Racing bikes - not road bikes please!

[tmcd35]

When I was a kid in the 80's I had a racer - I know cause it had dropped bars, and all my friends had mountain bikes. Today the racer I had as a kid would be called a road bike and my friends mountain bikes are now called hybrids - go figure.

For me when I hear the word racer I think of some uber-cool, ultra-light weight, carbon machine costing a few thousand and used by riders on the Tour de France.

I associate the word 'road bike' with bikes that have narrow slick tyres that you wouldn't take down a gravel cycle path for fear of damage to the bike or your back - as in 'you ride them on the road'. Where as my hybrid with thicker semi-slicks handles the aforementioned dirt tracks with little in the way of problems.

In fact I'd say that tourers, audaxes, commuters and racers are all just different, specialised, types of road bike

 

[Globalti]

In my time a racer was also know as a "ten speed".

 

[youngoldbloke]

The correct term for a bike used for road racing is 'race bike'. I have a bike that could be used for racing, but isn't, so it is called a 'road bike'. A fixed wheel bike with no brakes used in a velodrome is a 'track bike', again if used for racing it would be my 'race bike'. I would never use the terms 'racer' or 'racing bike'.

 

[Bill Gates]

You wouldn't call a dedicated TT bike with tri bars and a disc wheel a road bike, but it is a "racer". On the other hand a "racer" could be a Track, Road Race or TT bike.

My understanding of what is meant by a road bike is a lightweight bike with drop handle bars and gears that could be used for touring, training or racing TT's or Road.