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I agree with the overall sentiment — who is this for? — but: > carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, of

I agree with the overall sentiment — who is this for? — but: > carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. just isn't true. Many hobbyist/amateur/weekend warrior-type cyclist ride carbon bikes. They can be had at lowish prices (my first was £1000) to multiples of the price of this Lemond ebike. Almost all owners of such bikes are limited by their own ability, not the bike. It's probably fair to assume a lightweight, high quality ebike would be pricey. Perhaps being carbon adds a bit more to the price but the material choice alone isn't totally ridiculous. > High-performance rims and tyres but only one chain ring. Single-ring setups with a wide-range rear cassette are actually a pretty good choice for a commuter bike. Less maintenance, less weight. A double chainring setup likely offers smaller gaps between gears but likely a comparable overall range from lowest to highest. On a commuter bike simplicity wins. I guess ultimately this bike is some combination of publicity stunt and Veblen good. I can't imagine Lemond anticipates selling many of them.

kwaugh 6y ago
> A double chainring setup likely offers smaller gaps between gears but likely a comparable overall range from lowest to highest. This isn't true. This bike is using a 40 gear crank in the front with an 11-40 cassette in the back. That puts the gear ratio at 1.0 on the low end and 3.64 on the high end. The corresponding Shimano GRX setup with a double chainring would be a 46-30 in the front and a 11-34 in the back. This gives a 0.88 ratio on the low end and 4.18 on the high end, which is actually quite a big difference. One could argue that the difference in gear ratio on the low end isn't a big deal because this bike has pedal assist, but the difference on the high end is quite noticeable.
- ncmncm 6y ago
  Only if you're in a hurry.
- wiredfool 6y ago
  No one (basically) is going to care about the difference between a 46/11 and a 40/11 when the assist drops out at 25kph. If anything, you’re much more likely to be able to use the 40/11. At the other end, the assist is going to cover a lot of gearing, and it’s going to make the gaps in a 1x setup a lot less important. (FWIW, I ride a 1x42/11-42 and a 2x 50/34-11/32. And a triple on the tandem, and I lived with a cx geared 1x 39-12/28 for a few years. High gears are drastically overrated unless you’re racing)
  - kwaugh 6y ago
    I definitely agree that high gears are overrated except for racing, but when the bike markets itself as a lightweight semi-aero bike, isn't the point to go fast? If you're not going faster than 25kph, then why are you need deeper rimmed carbon wheels?
    - wiredfool 6y ago
      The 25kph cutoff is the legal limit for this category of ebike in the EU, 20MPH in the US. I think some of the price of the carbon comes out of the marketing budget. In a way, the difference between a 4k ebike with cheaper looking parts vs a 4.5k bike with "premium" parts comes down on the side of spending the money. I'd estimate that bike would sell for ~2k without the electrics. It's nice, but it's not super speccd. High end carbon rims are expensive, but they're not _that_ expensive compared to aftermarket aluminum rims. Niceish rims are basically 80-100 now. Carbon is probably 150 or so. (That's retailish, but not MSRP, what I could get them for, not what a bike co could get them for wholesale) OTOH, it's lighter than my gravel/commuter, which doesn't even have electrics, so there's that. But I'd need rack/panniers for the commute, and I'd have range worries there. What I'd like to see is a lightweight system that adds ~100W to my output for ~ 4hours. Something that's not painfully heavy if it's off, but makes the last hour of the commute better. (I do 2hrs each way when I do it.)

kwaugh 6y ago

> A double chainring setup likely offers smaller gaps between gears but likely a comparable overall range from lowest to highest. This isn't true. This bike is using a 40 gear crank in the front with an 11-40 cassette in the back. That puts the gear ratio at 1.0 on the low end and 3.64 on the high end. The corresponding Shimano GRX setup with a double chainring would be a 46-30 in the front and a 11-34 in the back. This gives a 0.88 ratio on the low end and 4.18 on the high end, which is actually quite a big difference. One could argue that the difference in gear ratio on the low end isn't a big deal because this bike has pedal assist, but the difference on the high end is quite noticeable.

ncmncm 6y ago
Only if you're in a hurry.
wiredfool 6y ago
No one (basically) is going to care about the difference between a 46/11 and a 40/11 when the assist drops out at 25kph. If anything, you’re much more likely to be able to use the 40/11. At the other end, the assist is going to cover a lot of gearing, and it’s going to make the gaps in a 1x setup a lot less important. (FWIW, I ride a 1x42/11-42 and a 2x 50/34-11/32. And a triple on the tandem, and I lived with a cx geared 1x 39-12/28 for a few years. High gears are drastically overrated unless you’re racing)
- kwaugh 6y ago
  I definitely agree that high gears are overrated except for racing, but when the bike markets itself as a lightweight semi-aero bike, isn't the point to go fast? If you're not going faster than 25kph, then why are you need deeper rimmed carbon wheels?
  - wiredfool 6y ago
    The 25kph cutoff is the legal limit for this category of ebike in the EU, 20MPH in the US. I think some of the price of the carbon comes out of the marketing budget. In a way, the difference between a 4k ebike with cheaper looking parts vs a 4.5k bike with "premium" parts comes down on the side of spending the money. I'd estimate that bike would sell for ~2k without the electrics. It's nice, but it's not super speccd. High end carbon rims are expensive, but they're not _that_ expensive compared to aftermarket aluminum rims. Niceish rims are basically 80-100 now. Carbon is probably 150 or so. (That's retailish, but not MSRP, what I could get them for, not what a bike co could get them for wholesale) OTOH, it's lighter than my gravel/commuter, which doesn't even have electrics, so there's that. But I'd need rack/panniers for the commute, and I'd have range worries there. What I'd like to see is a lightweight system that adds ~100W to my output for ~ 4hours. Something that's not painfully heavy if it's off, but makes the last hour of the commute better. (I do 2hrs each way when I do it.)