 Servicing it would cost more than the bike at this point 😂
@@PHHE1 Trust me, if you've ever ridden one you'd know they're beyond saving
This is a great video. One of the most effortlessly casual commentaries, conversations and cuts. I give it to Rory as well. Great energy in front of the camera both on and off bike.
Great to watch, and the squeaks remind me of when I took my Halfords hybrid (roads I like in Cornwall are like farm tracks, and hilly) to be maintained by a bike guy. I was beginning to get fed up with the squeaks and groans as I laboured up hills (I'm 15 stone with gusts to 15.5). He looked about 8 stone. "I couldn't get it to make the noises from the bottom bracket", he said. I suppose when it gets to maintenance depending on the noises on the bike, its gone a bit far.
Like I always said, good equipment CAN make enough difference to boost anyone a level or two. If you all have the same equipment then that is where skill, ability, and a tiny bit of luck come into play. When I was about 12 years old I was at a closed course watching a university team doing Spring time trials. I had been cycling for about 2 years and had some decent leg strength and stamina from several years of hockey. I was used to my massively heavy touring bike so when the offered to put me on one of theirs (I was just tall enough to fit one with the seat all the way down) I said sure. I have a feeling these college age bikers thought they would leave me behind, but this bike was so light and the gearing made it feel like all my power was going into the road and not just moving the bike forward. I was still right with them in a nice tuck after one lap and at the end of the second was only 3-4 seconds behind. I could tell they were a combination of impressed and pissed off. Their coach yelled for me to keep going, but I was hitting the wall and was spent just being excited that I kept with the team. It was also lots of fun. All that from just changing bikes.
at least they didn't stick something in your spokes to slow you down like in Breaking Away 😉
This Eurobike is a gem, it must be preserved at all costs as it is responsible for some of the greatest content on this channel. I suggest you put it on a plinth in the background for your shows once it is retired.
Judging by the sounds it was making at the end of this race, I think it just got retired. ;)
reminds me of that toyota pick up on top gear.
The question is . . . . will they wash it and oil the chain before putting it on display?
Once it is retired, we'll see what we can do - it needs to survive to retirement first, though!
Team eurobike all the way here lol. I bought their aluminum XC7000... quite a looker of a bike that one... carries a lot of speed with minor upgrades as well.
Having recently upgraded from a rather old and tired "cheap" bike to a new, expensive and fancy one, I can attest that having a few pints the night before (or rather not) makes a bigger difference, at least for the outcome. Still very happy about the new steed though ;)
Alcohol is way overrated.
This is false
Unless you get a motor kit, and then it's not really about the rider anymore. Where the rider is the engine, it's not a thing that you can throw money at like a performance motorcycle. Even if you get into blood doping you aren't going to be able to make up much, and the GCN presenters are still leagues ahead of the average fat guy from KFC. Some riders are so slow that I've backied someone up the hill faster than they can.
Sounds like a great bike! Glad you're enjoying it, Philipp!
Ll
Great Video! Thank you. As for me - never reaching 300W+ - I'm riding an expensvie road bike (medium level) and this is why: it makes things easyer. I do never compare myself with anybody else. It's just that the more power from the legs is brought to the wheels, the easyer and faster is biking. This means more fun. However: the difference between 5000 EUR (my bike, ultegra, carbon) and 15.000 EUR++ wouldn't really increase the daily fun for an amateur. Do we need Di2? I don't think so.... Ultegra is smooth enough if you don't have to compete...
Definitely worth thinking about, for sure - when it gets to the very top end, it becomes more marginal, and if it doesn't add to the fun factor, why bother?! We're glad you're enjoying cycling :D
LOL, loved how the grip flew off the handlebar midway of the race. :D
Glad to see Ollie finally wins....and I can't believe someone can drive that two-wheel tank so fast.
