Advice please-newbie wants to improve bike and performance

[EnPassant]

At the risk of banging on about saving money. Ride what you have for a bit. There is no bike on earth that will double your speed instantly unless it's got a motor down the seatpost.

Smash a few miles out, you'll get quicker, even I did and I have all the mental stamina of the average sloth. Seat height and setting the bike up as best you can is important though, you'll find threads on here discussing this. It'll slow you down massively if you are hitting your chin with your knees . Mine is set for a very slight bend in the knee at bottom dead center (ball of foot on pedal and clipped in nowadays) I can't touch the ground without getting off the saddle, which on my bike with my build is as it should be I'm told, but this is somewhat geometry dependent so I don't know for a mtb, others will.

Oh lordy how I lust after a proper road carbon Fondo style bike with hydraulic disk brakes and Di2 gearing, so I'm all too aware of trying to "buy a fix", but I know that in reality it will only be a bit more suitable and/or quicker that what I'm on right now. "It's new, its shiny, and I wants it" is a feeling I'm all too familiar with. At some point I will take the plunge, but it won't have been a spur of the minute thing I later regret (not saying this is the case for you, but I know me well enough).

Yes a new bike is a good idea long term for road riding, more even for you than me since mine is cx not mtb, however you will have a much better idea of what you need as opposed to what you want in at least a few weeks, or as Spokey says your current steed will go back in the shed, but your wallet will have stayed the fatter for it.

Incidentally, if any hills are involved or become involved you might even find a 'proper' road bike would actually slow you down, mad as that sounds. They are geared higher than mtb's and you find you simply get off because you ran out of gears and consequently puff, or at least I did. Again as you get fitter you'll have a better idea I can now get up hills I couldn't before.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

As a side note that Viking and I have covered over 21,000 miles since I started mid 2012 and it often weighs in excess of 16Kg avg sp these day (still a few months to catch up on my database) 1st qrt 2016 was 13.68mph but its not all clear cut because the climb rate is up from 37ft a mile to 49ft a mile an increase of over 25% so many things effect your avg speed.

Edit
So an increase of 3 1/2 Kg and an increase in climb rate are just two factors, lack of riding (fitness lost a bit but its coming back well enough) that effect the overall average speed.

Weather conditions wet and wind both effect speed, and how you feel on the day, unless like me a stats freak, take no heed of it on a day to day bases, keep a simple log distance and time in a spreadsheet from this you can work out over a period of time an overall improvement, because as you get fitter those things that slow you down like wind become less important as you are looking at an overall performance, you can expand it to include elevation cadence and hr if you wish, when taken together they show a better overall improvement.

Like I mentioned my first month was an average below 11mph the following month it was just over 12mph the month after that just over 14mph, (same for Sept) after that I started doing hills and the climb rate went from 34.3ft/mile to 48.9ft/mile but the speed went down from 14.03 to 13.4mph.
I could show you cad and average gear ect.....

 

[Joeletaxi]

Thanks enpassant,,great advice. Its true,,,its easy to fool yourself into thinking throwing money at something will clearly make it better. As i often say though, getting fitter involves pain and that happens when you get your bike out and do a bit..but as ive found, the pain barrier pushes out and what used to seem impossible becomes fairly easy.

This morning i managed to shave almost 5 mins off my standard circuit and spent a lot more of the pedalling time with the front crank on the top ring. I shall press on and see how it goes,, im determind the bike will not go back in the shed.

I'm also losing some weight and my resting pulse has dropped to as low as 49bpm,,a record low

Just proves it works..

 

[Venod]

the next best improvement is £15ish for new swept handlebars that you can grab near the centres

Provided you have nothing in the way you can grab any handlebar near the centre.

 

[biggs682]

I do notice that other cyclists (not necessarily road racers!) fly past me.

So what can i do to make my heavy steel mountain bike better?

Would swapping the tyres make a big improvement?

Do i need to sell it and buy better?

I just want to cycle and get fitter not enter the tour de france so i dont need to spend 5k on a road bike

All advice welcome

@Joeletaxi where are you based ?

just because you see people on road bikes flying past you doent mean to say they are enjoying themselves there are an awful lot of cyclist's who are slaves to the latest must have machine

swapping to road tyres will help for sure , as will gradually going further and for longer periods but most important thing for me is enjoyment .

if you are local to me in Northamptonshire feel free to pop around and try any of my retro road bikes and see what you think and then you would have a better idea re changing bike

 

[mjr]

Provided you have nothing in the way you can grab any handlebar near the centre.

