- 2 days ago
1980 Tour De France Winning Bike Vs Modern Road Bike
The 2025 Tour de France will be raced on carbon fibre road bikes that claim to be better than ever...but what's it like to ride a road bike that won the Tour de France in 1980? With his trusty set of Favero Assioma Pro RS2 pedals Jamie set about finding out in this modern bike vs retro bike test.
Road bikes have changed quite a bit over the last 40 years, there's now wide road bike tyres, Di2 and disc brakes but have they got any faster? To find out we pit a Trek Madone against a TI Raleigh - A replica of the bike that won the 1980 Tour de France
This video contains paid promotion on behalf of Favero
The 2025 Tour de France will be raced on carbon fibre road bikes that claim to be better than ever...but what's it like to ride a road bike that won the Tour de France in 1980? With his trusty set of Favero Assioma Pro RS2 pedals Jamie set about finding out in this modern bike vs retro bike test.
Road bikes have changed quite a bit over the last 40 years, there's now wide road bike tyres, Di2 and disc brakes but have they got any faster? To find out we pit a Trek Madone against a TI Raleigh - A replica of the bike that won the 1980 Tour de France
This video contains paid promotion on behalf of Favero
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SportsTranscript
00:00This is a TI Rally, a very pretty and very limited edition of the bike that Jupe Settemelk won the
00:071980 Tour de France on.
00:09And this is a 2025 Trek Madone. It is the epitome of a modern race bike.
00:16It has carbon fibre tubes, it's got carbon fibre wheels, it's got disc brakes and gears that go beep boop.
00:22But how do two bikes that are 45 years apart actually feel to ride?
00:28Well, thanks to Favaro's new Asioma Pro RS pedals, we're going to find out.
00:34Looking at these two bikes, and they couldn't be further apart, disc brakes have replaced these fan favourite rim squeezing
00:41contraptions,
00:43the tyres have absolutely ballooned, the gears now require electricity to operate, and modern bikes seem to sometimes have extra
00:52holes.
00:53Somehow, up until now, I have managed to evade ever riding a bike with downtube shifters, so today we're going
01:01to change all of that.
01:02To find out the difference between the two bikes, we're going to be subjecting them to a series of tests.
01:08First of all, we're going to do a flat test, riding at a set power output.
01:13Then we've got a hill climb test, and then finally a sprint test to see how both bikes behave.
01:20First of all though, got to get these Favaro power pedals on.
01:23I think probably the pedal threads are about the only thing, the only standard, which hasn't actually changed in the
01:29last 45 years.
01:30To make matters even easier, all of the technical stuff is inside the pedal axles, so the batteries, the strain
01:38gauges, the gyroscopes, it's all in this stainless steel axle.
01:43And that's really good, because it means there's not pods to knock, or damage, or I'm quite clumsy, so it's
01:50nice that everything's housed inside there.
01:53There's also the added benefit, because they're pedal based, you can fit them to one bike on one day of
01:58the week.
01:58And if you're lucky enough to have a second bike, you can swap them over at the weekend, and get
02:03your power data on that as well.
02:04Also, because I already use Shimano cleats, I won't need to change those over, and these new pedals are 100
02:11% Shimano compatible.
02:14We've just discovered that we've got a hack for putting on pedals.
02:17Cameraman Ed has apparently wasted many hours not doing this, so if you just do the first few threads,
02:23and then hold the axle, and just wind the pedals backwards, it's done up.
02:31Then you get your pedal spanner, do the final bit.
02:34There you go.
02:36Hack.
02:38Right, it is time for our first test, and I have a feeling that this one is going to be
02:43my favourite, because it's flat.
02:46Now, the aim of the game here is to ride at a set power output for the lap, and then
02:51we'll get back, see which one's fastest,
02:53and if there's any meaningful differences between the two bikes.
02:57So, as with any real-world testing, you do need to take the results with a little bit of a
03:02pinch of salt,
03:02because it's not a wind tunnel.