Honestly, Rory is a unit!
brand😁
@@gcn do u watch kgf 2
GCN gives that Euro Bike some amount of exposure.. I'd say sales on Amazon are through the roof
GMBN got one too and uses it for enduro rides.
Is it really the cheapest bike on Amazon? Seems there's got to be cheaper than that, unless there's some unstated criteria that has to be met to be considered a bike.
We've seen more than ever on the roads recently!
As a runner, without a proper bike, I would do my local weekly fun biathlon on my family bike with attached child seat. it was run 5, bike 10, run 5. Top 5 after first run, near last after bike. Loved hearing the WTF as I flew past most of the field on the final run.
Loved this one 👍👍👍. Love the creaking and spinning 🤣. Good effort Rory !
Cheers, Neil!
Chapeau, Rory! You made a sh*t bike go really bloody fast. If the route was any longer, you might have broken space-time. Thanks for also just being a great sport about this and the 20kg test.
Your videos are so informative AND entertaining!!!
I wonder how many of today's top riders would do with the equipment used by some of the top riders in the 60s and 70s? That would be an interesting video.
6:50 He doesn't have enough gears, he's spinning :)
Spinning not grinding. It's good for the knees. Too bad he's going downhill while doing.
Super episode! Two grand guys with lovely senses of humor!! Really enjoyed this one!!
Thanks peeps very useful. Looks like I 2qs stick with my flat hybrid for now
Gearing is always kind of the weak point on cheap bikes I feel. Would be interesting to see what mods you could do on a budget to maybe cut some time for say $100-$200. I got a basic bike for $600 and it’s geared in such a way I could probably climb a wall, but I run out of usable gears on flat ground lol… Ordered a new cassette to hopefully give me more “flat ground range”
I have a cheap bike and I still can't pedal more than 100 rpm going downhill at 35mph on the biggest gear. Once I get strong enough to do that, I'll upgrade my groupset.
Wow - Rory did very well for being on a BSO. :-) I think that BSO has held up for more miles then the manufacturer ever intended it to go & def managed to hold up to far more power then what it was designed for. I'm still interested in seeing a mechanic go over it and assessing it's condition (esp since we know it does need attention given the bar tape and the noises it's starting to make).
Just about 1000 pounds for each second Ollie won by. The real question is how little would Rory have to spend to get those 18 seconds back on the Eurobike?
About $2000, I bet.
Listening to the squeaks and rattles, £10 on some oil should see him right
I reckon new bar tape and he'd have had the win.
bigger chain ring, can of wd40, and a second hand ANY OTHER tire. and he wins
I bet that the cost of some new sprockets would probably make most of the difference, he clearly was most limited by the highest gear ratio.
The best thing about GCN is seeing roads that I ride regularly featuring. Amazing part of the Cotswolds for it, usually so quiet.
it's a great place to ride a bike!
Now give him a MTB
bruh
@@maidiskarte2126Fr
To be honest, with 100 Euros worth of upgrades (Microshift 7/8 speed + 11-25 cassette) Rory would have won by some non-trivial margin. Anyway, good showing Ollie, Ollie, Ollie!
and some chinese sti based shifters
Would also need a freehub based rear wheel. Eurobike is freewheel based and probably something like 14-28T over 7 gears and the front triple crankset may have a maximum chainring size of 48T. There are bikes around the same price as the Eurobike that have freehub based drivetrains like Claris like the Carrera Virtuoso. I think that is 52Tx11T highest gearing and probably a 3kg weight saving on the Eurobike. I'm fairly sure that professional cyclist would easily win on that bike compared to the Pinarello. I'm still waiting for a realistic road bike comparison and that is a Claris based road bike around 11-12kg with decent wide range gearing vs a high end road bike and how they compare across many areas. Speed, durability, safety, comfort, lifespan of components, how friendly they are to the environment etc. Instead we get a joke road bike vs high end road bike to satisfy companies that sponsor GCN videos.