Yes, but if they're not swept and the bike's designed for straight or riser bars, the hands will be too close to the rider for a comfortable aero position.

 

[Jody]

The change to a smoother tyre sounds like a good initial move. I can see Schwalbe cityjet 26 x 1.5 at halfords for £8.99 ?

They can help on the flat but they aren't light tyes so you can tell when climbing. Ive got some on a spare set of wheels, took a punt as they were only 15 quid a pair so saved burning expensive nobbly tyres on the road. I'd agree with others to run your bike for a few months and see how you go. Average speed isn't everything. Just ride, get fitter and decide what you want next

 

[Venod]

Yes, but if they're not swept and the bike's designed for straight or riser bars, the hands will be too close to the rider for a comfortable aero position.

So a new longer stem as well?

 

[Nigelnaturist]

This morning i managed to shave almost 5 mins off my standard circuit and spent a lot more of the pedalling time with the front crank on the top ring. I shall press on and see how it goes,, im determind the bike will not go back in the shed.

Being in a higher gear isn't always the best way, we are different but its generally better to be in a gear or two lower and spin the pedals a little quicker, it comes with practise.

 

[ufkacbln]

There could be an argument that for your aims, improving the bike is unhelpful

It is the same as runners carrying rucksacks, leg weights, turning up the resistance on a turbo

You are improving and will continue to do so

If you improve the bike then you will see a leap for a short period, but it will then be back to the slog of incremental improvements

 

[Profpointy]

sorry if someone's said already, and at the risk of teaching my grandmother to suck eggs, but have you given the bike a good fettle? Specifically, pumped the tyres up to to the max (written on side), made sure brakes not rubbing and bearings spin freely and oiled the chain. Tyre pressure is particularly important and not wholly obvious that the different between pumped up hard for "the thumb test" is not the same as pumped up enough. You need a track pump to pump 'em up properly; the portable pump is more of a get-you-home thing. I wrongly thought a track pump was an extravagent luxury till I bought one in my 30s. It broke (eventually) and I ordered a replacement the same day. As othes gave said smooth tyres also make a big difference. A road oriented bike will be lighter and easier to pedal, albeit might be rather high geared for hills, so you may want to think quite hard about exactly what you want to avoid regretting not buying something slightly different - eg mudguards, triple chainset, touring with luggage, cyclocross for off-road a bit etc

 

[Joeletaxi]

Thanks all again for advice and encouragement..also biggs682 for the kind offer,alas im up in Manchester. I shall persevere !

 

[RegG]

Just come in on this thread so excuse me if I have repeated other advice.....

I was in a similar position to you around 18 months ago...... Got my 15 year old Carrera MTB out of the shed and started riding again, along with my partner. I found that, on the road, the MTB tyres were noisy and (IMHO) slowing me down. I put some Schalbe City Jet tyres on it and found it made quite a difference. Got them from Halfords and didn't pay a fortune...

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-parts/bike-tyres/schwalbe-city-jet-bike-tyre-26-x-1-5

As I was being passed by other, clearly older, riders as if I was standing still I eventually invested in a new road bike (Giant Defy 0) and haven't looked back. It all depends on your own situation, budget, what you want to achieve but good luck and well done for getting the bike out. Just persevere and you will notice improvement over time, not necessarily overnight though!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@Joeletaxi Told you I was a stats freak, hopefully you can read it.

Don't be put off by the large distances I had a lot of free time. What I am trying to show is that fitness comes with miles and highlighted is where at the moment I haven't the fitness I had primarily due to the lack of days and distance, the table shows a rolling 365 days going back in time, the columns with difficult are derived from a formula called climbebybike primarily used to work out how difficult climb is I just adapted it, but you can see in the last year the difficulty per mile is higher which could also indicate the lower average cad and lower speed, what has surprised me over the last year is that Ihave still been out at least every third day, it hasn't felt that often.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Look at getting a Cyclocross bike. There are plenty on the market, which won't break the bank. You get all the convenience of a drop bar road bike, with the versatility of a Hybrid. Don't worry about getting passed by other cyclists. Let them get on with their ride, you only need to concern yourself with your ride.