03:04I still haven't got one of those.
03:06But, we have done everything in our power to make it a fair test, so we've chosen quite a still
03:12day.
03:12We've chosen traffic-free roads, so there's nothing to pull us along or hold us up,
03:17and we're going to obviously be using the Ferraro power pedals to measure our power to plus or minus 1
03:23% accuracy.
03:25Right, enough procrastinating, let's get going.
03:34The course for our flat test was a 10km loop, not pound flat, but about as flat as most real
03:40-life rides get.
03:41And as you can see from the numbers from the Ferraro power pedals,
03:44I managed to get pretty close to my 250W target on both efforts.
03:49On the Raleigh, I finished the loop with a time of 17.5 minutes,
03:53and on the Trek, I was 26 seconds faster.
03:56Now, it should be said that this difference probably wasn't all down to the aerodynamics of the bikes.
04:02I definitely felt more confident when cornering on the modern bike,
04:05probably in part because that's what I'm used to.
04:08If we wanted to ride the Raleigh at the same speed, i.e. about a kilometre per hour faster,
04:13then it would require about 15-20 watts more.
04:18So, next up, hill climb test.
04:21The all-important weigh-in.
04:23So, there's three things that are going to make the difference when riding up a hill.
04:26A, the stiffness of the bike and how that translates the power onto the road.
04:32B, the rolling resistance of the tyres.
04:34And C, the bike weight.
04:37So, I've got to hold the boot up, so I now can't see what it weighs.
04:409.8.
04:409.8, what did I guess?
04:439.8.
04:449.8.
04:45Although, we do have to take the weight of the pedals off of this one,
04:48but they claim to be the lightest power metre pedals in the world.
04:52123.5 grams per pedal, which is pretty impressive.
04:55But we are going to validate that.
04:57We're going to put them on a set of scales.
04:58We're going to use Ed's drug scales to give them away.
05:02We'll validate that claim.
05:04Right, time to get the track on it.
05:07My drug scales.
05:10Right, the track.
05:11It should be lighter.
05:13It's not the lightest Madone build, but this Madone is a lot lighter than the previous generation Madone,
05:20which was full-on aero.
05:22The wheels aren't the lightest.
05:24105 Di2 also got a bit more weight over Ultegra or Dura.
05:28So, I'm going to guess.
05:30What did I guess for this one?
05:318.6.
05:338.4 something.
05:33I've got to hold the boot up, but less.
05:378.45.
05:398.45.
05:40What on track?
05:41You've outdone yourself.
05:43So, to find out if this weight saving makes a difference,
05:48I'm going to need to go and ride up a hill.
05:53Ah, right.
05:55It's time for a hill climb test and Ed's chosen me that.
06:02Well, that wasn't very friendly. That tractor can't even get up it. Now I've got to get up on this.
06:18Let's go.
06:27Oh Christ, that's a long hill.
06:41Oh, they were quite fit in the 80s. Oh, you're such an arse. You could have picked so many nicer
06:51hills.
06:53But we've got time. I don't know if back in the day, they have different shaped hands.
07:02His flat test in the drops are absolutely fine. Up here, these bits get in the way, which is rather
07:10annoying. Yeah, so it wasn't the most comfortable experience. Gears, I was actually really impressed
07:16with how well they work. They're indexed beautifully. You can feel each gear. And that is absolutely
07:22lovely. But I could have done with a few more up there. I was out the saddle for most of
07:27it.
07:28Right, back down. Got to do it all over again, don't I?
07:34Right, let's get these swapped over.
07:37So yeah, Trek has most definitely taken on the one bike, one race bike to do it all concept.