Also, I think the eurobike costs around 250 quid on amazon. With that amount you can buy a second hand decent bike, something with shimano tiagra or even old generation 105. So, from this video there is only one learning: do not buy an eurobike
@@ZanziBarroso I have a second hand aluminium cube agree with 7800 ultegra that cost that
From the sounds it was making, it was only by chance that the Eurobike even made it to the finish line without a breakdown.
Ollie's giggle when he gave Rory the Eurobike😂😂😂 Fair play to Rory, he showed what a good sport he is.
That was a really fun video. What a great idea. Rory was such a good sport about it.
I think there should have been a third cycle which is only a little bit better than the cheap one. This would have shown how mid range cycles are really close in terms of performance to the pro bikes.
i assume mid range road bikes would still cost $1500-$3000
@@TheGamingChad., ok lower mid range then. :)
@@Sivah_Akash that would be $1000-$1500. anything below $1000 is a peasant's road bike. those mf's expensive.
@@TheGamingChad., 1000$ is 90% of a 2000$ bike in my opinion for most people. The difference only comes if the rider is a pro.
Couldn't pedal on the downhills and still only just lost. Shows how good he is.
You could have at least oiled the chain on the Eurobike 😂
I bought the cube attian pro. Hope my steering wrap doesnt come off 🤣☺️ love the pedals only hard to get. And olso shoes are difficult with magnetic clip. Ty 4 the video. Have a nice day
Good racing Gents, Rory's 314 watts is pretty amazing on that bike with the squeaking and loose bar tape.
Now I am curious if they start at the same time as a race instead of a staggered time trail, what difference would tactic/drafting from a pro rider make.
On paper, this is cheesy content, but that finish where they fist bump after going flat out makes it all worthwhile. Truly. And Rory looked damn fast on that Eurobike. I work in a shop and a guy brought that bike in for repair thinking we would love it. It is a boat anchor. Amazing that Rory could get something like that up to speed.
I will say, at least he *looked* fast. Those wheel decals do a lot to enhance the sense of speed. Personally, when I was racing I liked those style of decals because it helped give me at least a placebo effect of being faster, due to the feeling of being faster...which ultimately made me perform better. 😂
Amazing ! Good work Rory , not an easy feat in the crappiest road bike
Epic battle! Honestly, Eurobike in this video looked like a flagship model to me, because the rider on it was so confident and fast as well :)
Time to start upgrading the Eurobike… how much difference can great components make….
it wouldn't make a difference that bike is really heavy, I went to a bike shop and they had one it easily weighed at least about 40 pounds and I low balling probably closer to 50
@@franciscobugarin7928 they weighed it, it's 30lbs, might wanna work on those arms.
@@bojanpejovic7691 lol the one i saw had metal solid rims it didn't have spokes that's where the extra weight came from. My bike weights about 25 pounds and it felt like a feather compared to that bike
Great video thanks for sharing!!
Two years ago I bought a second hand Carrera Zelos from my local bike shop, and I absolutely loved it. It was the best bike I'd ever ridden, and the Tec on it compared to what I'd owned before was space age stuff. I had to go to another bike shop on the way home to ask how the bloody gears worked..yes I know, space age or just thick, and I was fifty eight. I also thought it would cost a lot more new than it did, I mean like hundreds more than it actually cost. So fast forward a couple of weeks during which I'd cleaned and polished it every day, and I'm riding home from central London to Walthamstow. I get to Clapton and the Leabridge, and a nice long down hill bit and keeping pace with cars(admittedly it was a 20mph zone)and thinking- 'yes, look at me go, I'm the king of the fucking road!' And then a small posse of proper road bike types on carbon fibre machines glided past me like they weren't even trying. It was at that moment I stopped thinking I owned the road. Shortly after I found out the real price of my machine, and also that they were made exclusively for Halfords. Halfords for god sake, a chain of bike shops that lowers my self esteem another notch each time I visit one. Thing it, even though it's a relatively cheap roadbike, and laughable to serious speedsters I loved it as it was like nothing I'd ridden before; lightweight, razor blade thin tyres, and fast. So when it was nicked from outside Lidl one Friday night I was so upset I actually cried at my loss. I even went so far as spending hours on eBay and gumtree looking at second hand Zelos's until I found what I believed was my bike, and phoned and arranged to go and view it as a potential customer. The next day however, when I arrived at the sellers residence I knew immediately that it wasn't going to be my bike. Folks who can afford to live in that road don't steal bikes from outside a Lidl on any night, let alone a Friday night. Anyway, I've got two now, another Zelos-but new this time, and a second hand Virtuoso, so if one gets nicked I can cry my eyes out while riding the other to ease my pain.
