Very Preliminary Road Bike Research

[Crackle]

Read my review of my own Dawes Audax in the reviews section. It all adds to the picture.

A triple will give you a wider spread of gears but you might find the gears won't be as low as your current mtn bike. i.e my low on the Audax is 30" but on my mtn bike it's 21", which is the equivalent of about another 3 gears lower than on the Audax. Now if you never use your lower gears on your mtn bike on the road then not an issue. If you do then anything you buy off the shelf on a road bike is going to need customising on the gear front, easy but adds to the cost and requires you to gain an understanding of gear ratios so you get it right.

 

[Nick1979]

Yes but don't forget a road bike is much lighter (in term of weight and road resistance of the tyres), there is a big difference compared to a MTB. So for the same effort, you can use much higher gears on a road bike.
I think a standard triple (as in 50/39/30) should be fine for (nearly) everything you want to do (except maybe if you're 80 and living in the Alps).

 

[piedwagtail91]

Good idea, have emailed Ribble Valley CC and now have a phone number to ring for some further info, so will try to milk them for a bit more local gearing knowledge...

I read in the CTC mag that audax bikes often provide more hill-friendly gears, so that is looking more and more like an option...

Still alll very confusing!!!!

i think you'll find them pretty helpful. they have a good reputation for getting people on to bikes!
if you're lucky you may be able to scrounge a ride on someones spare road/winter bike.it will give you an idea of what it's like.
i think the bloke at wallis cycles could be helpful, i've seen him in scorton with someone i'm guessing is his wife/girlfriend so you may be able to get gearing/frame info there.

 

[Christopher]

You can have a go on my 58cm steel Audax bike Punky... it has drop bars and the brakes the other way around (front brake operated by LH lever) so you might not want to do that. PM me if so.

Saw a lady on a Wallis on the commue this AM, a fine-looking alu road bike.

 

[punkypossum]

Well, after a couple of rounds of the college car park on frustruck's road bike (Thanks again for that! ) I have learnt that a) his bike (58 I think) is way too long for me the tiniest stone feels like you hit a a rock c) the position didn't feel as upside down as I had expected d) The bike felt twitchy as I had expected e) My lower arms started hurting immediately, f) the brakes on a roadbike don't appear to have much actual stopping power at all (especially compared to the effort put into braking), i.e. downhills should be avoided at all cost. Why create something very fast with suicide brakes? g) although very brief and uncomfortable, it was sort of fun in a warped way

Conclusion from a - g: A lot more research and test rides required, by the time I've finished, I might possibly even be able to afford one (or be too scared to want one).

 

[ASC1951]

Punky, you will find that d) e) f) g) and to some extent are all a direct result of a).

I'm expect I weigh many pounds more than you (if not, you may have a problem ) and I have no difficulty on a road bike braking just with two fingers on the outside of the brake levers, which I keep set up to have less than an inch of travel at the lever tip. I only use my full hand grip for braking if I am going downhill well over 30mph. Offroad on an MTB you often need to slow right down, and suddenly, so MTB brakes have to be far more positive. If you use that amount of power on a road bike you will be shot out the front.

Have a ride on a shorter bike with tight brake lever action and it will all feel a lot more natural.

 

[punkypossum]

As for shorter, I know the position on a road bike is different, but if I measure the reach on my mtb which fits me fine, can I transfer that and use it for road bike sizing?

 

[Paulus]

Maybe punky, but remember that a road frame has totally different angles and so will be a differnent shape. An Audax bike as you mentioned before would be a good start. You will get road gearing with a triple chainset and a wider spaced cassette at the back to help with hill climbing.

 

[ColinJ]

Well, after a couple of rounds of the college car park on frustruck's road bike (Thanks again for that! ) I have learnt that a) his bike (58 I think) is way too long for me B) the tiniest stone feels like you hit a a rock c) the position didn't feel as upside down as I had expected d) The bike felt twitchy as I had expected e) My lower arms started hurting immediately, f) the brakes on a roadbike don't appear to have much actual stopping power at all (especially compared to the effort put into braking), i.e. downhills should be avoided at all cost. Why create something very fast with suicide brakes? g) although very brief and uncomfortable, it was sort of fun in a warped way

Hi PP.

