Fitness is a major issue for all of us. Doing daily exercise makes us keep fit. And, cycling is a great way to exercise. Because, when we are riding, we are using every bit of muscles in our bodies. This is one of the best sports for using & developing all the body muscles we have. That’s why it is recommended by the specialists, that all of us should be doing cycling in our spare time if we want to keep fit & healthy. And that is the reason why many of us start cycling. And we might become big fanatics once we realize how addicted & how good cycling exercise can be.
In this article, we will be learning about all the generally used methods to understand how to make a bike faster. And after learning, we can implement those methods to have a great time cycling faster & more efficiently, and comfortably.
Table of Contents
Possible Reasons for Bike Becoming Slower
There can be many reasons as to why we feel that our bikes are moving slower. We need to thoroughly check the bike in different conditions to find out the actual problems.
The following reasons are the generally found potential reasons for making our bike slower in speed. That’s when we know that our bikes are being affected due to different reasons. And there should be methods & steps which we can undergo for making our bike faster.
The feelings we get from a good workout from a cycling exercise are something very inspirational. That’s why we must learn more about our bikes & more about what we can do for making the bike move faster. After finding out the potential reasons for our bikes becoming slower, we should try to get rid of all those problems as much as we can, so that our bikes stay in top-notch condition.
Accumulation of Mud & Grime in the Drivetrain
Every cycle fanatic wants to ride the bike as fast as they can because of the adrenaline that is caused at the moment of cycling. But that is very rare in our lives. And in many cases, we can’t seem to fulfill that idea due to mud and grime issues with our bikes.
If our bikes are not being cleaned regularly, then after cycling for a long period, mud & grime are bound to accumulate in the drive train – that is in the cassette cogs, chainrings, & pulley wheels. And these mud & grime are causing friction between the cogs & chainrings, which will ultimately make our bikes move slower than before.
Rusting & Wearing of the Bike Parts
If we just leave our bikes lying around or just keep them in the corner, without taking good care of them, then the cycle parts are bound to wear down. Rusting may occur which will ultimately deteriorate those cycle parts.
And that rusting & wearing down of the cycle parts is a very serious problem to consider. Because without proper maintenance, the cycle parts are going to be losing performance. And ultimately that will result in a slow bike. There are many instances to consider. Maybe we want to enter into a cycling competition. Or, maybe we just want to ride the bike for feeling the adrenaline rushing in us. But, sadly we find that our bikes are not moving at the desired pace.
Not having a Good saddle
A good quality saddle is a very important thing to consider when we are talking about cycling. Without a good saddle to support our whole body & weight, we cannot bike faster & efficiently.
The saddle is necessary because we always put our weight on the saddle. A good quality saddle gives us comfortable feelings. It gives us strength for pushing hard & for cycling faster.
Not using the perfect saddle height
The perfect saddle height differs from person to person. And everyone has their perfect saddle height based on their heights. And without perfectly adjusting the saddle height, we can never give 100% to the cycling performance. And if we can’t give 100% performance, we can’t even think about cycling at the fastest speed possible for us.
The cycle won’t be able to transfer all the power of our body through its mechanical parts into its speed. Because our form will be unusual due to not having the perfect saddle height for us, and that unusual form is bound to screw with our performance.
Carrying too much stuff
If our bikes carry too many customizable things on top of it, the bike is bound to get slower. This is a simple issue to consider. All those things are going to overload the bike. And that will increase the friction. These things will ultimately reduce the bike speed.
When we are thinking about doing a cycling session, we will need to get rid of all the things in the bikes which are not necessary for us. Otherwise, our bikes will not be able to go fast as they potentially can.
Not lubricating the drivetrain
The drivetrain of the bike is the engine of the bike. So, the engine of the bike needs maintenance. But if it doesn’t get proper maintenance, then all the parts in the drivetrain will have increase frictional resistance in the wheels. And that will ultimately make the bike slow. Every professional cyclist has gone through this same motion that all of us are going through at the moment. We have been thinking about what we can do to make our bikes faster & more efficient. But we shouldn’t worry too much about that, because there are definite methods that we can implement to make our bike run faster.
Improper adjustment of the bike brakes
The breaks if not properly adjusted can make the bike stop at unusual spots. If the bike brakes are not perfectly adjusted, then our bikes won’t be able to bike faster. The wires of the break can also provide air resistance to our bike when we are cycling, so that can also account for a little bit of speed loss.
