NYT Article: Nike Vaporfly 4% Really is 4% Faster
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/07/18/upshot/nike-vaporfly-shoe-strava.html
Very interesting article, co-authored by a statistician
For an Ironman marathon would anyone really get 4% ... although even 1% is quite meaningful
Very interesting article, co-authored by a statistician
For an Ironman marathon would anyone really get 4% ... although even 1% is quite meaningful
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The Wow factor here, is they compared the Vaporfly to all kinds of shoes, including racing flats. No matter how light the other shoes, the Vporflys were faster. And their chart seems roughly stratified by shoe weight...
https://stockx.com/nike-zoom-vaporfly-4-bright-crimson
Seems crazy to spend that much $$ for a 100 mile shoe... But I spent more than that on a Ceramic Speed Oversized Pulley System for my bike that "in theory" will save me way less than a few minutes on my bike split...
PM me if you don't want to pollute the thread, but I was interested in your evidence for the purchase (because I know you are a data driven guy)? And, how have you found them (feel, ease to use etc)?
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Peter Greagg commented on NYT Article: Nike Vaporfly 4% Really is 4% Faster
@John Withrow Don't want to derail the thread, but had a question about "But I spent more than that on a Ceramic Speed Oversized Pulley System for my bike that "in theory" will save me way less than a few minutes on my bike split...".
PM me if you don't want to pollute the thread, but I was interested in your evidence for the purchase (because I know you are a data driven guy)? And, how have you found them (feel, ease to use etc)?
Now to your questions... The data seems pretty strong (If you believe that NYT article or anyone's n=1 who has run in them) that IF you spend ~$250-350 on these Vaporfly 4%, THEN you will be ~4-8 minutes faster in a stand-alone marathon (who knows about an IM...). Similarly, IF you spend ~$100-300 on an Aero Helmet, you WILL be faster over 112 miles of an IM bike leg vs not wearing one. Same for Race Wheels, disc cover, race tires, latex tubes, tight fitting clothes, etc. etc. etc...
I am NOT convinced that spending $500 for a Ceramic Speed OPWS will actually make you any faster. It "might"... But I'm not convinced... It DEFINITELY looks cool, and that is worth something (but not $500 something to me). Just yesterday I took my bike to my LBS to have my OPWS removed and my stock D/A one put back on. It's pretty well known that with bigger wheels and a longer leverage arm that there are more stresses in the OPWS vs standard 11t wheels, and that they also don't shift as cleanly. I also use Osymetric Chainrings (until yesterday when I switched to less aggressive Oval Q-rings), so my bike always kinda shifted like crap anyways and have always had some chain slap. I think in my Aspen camp this combination of hard shifts and chain slaps caused my chain to get stuck between the bottom pulley and the OPWS guide cage, breaking a piece of it off (not sure which of my chain drops this happened on). I've ridden with it like that for a month or so afterwards with increasing frequency of chain drops each ride and finally gave up after a disastrous ride on Wednesday (and now I also have a bent deraileur hanger). I don't think my situation is completely unique because a couple of months ago, @JeremyBehler had his Ceramic Speed OPWS literally break in half mid-ride, which could cause other damage to your bike, rip off the deraileur, mess up your wheels, and/or cause a crash... At a minimum it ruins a good training day or worse ruins a whole race.
So I spent the last couple days going deep down the rabbit holes of learning a LOT more about bearings and the OPWS. I think the bigger radius does cause fractionally less kinking in the chain, but from a VERY LOW starting point. The ceramic bearings also cause slightly less friction, also from a very low starting point since there is very little friction here to begin with. There is even less drag if you use the lower tension settings which makes the chain slap even worse for my setup. So I'm still going through the warranty process with Dinhofer's help. If they warranty the system, I will probably put it back on, but I might just sell it. In the meantime, I'm going to buy some Kogel ceramic 11t pulley wheels (~$100) and install them myself in my stock D/A pulley wheel system. IF the OPWS saves me more than 1 min in an IM bike, I'd be surprised. IF it causes my chain to drop a single time, I give up more than that... Not worth it for me to race with it unless I can get it back in time and test it enough to be confident before my race. But it sure as hell looks cool!
Thanks John. Message received and understood. I am using an 11t so will probably look at Kogel ceramic pulley wheels.
My TT bike is a three year old Shiv with ceramic bearings front wheel (HED 3), bottom bracket and a 24 mm Wheelbuilder rear.
Slowtwitch article on foam and carbon plates
That's a great read...I have a pair of the 4% I only use for racing; and my one off definitely has me believing they are faster than any other shoe I own.
Interesting is that Hoka is coming out with a carbon plate shoe. Making me feel stupid for hoarding a couple pairs of 4% in the last release.