Here's my contribution...

(a) I'm 6' 1.5" and I ride a 58 cm frame but my height mainly comes from my torso. My leg measurement is only about 33". Women tend to have longer legs and shorter torsos than men of the same height so I'm not surprised that you found a 58cm frame a stretch.

(B) Skinny tyres do feel a bit harsh compared to the comfort of big knobblies on a bike with suspension forks but I think a lot of people have their road tyre pressures a bit on the high side. You can make a big improvement in comfort by lowering the pressures slightly. There have been lots of discussions on this subject and some people will tell you that you need to run 23c tyres at well over 100 psi to avoid pinch punctures (snakebites). I run my tyres at about 80 psi front and 90 psi back (because there is more weight on the back of the bike) and I don't suffer from that problem. I just watch where I'm riding and unweight the bike (get out of the saddle) over rough surfaces. It may be possible to run bigger (more comfortable) tyres if your frame and forks have clearance for them. Touring bikes can usually take much more than 23c. My Basso can take 25c and that is my usual choice. My Cannondale doesn't really have clearance for anything bigger than 23c.

(c) I try to get the position on all my bikes (including my MTB) as close as possible.

(d) I wouldn't say that my road bikes are 'twitchy' exactly, but they are definitely easier to throw about than my MTB. That's partly because they are about 8-10 lbs lighter. You get used to it.

(e) Your arms probably got sore because your position wasn't right and was putting too much weight on them. A proper bike fit should sort that out. Paul Hewitt is very good for that.

(f) You do need to use a little bit more effort to apply road brakes, but you shouldn't need to be a gorilla! On anything upto about 20% downhills I use 1 or 2 fingers per lever. Above 20% I need to use 3 fingers but still manage to slow down okay. If you can lock the wheels without too much trouble (which is easily possible with modern brakes), you don't need more than that. It may be that you have short fingers in which case you need levers set closer to the bars so that you can get a good grip on them.

Some people have their brakes setup too 'tight' which makes braking difficult. If the blocks are set too close to the rims, you have to use too much strength - they go from off to full on in a couple of mms of lever travel. If you set the blocks further away from the rims so that you pull the levers further, you get much more control over your braking and don't need to pull so hard. NB you must make sure that the levers never touch the bars under full braking, for obvious reasons !!!

(g) MTB riding is great. Road riding is great. I ride my MTB on the road between bridleways and it feels like a slug. I ride my road bike on the odd bit of rough stuff and have to be very careful where I'd just blast away on the MTB. That's why I have several bikes - right 'tools for the job' and all that!

PS You could always come along on my Bowland ride and just do Longridge Fell and Beacon Fell - I know that you've done them before .

Oh, and I use a triple chainset on the Basso for riding big hills. It has 52/39/30 chainrings and a 14-28 cassette. It's old 9-speed Campagnolo. 10-speed Campagnolo would give you the option of a 13-29 cassette. A 30/29 bottom gear isn't anywhere near as low as the bottom gear on an MTB but it is very low on a road bike and when you are fit, you should be able to climb anything on that and usually not even need the bottom few gears. I'm not sure what options you'd have with Shimano - you'd probably be able to go even lower using a MTB cassette but unless you were touring with heavy loads, I don't think you'd need to.

 

[Danny]

Still think you should consider an Audax bike or even a tourer, rather than a pure road bike, as you can run it with wider tyres and easily carry luggage on your charity rides.

Don't you live somewhere around Preston? In which case you should consider going to see Paul Hewitt in Leyland for a bike fitting session. After much positive feedback from other members of the forum, I had a session with Paul last month and was very impressed with the whole experience. He spent over two hours sorting out my riding position and discussing the various options I had for getting an Audax bike/light tourer. He sells both and will customise them to any specification you require.