Love how the pro is in the background flicking the stand down when looking at the F 🤣🤣🤣👌
Would have loved to see Rory riding a mid 80's steel road bike vs Ollie on the Pinarello.
Superb channel, very well presented and that 15k Pound bike, send it over to Singapore and Ill do a run over to Malaysia on it..dont expect it back !!
This is brilliant, thank you both
Amazing how pro a pro looks even on a £300 bike.
I would like to see Ollie do some road racing coz he’s come such a long way , well done lad 👍 Also I would love to see a video on what bikes you guys would be riding for your salary’s if you don’t have all your fantastic sponsorship and freebies 👍 Love the show 👍
I have to say. Rorys effort on that wheezing turd of a bike was brilliant. He did not want to lose. It was quite the fun little video. I'd like to see a rematch with Rory able to gear the bike properly, no other mods...well bar tape maybe.
Great video. The riders used to say it's not the bike, it's the rider. Well, I didn't agree. There was one rider and he always was a little off in the sprints from riders using campag. Then he bought a race line. Half decent bike and actually was winning the sprints. I had 105s shinano and used to win the sprints when there were no sprinters. I used to go training with a fitness instructor and we would collaborate to work out how to win the sprints and I would say go early. They were just a social Saturday morning ride with a sprint before going to have a coffee. I used to go early which used to upset the sprinters. Well it was all in good fun.
I love the accompanying squeak on the cheap bike! You could at least have used a cheap bike in half serviceable condition, sounded like it hadn’t seen any lube for about 5 years. Rory is a monster!
The squeaks had me dying laughing. I actually wondered if they edited them in for effect, but either way it was a perfect representation of the bike quality. Hahaha
Dang, this is funny. Couldn't stop laughing every time the camera cut to Rory and the bike squeaking like mad.
Loving this. More proof that pro riders are pro athletes. Chapeau to the both of you .... really entertaining content, Thanks
Great example in so many ways. Thank you.
Is ollie really an amateur? He makes a living riding a bike a hell of a lot more than us "amateurs"
Well, he rides bikes as part of his profession, yes, but generally "pro rider" means racing bikes for a living. Otherwise "pro rider" would mean anyone from a deliveroo rider to a PedalMe rider.
@@Boopop1024 What is he doing in this video?
@@wbaareshit1981 making content, the racing is secondary for him He is an amatour, one more to the fit spectrum but still (as you can see) far from a pro
@@wbaareshit1981 Ollie is a video presenter. The same way the hosts of Top Gear are television presenters, not professional racing drivers.
Premiership footballers are the elite pros in their field. Whereas national league players such as Dover athletic players, who are on zero points, won twice and drawn 6 times all season so obviously not great are still pros?
The content that the Eurobike gives to GCN is endless. And what does it get in return? Disrespect! The nerve...
My dad always tells a story of Dave Rayner. (him, my dad & me were in the same club; East Bradford Cycling Club) He was out for a training ride with a couple of friends and came across the Otley Chain Gang on their Tuesday night runs, he managed to latch on for a bit then was getting dropped from the group, Dave on an old gas tubed training bike dropped back from the front of the group, aero-towed him back into the middle of the gang, then went back to the front and started pushing on again in the wind like a machine. He says that it was mental, just how actually good he was. Such a shame he was taken from us far too soon. Rip DR.
