Am I on the wrong bike??

[adventureboy]

Hi guys,
I wanted to ask you a question about my struggle with cycling. I bought a cheap 100 quid mountain bike a few years ago for messing about in the woods with the kids in summer. Recently, I've injured my knee running (I regularly run about 30-40 miles a week as my main sport), and I've been using the bike to get to work which is 8 miles away. Trouble is, it seems SO hard to sustain any kind off speed over about 7mph, I can actually run the same distance in the same approximate time more comfortably which seems wrong to me Obviously, I am reasonably fit so I can't figure this out.
So here's my question. If I buy a road bike will it make that much difference and will it shift me quicker? And also, do I need to spend a fortune on a road bike to knock 20 mins off the ride time?
I'm readily willing to spend a bit more but don't want to get ripped off. any suggestions? cheers
Rob

 

[Fab Foodie]

Welcome!

Yes, you have the wrong bike (or BSO - Bike Shaped Object).
Unfortunately the £100 BSO is a pretty turgid beast to go anywhere fast. It's very heavy, probably has energy sapping suspension, poor knobbly tyres unsuited to road use and pretty poor bearings etc.
There is another thread here about how somebody is going 6mph faster for the same effort having gone from BSO to road bike.

The cheapest way to go faster is to buy a skinny tyred hybrid as they are generally cheaper than 'Racing bikes, reason is the shifters are so much cheaper. There are cheap road-bikes to be had though, The Carrera Virtuoso in Halfrauds is a good bagain basement racer as are Decathlon's own brand. My mate has a cheap Viking brand race bike and he's as fast as any of us 40 somethings on our full carbon.
Other than that you're looking at over £500 from the big players like Trek, Specialized, Giant etc. They'll be good though, no fear that it's not money well spent
Short answer, if you want something that's easy and fast on the road, buy the right weapon for the job. You wouldn't expect a good marathon time in cheap hob-nailed boots would you?

 

[Norm]

I'd say there's a problem with your bike if you are that fit but can only manage 7mph. Depends on your route, of course. I'm 46 and way overweight, when I started cycling in the summer, I hadn't done any real exercise for years but I can maintain 10mph on off-road tracks on an MTB.

For comparison, I travel at about 14-15mph on the road on a road bike, doing that would half (knocking 30 minutes off) your commuting time.

You don't say where you are but head to your local bike shop and have a test ride. If you like the position of your current bike, try a flat barred hybrid, something like a Specialized Sirrus, for instance. Most will let you have a 30-45 minute test ride, see how that feels.

Or get someone to look at your current ride. It sounds, to me, like there's something wrong with it.

 

[WickfordWheels]

I'll second the comment about the Decathlon bikes being good VFM. If you dont want to go as far as buying a new bike then getting rid of knobby tyres will be a big help. One of my bikes is a BSO, see here and it does me fine, but I wont win any races on it All depends on what you are after.

Although I would say that if your BSO has full suspension then a new bike is certainly the best option.

 

[Willo]

Your story sounds very familiar - I dug out my old and cheap mountain bike and put some road tyres on it last year after injuring my achilles which meant no running for a few months. After switching to a road bike I found that the route that had me puffing on the old bike was a breeze. I didn't believe a bike could make that much difference, but was really taken aback at how much quicker the new bike is.

I was lucky in that my company use the Cycle 2 Work scheme and I bought a Specialized Allez 24 - admittedly it didn't take much to impress me relative to my old, heavy bike but I love the Allez and am really enjoying the cycling. I've started to run again but now balance the 2 which is providing a nice mix.

Try and find a shop that will let you test ride a couple of bikes - Evans were pretty good when I was looking around - and see how different it feels to your current bike.

 

[Banjo]

Even on a knobbly tyred mountain bike you should be able to average 10 or 12 mph fairly easilly. Is the bike the right size and are the tyres pumped up correctly?