Improper adjustment of the bike gears
If we are using improperly adjusted bike gears, then we will be facing lots of problems when we are cycling. The bike will move slowly, it will stop down. The bike will be hard to cycle whenever we will think about changing the route from mountains to plain roads & vice-versa.
These gears help with the movement of the cycle. So, if these are not adjusted properly, then they are bound to reduce the speed of the bike.
Improper adjustment of the bike handlebars
The position & adjustment of the bike handlebars is another important issue to look out for. The handlebars when properly adjusted into the perfect position helps us to ride our bikes in the best possible way. Without proper adjustment, what we risk is that we won’t be able to keep up with our good body form, and also we won’t be able to ride faster.
Different methods of making our bike faster:
Everyone needs to learn about how to make a bike faster. The following methods if implemented correctly, can give good results in the form of faster cycling performance.
Keeping our bikes clean
This is something we all should keep in mind. Because a dirty bike is going to cause rusting in its part in a short time. The bike parts won’t last long if there is mud & grime present in it. And if that happens, then we need to change those parts. This changing process is a big hassle. Also, the parts are not cheap.
There is absolutely no way to doubt that if our bike is clean, then the parts are in top-notch condition. And that makes the difference between a slow bike & a faster bike. The drivetrain of the bike is the actual power behind the moving of the bike.
So, we should try to keep the chains, crank, & derailleurs free from grease & grime buildup. This will make our bike pedals smoother and the gears will shift easily & more perfectly due to increased mechanical efficiency & less friction in the drivetrain.
Keeping in our mind all the advantages of keeping our bikes clean, we should try to do this cleaning regularly. Every day, we should take some time to clean all parts of our bikes completely.
Lubricating Our Bike Chain
This is another major factor to look out for. A bike has many gears that help it to go faster. The chains are one of the most important parts of the bike. Without the chains working perfectly, we can’t apply the gears perfectly to their full ability and that will make our bikes move slowly.
A well-lubricated chain will ensure that no speed will lose through mechanical inefficiency. And that is the way for maintaining & making a bike faster.
Although lubricating the chain doesn’t mean to just oil the whole thing. Rather, we should try to lubricate a little at a time to the inside of chains, while gradually rotating the cranks or the paddles. And we should also wipe out extra oil for preventing further rusting.
By learning about the usefulness of lubrication, we can gladly say that this is one surefire method on how to make a bike faster in performance.
Lowering the front handles of the bike
It is said that lowering the front handles of the bike and leaning towards the front while cycling is the way to bike faster. Every professional cyclist is seen to be doing this. The reason behind this is aerodynamics. By lowering the front handles, we are reducing the air pressure & therefore, we can move faster.
This is a special form that can be a bit hard to master at the beginning. But, we just need to keep practicing & gradually we will be able to master the form and cycle our bike at our fastest speed.
Perfecting our Saddle Height
All of us have different heights. And there is a perfect saddle height for all of us based on our heights. If we are biking with unusual saddle height, then our body form will be off. And this will be the reason why we wouldn’t be able to bike faster. On top of that, because of bad body form, we will be facing aching pain all over our bodies.
This is why perfecting our saddle height is very important. It will stop the body from aching to a good extent & also make our bike faster.
Choosing the perfect Saddle
Without the perfect saddle to support our body, we will not be able to keep the perfect body form. And without that form, we will never be able to stop the aching & we will never be able to bike faster.
Choosing the perfect saddle is a very difficult task because we all need a different saddle for each of us. We need to keep our body weight, body health, body height & of course the comfortable feeling of using the saddle in our minds before finalizing our decision.
A good quality padded seat cover should also be in our consideration. And a gel-made seat cover is something to look for. If we are using a comfortable yet quality padded saddle & seat cover, we will not feel discomfort & pain, and we will be to bike faster as we will keep our perfect body form.
Using good-quality cycling shoes
Normal shoes only allow us to push the paddle down. But we can’t easily pull the paddle up. And that accounts for the loss of speed & loss of accuracy in form and loss in time.
There is a big reason why professional cyclists use specialized shoes for cycling. Because those shoes contain cleats that can easily attach the shoes to the paddles perfectly. And the shoes will not move from the attached position in the paddles easily.
And by completely attaching the cycling shoes to the paddles through the cleats, we see that when we push the paddle down & when our legs are coming up, the cycling shoes make sure to pull the paddles up. And this is a continuous process. There is no falling off the legs from the paddles, no stopping, & no loss of time.