07:45They used to have the Madone, which was their aero bike, and then the Amondo, which was their climbing
07:52bike. And this, this latest one, is designed to do both. So it's got much skinnier tubes than the old
07:59aero one. Much more Amondo-like, but it supposedly is as aero, although that was with a set of aero
08:05bottle cages fitted. Let me know what you think of this paint job. I don't know about it. I do
08:11rate
08:11that Trek has made the logo a lot smaller, but let me know in the comments below. And whilst you're
08:16there,
08:16make sure you're subscribed to the channel. The hill climb that Ed chose me was near enough
08:25one kilometre long, at an average gradient of 10%, but the times were really rather close.
08:31On the Raleigh, I set a time of 3 minutes and 27 seconds, but despite being lighter,
08:36I was only two seconds faster on the Madone. In fairness though, that was at a lower wattage,
08:42and I think the downside of all that gear range is that I probably wasn't forced to push myself
08:46as hard. That, and maybe there was some fatigue in the legs by this time in the day.
08:51Looking at the data from the Pro RS pedals, and we can see that my average cadence on the retro
08:56bike
08:56was 8rpm slower for the effort than on the modern bike. By no means an insignificant difference.
09:08I don't know about easier, definitely different. This bike is a lot smoother,
09:17which you wouldn't think you'd feel that much at low speeds. Yeah, you can just apply that power,
09:22just that little bit smoother. And also, I changed gear a lot more on that one,
09:28just because it was easier. And there's also more gears. Not only is this 12 speed,
09:33so more quantity of gears, but also more range of those gears. Also, I think because of that smoothness
09:41and the gearing, I did a lot more of that sat down. I think that this one probably was quicker,
09:47and not because it's slightly lighter.
09:51Now, I think this test really does highlight the benefit of using a pedal-based power meter over
09:56a crank-based or spider-based version, because we can fit it to basically any bike. It doesn't
10:01matter if it's a bike that's getting on a bit like this one, you can use them on a new
10:05bike. And
10:06because the pedal bodies are actually removable with an Allen key, you don't even need any proprietary
10:12tools, you can swap them out for the Pro MX SPD pedal bodies. And that means that you could use
10:18them
10:18on your mountain bike or gravel bike. So for our test, we're using the dual-sided version,
10:23which cost this much, but there is also a single-sided version, which cost this much.
10:30And you can also upgrade from the single-sided to the double-sided version for this much.
10:36I didn't know you were going to do that. I didn't know I was going to do that.
10:39If that sounds tempting, then we'll pop a link in the description below. And the other really good
10:44thing about these pedals is it's not going to change how either bike rides. So that's because
10:49it's got a really low stack height. That's the distance between the pedal axle and your cleat.
10:54That's 10.5 mil, which is really rather low for a power meter pedal. And also the Q factor,
11:01that's how far away my feet are from the crank arm. It's the same as on a standard SPD SL
11:06pedal,
11:07so 53 mil. So it's not going to affect how either bike rides because I want to ride this in
11:13all of
11:13its glory. And for my final, very scientific test, I'm going to be sprinting on both bikes. Now this
11:20one is less scientific because we're not going to be measuring how much power gets put through the
11:24frames or anything. I literally just wanted to see what it was like to sprint on a bike from the
11:2880s.
11:29I think this might be where we feel the biggest difference because there's obviously a huge
11:34difference in materials. The new bike is composites everything. It's got carbon fiber handlebars,
11:40carbon fiber frame, carbon fiber wheels. This one, I'm pretty sure, well, it was state of the art in
11:46the day, but it's got Reynolds 753 tubing, which is obviously steel. And back in the day, it was very
11:52special because they managed to make the tubes so thin that they then had to solder it with silver
11:57solder so they could do it at a lower temperature as to not damage the walls. I think the only
12:03bit of
12:03composite on this bike is the lightweight pedal bodies of the Favaro paddles. So yeah, there's
12:11quite a difference there. Let's see how it handles.
