Why you should own several bike models
Route, road surface, elevation, and temperature all influence how a bike performs — and why matching the right bike to the right course can make a meaningful difference in speed and efficiency.
Updated: Jan 6, 2025
Before looking at how you can improve the rider-bicycle system, it's worth examining the environmental factors that influence cycling performance — the ones you largely can't control — and why owning bikes specifically built for different courses can make practical sense.
Route
The route has the highest impact on the type of resistance you face. Long steep climbs make gravitational resistance dominant. On flat terrain, aerodynamic drag becomes the primary factor. Course layout also matters: tight corners, stop signs, and traffic intersections force repeated braking and acceleration, significantly reducing average speed compared to a closed course.
Road Surface
Rough roads increase rolling resistance. The right tire choice and air pressure become critical — riders with power meters will notice that maintaining the same speed on rough pavement requires meaningfully more power than on smooth asphalt.
Elevation and Temperature
Higher elevation and warmer temperatures reduce air density, which lowers aerodynamic drag. This means aerodynamic improvements have a greater impact in cold conditions. Conversely, reduced oxygen at altitude and in heat negatively affects the rider's physiological output.
Choosing the Right Bike for the Course
These environmental factors can't be changed — but you can choose the right bike for them. Professional cyclists do this for every stage: high-rim wheels on flat stages, lightweight builds in the mountains, wider tires and lower pressure on rough roads like Paris-Roubaix, disc wheels and an extreme aero position for time trials.
Vélobsessive offers specialized models for different applications. If owning multiple bikes isn't the goal, an all-round approach works too — for example, swapping between a high-rim wheelset with an 11-28 cassette for flat routes and a lighter, lower-rim setup with an 11-34 cassette and wider tires for climbs. However, most road frames have tire width limits that constrain this flexibility. For riders who want to match equipment precisely to each course, a dedicated bike for each application remains the best solution.
In this page...
"I was tired of spending a lot of money on bikes that never truly fit. So I founded Vélobsessive."
Thomas Glättli
Founder of Vélobsessive & Bike Fitter
[ THE MAN BEHIND THE BLOG ]
Tired of Bikes that don't fit
Thomas Glättli is the driving force behind Vélobsessive. As an enthusiastic cyclist and dedicated amateur athlete, he was tired of compromising when it came to finding the perfect road bike. In 2019, he founded Vélobsessive with a clear goal: the rider shouldn't have to fit the bike; the bike should fit the rider.