Love the humor in these videos!
Euro Bike “Why are we getting so many orders all of a sudden?”
I'd quite like to see some of these challenges on a more regular £1-500 bike. Or something second hand maybe.
The bike was second hand.
Don't believe it was - GCN bought from Amazon.
😂😂😂 That was fun to watch! Thanks guys!
so the point here is that you don't have to buy an expensive bike? But just buy a reasonably cheap, but not too cheap bike a £1000 bike is more than enough for most people
Get a middle class road bike around 1400-2200. Classical Tiagra/105 etc. Everything below maybe make the ride but as you see in the vid, it falls apart rapidly. And above that is just diminishing returns at high cost. The functions are not really better, just less weight. If weight is below 9kg is important for you, then the cost massively jumps. Also, you can upgrade your bike anytime. Talking only about road bikes here, MTB for example is another world, and today prices who pretty sure will drop.
Awesome content! Love it!
I can hear the Eurobike crying for mercy 😂😂
Well with 2 watts less on average, the euro bike was only 18 seconds slower… that’s not that bad !
18 sec for a 14 min race is pretty much
Right? Their weights look similar also.
@@kendo1988 oh no ! From previous episodes, the eurobike weights 14kg ! The canyon should be around 8kg with the disc wheel. That’s why I don’t understand the results. My best guess is a difference in the power meters or simply the fact that the power hasn’t been applied in the same way. If Rory applied a lot more power on climbs and did not pedaled on descents, it would result in a better time since pedaling on descents is less efficient due to the increased wind resistance.
@@ramouflard he meant rider weight clearly
@@the318pop right :)
Wow! As a complete amateur who lives in a hilly area with an electric Brompton, I can hardly get my head around the concept of looking forward to the uphills to make up time :-)
Simply great video. Thanks guys!
What a great video! Love the creaking and squeaking of the Eurobike. Can’t disrespect it too much, although it is an inexpensive bike, it sure puts up with a lot of sh*t!
Really like this video... Great fun... but I'm a 122Kg 54 year old who just started biking again a year ago... I doubt even a SUPER DUPER Bike could make me go faster! hahaha. Truly a fun video that had me smiling and cheering the entire time!
I'm exactly the same as you. So I got an ebike. Once I get used to cycling and lose more weight > might downgrade to a non ebike
I have a 3 spoke Eurobike ! Used to ride in the mid 90's for a local Club.....life got in the way for 25 years....just bought a cheap bike to get back on the road and boy it gives a dam good work out for the same distance than on a lighter bike !! Now loving cycling so much again i'm spending £1600 on a Scott.....will be interesting to see the difference.
I think GCN just got a new presenter. Great effort Rory
So they had the same average power but a 15k bike was only 30 seconds quicker? So for most of us, spending 8k rather than 2k is probably a waste on money?
Yup. £2000-£3000 is currently the Sweet spot. Annoyingly that’s twice as much as it was 10 years ago.
Absolutely. The main reason I still keep my 2014 Trek around instead of ditching it for some fourth-hand steel roadie from the 1980s that won't get stolen, is because brake shifters are a total godsend. There have also been a ton of other little improvements over the decades that make a bigger difference than you'd think. But even riding a heavy commuter bike over a super-high end light bike is less than 5% in your trip times. If you're not racing today, you won't ever care.
Yes. Pretty much once you get to 105 level components, the marginal gain curve flattens into a pool table.
Same average yes but very different in the way it was applied. Rory used more power to get up the climbs while Ollie kept his power more consistent. If I go out and ride Z2 at 200w steady it will be alot slower than if I cruise the descents and smash the climbs for the same average.
18 seconds quicker. 14:06 vs 14:24.
👍 up! That was a very informative race!
Thank you very much. Whenever some biker overtakes me I will imagine I have pro performance but unfortunately riding a cheap bike.