You may find a bit of cleaning oiling and tyre pumping will make a big difference. Also check the seat is high enough that your leg is almost straight at the bottom of the pedal stroke.This makes a huge difference,seat too low makes very hard work and slow progress.

 

[HJ]

You also need to make sure you have it set up properly, if you saddle is too low that will also make your riding less efficient, slow and cause knee problems. Get a decent bike and make sure it set up properly.

 

[adventureboy]

Thanks all of you for your kind advice and help. I'm quite tall and my BSO is a large size and is set up with the seat high etc and the tyres are well pumped up. really, it sounds and feels as though the tyres are gripping the road as I'm riding. The fastest I've done is 12mph with wind behind me! It's odd because I used to ride everywhere as a teenager on a bike and it never felt that difficult. I'm thinking I will get a road bike as soon as I can now. Actually, I'm hoping my knee heels so I can get back to running again and use the bike for cross-training in betwwen. Thanks all

 

[Norm]

Which bit of the country are you in, adventureboy?

 

[dav1d]

Thanks all of you for your kind advice and help. I'm quite tall and my BSO is a large size and is set up with the seat high etc and the tyres are well pumped up. really, it sounds and feels as though the tyres are gripping the road as I'm riding. The fastest I've done is 12mph with wind behind me! It's odd because I used to ride everywhere as a teenager on a bike and it never felt that difficult. I'm thinking I will get a road bike as soon as I can now. Actually, I'm hoping my knee heels so I can get back to running again and use the bike for cross-training in betwwen. Thanks all

Just out of curiosity, is your bike a full suspension Sabre Kinetic from Toys "R" Us? I had one that was around 90quid after the VAT cut in 2007. I couldn't ride anywhere fast for long, and I was always knackered on it to the extent that on some relatively short journeys, I wondered if I could make it home as I was exhausted! Plus I had to fir the back bike light upside down (which looked silly as it was one of those chunky lights so you could tell it was the wrong way up) as there wasn't room for it otherwise!

 

[Globalti]

Thanks all of you for your kind advice and help. I'm quite tall and my BSO is a large size and is set up with the seat high etc and the tyres are well pumped up. really, it sounds and feels as though the tyres are gripping the road as I'm riding. The fastest I've done is 12mph with wind behind me! It's odd because I used to ride everywhere as a teenager on a bike and it never felt that difficult. I'm thinking I will get a road bike as soon as I can now. Actually, I'm hoping my knee heels so I can get back to running again and use the bike for cross-training in betwwen. Thanks all

You're quite correct, those knobbly tyres ARE gripping the road as you ride; the knobs are squirming away under your weight and the sound you hear is your energy being wasted as the tyres wear themselves out. Pumping them up to their maximum will help but buying some road slicks would make a huge different, failing that get some commuter tyres with a central ridge and pump them up really hard so you ride on the ridge. A track pump is worth buying to achieve the high pressures. Look at the Topeak Joe Blow.

Sadly, while MTBs have done much to encourage cycling they have also been responsible for putting lots of people off cycling.

By contrast you'll find a road bike exhilaratingly fast for the same effort.

Added later: your position on the bike will also have a big effect on your speed; a cheapo MTB is likely to have an upright sitting position so wind resistance will slow you down. Fast cross-country MTBs have a much lower stretched-out position, approaching that of a road bike.

 

[swee'pea99]

Buy this or this or something like 'em. You'll believe a man can fly!

 

[Valy]

Just my $0.02...

I have a FS bike for about £150 and a Hardrock Comp 2010.

Now, I don't really see how it would be plausible be going about 7MPH on a bike and putting reasonable effort in (a basic level of fitness is needed of course) - so there must be something really, really wrong with the bike you have Rob.

 

[potsy]

Brakes aren't sticking on are they?

 

[Debian]

I would also suggest there must be something wrong with OP's bike.

Even I can get double the OP's claimed speed out of a clunky heavy old bike without too much effort.

Brakes are rubbing or the wheel bearings are dry, ... or something, but something is wrong for sure, maybe a combination of little things?