Road bikes: Comfortable?

[youngoldbloke]

Road bike are mean for boy racers (or club riders as they prefer to call them selves), they are not supposed to be comfortable, they are about going fast, that is why to have to stick your arse in the air to ride them. But that is OK it is where boy racers keep their brains...

Touring bike are more intended to more comfortable, as they are designed for covering distance.

Gosh! - my brains are in my ARSE - that's what's been going wrong all these years - anyone got a Galaxy for sale?

 

[Randochap]

Not meaning any offence but It's strange that even in a country that played no small part in the development of the road bicycle we need to discuss this topic.

I'm not surprised however. Going on my last visit to the UK, I noticed that most people were riding department store MTBs. Where were the great British bikes I'd grown up around?

I'd venture that, after a long infatuation with the mountain bike (and there are plenty of mountain bikes around -- we have mountains) Canada and NA in general has re-embraced the road bike ... sometimes to the opposite degree.

That is, as I've argued here at length, there is room for bigger tyres ... but often not within the forks and stays of most modern road bikes.

I and many others have found the perfect answer in the 650b wheel size w/ wider tyres (up to 42mm), which was perfected in France in the 30s -- before roads were commonly paved. These are fast and comfortable bikes.

 

[HJ]

Ah, so that's where I went wrong.

Trying to ride 240km one day and then 230km the next, followed by another five days of 220+km rides from Land's End to JOG on a Spesh SWorks is just 'boy racer brain in arse' mentality.

I should have ridden my old ten speed tourer and only covered 50km each day for a month.

The fact that the SWorks is the most 'near-perfect' fitted and most comfortable bike I own is neither here nor there.

Gosh! - my brains are in my ARSE - that's what's been going wrong all these years - anyone got a Galaxy for sale?

Yep, it just the same as with drivers, the boy racers take themselves far to seriously

 

[PaulSecteur]

Not meaning any offence but It's strange that even in a country that played no small part in the development of the road bicycle we need to discuss this topic.

Also not meaning any offence, but that does seems to be one of most ill thought out statements I have read on this forum!

 

[Willo]

I converted to a road bike 6 mnths back. Beforehand, my main concerns were comfort and stability. Re comfort, I looked at getting a Specialized Secteur or something similar but when my C2W supplier couldn't source one I went for a test spin on the basic Allez and found it comfortable and perfect for me. That hasn't changed since (although my rides are mostly shortish commutes between 30-60 mins with the odd 2hours or so spin at a weekend). Obviously you feel the bumps a bit more if the road is rough and padded shorts are essntial.

Re stability, I feared I would feel relatively unsafe riding on a bike with thin tyres and much lighter than my MTB. However, to the contrary, I find I feel much more secure. Difficult to describe but I think the greater 'efficiency' of a road bike means I can maintain a better/consistent position and motion which in turn makes it easier to hold my road position. It is also more responsive giving me greater control and confidence.

 

[jimboalee]

Yep, it just the same as with drivers, the boy racers take themselves far to seriously

I'll take that as a compliment.

 

[MacB]

Another aspect of comfort is work rate this changes the weight distribution, on your contact points, quite a bit.

 

[HJ]

I'll take that as a compliment.

You do that Jimbo

 

[Davidc]

Obviously you feel the bumps a bit more if the road is rough and padded shorts are essntial.

Interesting - my mtb only has front suspension, and I feel big bumps such as kerbs less than on the tourer on my arms, but I don't notice any difference in road surface vibration or small defects. I wouldn't take the other bike over some of the things the mtb goes over - new wheels for it are too expensive.

Re stability, I feared I would feel relatively unsafe riding on a bike with thin tyres and much lighter than my MTB. However, to the contrary, I find I feel much more secure. Difficult to describe but I think the greater 'efficiency' of a road bike means I can maintain a better/consistent position and motion which in turn makes it easier to hold my road position. It is also more responsive giving me greater control and confidence.

Again, interesting. I find the mtb great for short trips round town, and on paths such as towpaths, which is what it was bought for. It sometimes ends up on more open roads, and I don't feel secure on it. The tourer isn't as convenient as the mtb round town, but on more open roads I feel much safer and more stable on it. Your last sentence applies, and I'm sure it has a lot to do with the frame geometry giving sharper response, which in town at slower speeds feels twitchier, on open roads feels more responsive.

 

[tyred]

I have two old steel road bikes and find them infinitely more comfortable than my slicked up MTB (also steel). The road surfaces have disintigrated here and any more than about ten mph on my MTB feels like I'm being beat up. On my old Carlton, I just don't feel these bumps despite the thinner tyres.

 

[Davidc]

I have two old steel road bikes and find them infinitely more comfortable than my slicked up MTB (also steel). The road surfaces have disintigrated here and any more than about ten mph on my MTB feels like I'm being beat up. On my old Carlton, I just don't feel these bumps despite the thinner tyres.

I agree about steel generally, but I'm sure the older frame geometry gave a mor ecomfortable ride on bad roads than the modern compact frames do, even when the new ones are steel. perhaps the older alloys (501, 531 etc.) were more shock absorbing as well.

Hang on to the Carlton - IMO one of the best and up with Holdsworth and Falcon.

 

[decca234uk]

I've got a hybrid and an Allez Specialized road bike. I hardly ride the hybrid anymore because my road bike is just so comfortable. It can get a bit shakey on a rough tow path but I'm happy to put up with that for the sheer pleasure it gives on a quiet back road when the only sound you can hear is the whels on the road.
I spent some time making sure I got a bike that fits me and changed the seat to a more comfortable one, now I can't imagine riding anything else.
I went riding with my son a few months back to York. I was on my road bike he was on the hybrid. on the way back from York he asked to swap. I agreed and sulked for the rest of the ride. the hybrid felt heavy and clumsy, I had to work twice as hard to keep up with him.

 

[GrasB]

I agree about steel generally, but I'm sure the older frame geometry gave a mor ecomfortable ride on bad roads than the modern compact frames do, even when the new ones are steel. perhaps the older alloys (501, 531 etc.) were more shock absorbing as well.

I think it's the metals, I know someone who had a new steel frame made to the exact geom. of an old frame. Even with everything else identical the new bike was harsher to ride.

 

[Davidc]

I think it's the metals, I know someone who had a new steel frame made to the exact geom. of an old frame. Even with everything else identical the new bike was harsher to ride.

I'm not surprised. I've suspeted that for some time.

Memories can of course be very misleading, but I'd rank the most comfortable bikes I've used or owned as Holdsworth Mistral 1972 as top (unfortunately not owned by me, borrowed for 9 months while I looked after it), Holdsworth Cyclone 1967 (I'd still strangle the person who nicked it if I found them) and a Peugeot with anumber I can't remember from 1978 (kept it 18 years). The Holdsworths were 531 and the Pug was I think some sort of french steel.