12:26I mean, it's a bucket list item ticked off. It was a bit nerve wracking because I really didn't want
12:33to
12:33crash on this lovely bike. I think one thing that's weird is the gears. I think it's just a case
12:41of getting
12:41used to them, to be honest, because obviously, well, hey, you can't change gear whilst on the hoods or
12:48drops. There's no sprint shifters either. I have them on my bike. None of that. Yeah, it's just like,
12:55am I in that gear? Am I half in between it? And then you sort of get out. And to
12:59sprint,
13:00it actually felt pretty good. I can only imagine what it would have felt like in a mass bunch sprint
13:07with everyone playing with their gears and stuff like that. It would have been cool. But yeah,
13:12I'll stick to my bike for sprints for now. Right, sprint number two. It should be a lot more
13:20like what I'm used to. Let's go. It's amazing how a bike can be both stiffer and more compliant,
13:38isn't it? I've never really got my head around that, but it is a thing. The bottom bracket does feel
13:46like it translates that power a bit better. But then you sit back down, you don't feel all those
13:52road vibrations through both your bum and through your hands. I must admit, I'm getting on with this
13:58cockpit much better. That's the main change that feels different to ride both bikes. The bars on
14:07the rally are just so skinny, whereas these are really quite chunky. I find the hoods much more
14:12comfortable, obviously. That doesn't matter so much whilst sprinting. It wasn't at all in favour
14:17of this one though. The rally is just so much more involving to ride. It feels like a bit of
14:23an event,
14:24whether that's a sprint or just riding it. If I could choose one bike to go and ride
14:29to the cafe on a Sunday, I think it would have to be the rally. It feels like an adventure
14:36going out on
14:37a ride. It feels like you have to do something. Whereas on this, you just kind of sit there. Does
14:42that make sense? So how much difference have the last 45 years or so made? Well, if you look at
14:50the
14:50results from the power pedals, then potentially less than you might think. You see, the thing is,
14:56even with bikes that are decades apart, they couldn't be more difference in their frame construction and in
15:02their componentry and wheels. And yet the difference is still mainly made by the rider. And that shouldn't
15:10really be any big surprise. 80% of your air resistance comes from your body and not from the bike.
15:18I've been dropped by many people on much worse bikes than me because they've just got stronger legs
15:24or bigger lungs. I don't know what it is, but they're just much stronger. So if you want to get
15:29faster on the bike, probably just do some more training rather than buy a new bike. But don't
15:36worry, the last 40 years or so haven't been a complete waste of time. The Trek was so much more
15:42comfortable. And I think that's true of if we'd chosen any modern race bike, it would be so much more
15:47comfortable than this TI Raleigh. No doubt the frame material comes into that. But I think in Maine,
15:54that is down to the tires. The Trek's got 28 mil tires on it. Our TI Raleigh's got 23 mil
16:00tires on it.
16:01And that was actually fairly large for the time. The other thing is that you can get on the Trek
16:06and
16:06thanks to its geometry and the geometry of a lot of modern race bikes, you can just get on it
16:12and you
16:12can ride to your potential. You can get on it and you can do a sprint. You can get on
16:18it and smash it up a
16:19hill as hard as you can without having to worry about anything else. They're very pretty, this gear
16:25set. But downtube shifters, they look cool and they're definitely of their time. But for actually
16:33riding a bike, I don't think anyone will argue that they actually function better. You can argue with me
16:40in the comments below. But keeping your hands on the bars with the STI shifters, just so much nicer.
16:46And I think that's what it comes down to. The geometry, the frame materials,
16:50that is where the evolution has been. Yes, it is probably a bit faster. It was a little bit faster
16:57in our testing. But the biggest difference was its comfort and its ease of use. So there you go,
17:04there's some progress. Let me know which of these two bikes you would choose to have in your garage
17:09down in the comments below. If you want to find out any more details or get yourself a set of
17:14those
17:14Favaro pedals, then we'll pop a link in the description. Make sure you subscribe to the
17:18channel, give this video a like, and we'll see you next time.
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