That’s why a good-quality cycling shoe should be at the top of your notes on how to make a bike faster. And this is one surefire way of increasing our bike speed to some extent.
Checking our tire pressure
All of us should always check out the tires before starting our cycling session. This is done to make sure we don’t have a punctured tire & we have the standard tire pressure.
This is another very important factor to look out for. The tires should have the standard pressure for it to give us their full benefits. If the tires have the standard pressure as mentioned in the sides of the tires, then those tires would be able to support us & make the bike run faster against air pressure.
If there is no mention of the standard pressure in tires, then some basic guidelines will be helpful to keep in mind. Like, for road bikes, the tire pressure can be around 80-100 psi. For mountain bikes, this pressure can be about 25-35 psi & for hybrid bikes, the pressure can fluctuate between 40 to 70psi.
By keeping this standard pressure inside the tire, we ensure full performance of the tire when we are cycling.
Adjusting the bike gears perfectly
There are gears available in the bikes which have multiple levels. If we go to gear 2, then we would have to paddle more but we will be able to go much faster. A gear change is necessary whenever we change our route from plain roads to mountains roads & vice versa.
It is more efficient & better for us to use bigger chainrings, bigger cassette cogs & bigger pulley wheels. Because the bigger the drive train components are, the less is friction inside the chains connecting through the drivetrain. And lesser the friction, more speed for us. And using the gears well will make us bike the cycle faster. We need to learn when to use the gears & how efficiently to use them.
And we do all that after doing proper adjustments to the bike gears which are very important because the bike will need to be perfectly controlled if we want to be safe & if we want to bike faster.
Adjusting the bike breaks perfectly
Whenever you are biking into a corner, you need to apply break and slow the speed down a bit and go through the corner smoothly. The perfectly working brake will necessarily make our bike faster. It is because we will not need to stop our bikes whenever we face a corner turn in the roads. It is also worth checking the cable of the bike for wearing off signs from to time. But it can be difficult to distinguish what problems are affecting our bikes to become slower. But, we have learned from this article about various possible reasons for our bikes becoming slower. So, we don’t need to worry too much about that now.
Making the bike lighter in weight
We need to make our bikes as light as we can. We can remove extra pieces of stuff from the bike for making it lightweight. And by making it light, we will able to bike a little faster than before.
We also shouldn’t carry too many pieces of stuff with us whenever we are cycling. We should just take the necessary pieces of stuff like the emergency maintenance kit & a bottle of water. That’s all. We wouldn’t necessarily want to change our bike parts if we can help it. Rather we would like to figure out the problems and we want to solve those problems.
Cleaning & adjusting the bearings on the bike
The bearings on the bike should have good maintenance done on it. We should try to remove all the factory-given greasing from inside the bearings. After that, we should apply grease again for lubrication but this time, we should just apply super low friction grease taking only 25% volume inside the bearing hole. US researchers have stated that this filling the cartridge of the bearings by only 25% is good for maximizing output. Because in this case, the ball bearings will start to slide instead of rolling, which will increase our bike speed. And this will be shown from the speed of the bike.
Wearing the right attire for cycling
Normal shorts don’t have the features which will give us a good form & good performance. Rather cycling for a long time wearing normal shorts will give us aching pain all over our body & mainly in the sitting bones & thighs.
There’s a big reason why cycle shorts are specifically designed & made for cyclists. The reason is those cycle shorts can help us with providing the best body form for us. Those shorts also help us with feeling comfortable as we don’t feel too much pain in our sitting bones & inner thighs due to chafing.
That’s why, wearing cycling shorts whenever we are cycling is bound to give us a definite edge in building up a perfect body form, which in turn will help us get the perfect momentum & that will make us bike our bicycle faster.
Final Remarks
We might need to spend some time analyzing the performance of different parts of our bikes. And if it seems that, the bike parts might need replacing with new parts for improving bike performance. But that is something of a last resort.
All of us who still love to ride know the feeling that, when we are cycling faster & faster, that cold breezy air, touching us by surprise, makes us feel alive. All generally used methods have been mentioned in this article for all of us.
These methods are experimentally tested with scientific proof. So, from the authority of authentic sources, all of us should implement all those methods for making our bike faster, efficient & smooth in performance.
But riding a bike is nice & everything. But we should always keep in mind that safety comes first. So, we should always wear knee caps, joint caps & a helmet.