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So for reasons too complicated to be bothered with I've recently had to surrender my rhyme to the OH and take on an specialized enduro.
Lovely bike if a bit pink. So they both have the same wheels, brakes etc only main differences, rhyme has a s-works butcher on the front and the enduro a normal butcher and the enduro has an eagle set up and the rhyme is 1x11. Also the enduro is a bit slacker.
But on a freewheel descent on a smooth Road the rhyme just pulled away easily. Sometimes the enduro feels hard work uphill.
Now there's a little brake rub which I'm sorting this week but what else could cause this drag? I'm not convinced the brake rub is enough for the difference. These are effectively the same bike with similar mass riders. I'm a bit scunnered .
Hub bearings Or freewheel would get my vote
Could be loads of things, the most obvious ones you seem to have excluded: Rider weight (how similar?). Weight of bike. Rolling weight. Brake drag. Tyres (pressures?).
If you are really sure these aren't the cause, that's leaves things like: Sticky hubs (unlikely). Aerodynamics (also unlikely). Momentum? Any chance the rhyme had more momentum at the start of the descent, and pulling away was a bit of a 'free wheel illusion'?
Tyre pressures?
Front tyre compound maybe. I once swapped a normal Minion DHF for a super tacky for a week in Spain. Off road you couldn't really feel the difference, on tarmac you could pretty much hear every individual knob being prised away from the tarmac like a reluctant leech and it rolled like a slug. Most drag comes from the rear, but the front is noticable too ime.
What happens if you swap over the front wheel / tyre? Assuming you've equaised tyre pressures, checked for brake binding/drag, bearing seizure, But I'd guess tyres. Do they both have identical rear rubber? Is one set more worn than the other, cos it'll maybe roll faster if it is.
Is your mate Zwift doping and pretending to be lighter than he really is...
Tyres, tyres and more tyres. Unless the brake is seized in then a little rubbing will do nothing but be a bit annoying. Bearings would be totally buggered before they actually started to make a noticeable difference.
Mmmmmmmm. Mass pretty much the same. Tyre pressure pretty much the same I'm now wondering if the previous owner had access to stickier rubber. (given she races enduro for specialized I'd guess she has)
S works butcher Vs normal butcher will have some difference.
Yeah I'm wondering if I've got s-works tyres that aren't marked up as s-works.
I just swapped tyres on mrs_oab's bike from winter Butcher's in sticky flavour to Bontrager XR2 and XR3.
The 'whoaaaah! - what have you done to my bike, it is faster...?' comment was made about 30m into the ride...