Buying a bike through him will cost between £900 - £1000, but you will be sure to get something that really fits and suits they way you plan to ride. Alternatively you can just pay him a small fee (£30 I think) and he will still do a bike fitting session, and give you a detailed sizing diagram which you can use to purchase a bike elsewhere.

I am sorry I didn't see someone like Paul before I bought my first drop handlebar bike. Basically I got one that was the wrong size, and ended up having to sell it after a few months. This cost me much more than a bike fitting session would have.

 

[Christopher]

Punky would have found the bike a bit shorter if I had noticed that the saddle was so far back it was nearly out of the clamp!

Oh, and the brakes on that bike (Oryx cantis) are a bit feeble, might be better with better pads, but the dual-pivots on the bike in my avatar pic are a lot more powerful, but even then not as powerful as V-brakes.

 

[Chris James]

PP, my twopennorth. From your height inside leg measurements I would guess that you would be best off with a man's bike.

I am 5 ft 11 1/2in and 33in inside leg and ride a 57cm bike (with a 57cm top tube length). So I woud have thought that a 56cm would be a good size for you to try.

Re sizing, effective top tube length is probably the most important measurement and is independent on whether you have a horizontal or sloping top tube.

Typically reach to the handlebars is about right if, when sat on the saddle, the bars obstruct your view of the front hub.

Re gearing, a 30 tooth chain ring with 27 tooth ring on the cassette should see you up most things. If you struggle on some hills then you just need to gte fitter. Don't consider fitting a MTB block and derailleur to a road bike (as opposed to tourer) as you will end up with widely spaced gears and you already have a MTB that does low gears. I have a 30/25 bottom gear and get up everything around here okay although low gears are always very welcome at the end of the day when you are tired.

As far as brakes go, dual pivots are pretty good but you usually just use them to trim speed off, not to stop dead. If the brakes were that good then you would probably go over the handlebars!

Personally I would go for a 105 equipped bike as it is compatible with all the groupsets above it (as they are all 10 speed), However, I believe the recent upgrade to Tiagra is an extremely good performer and extra speeds are a very marginal benefit in my view. Tiagra is substantially cheaper too.

If you are looking at good value (cheap!) then Ribble are famed for how much bang you get for your buck. I believe they have long top tubes for their frame sizes though so you may want to ere on the small size seat tube length and this may result in your bars seeming low in comparison to your saddle - something you might not like from a MTB background.

I get the impression you would like a full on road bike rather than an audax type bike as you would like a speed machine. If that is true then you will probably have more choice as there aren't that many bikes around with triple chiansets and mudguard eyelets. However, don't dismiss audax bikes out of hand as being slow. I have a Dawes Audax, same as Crackle, and it is very comfy and quite nippy too. I did the 62miler round the Northern Rock Cyclone last weekend and was the same pace as some lads on full carbon bikes and I kept pedalling when they got off and walked up the hills!

 

[Tynan]

when they got off and walked up the hills!

 

[HJ]

I like your plan!!! Still hoping someone will explain these gear ratios to me!!!

Here yous go Punky, all you ever wanted to know about gear ratios and more... hope that helps a wee bit.

 

[punkypossum]

I get the impression you would like a full on road bike rather than an audax type bike as you would like a speed machine. If that is true then you will probably have more choice as there aren't that many bikes around with triple chiansets and mudguard eyelets. However, don't dismiss audax bikes out of hand as being slow. I have a Dawes Audax, same as Crackle, and it is very comfy and quite nippy too. I did the 62miler round the Northern Rock Cyclone last weekend and was the same pace as some lads on full carbon bikes and I kept pedalling when they got off and walked up the hills!

Thanks again every for all the advice everyone...I'm definitely not after a complete speed machine - not if it means giving up comfort and ending up with my bum 3 feet above my head - don't think my skeleton could cope!!! However, I do have a bit of a thing about sloping top tubes, and so far, I have found them more on "proper" road then audax bikes...

Also, my mountain bike weighs 28 pounds and most of the audax ones seem to be around 24 or more - I would like to lose weight by switching to a road bike, but will 4 pounds or so really make much difference?

Whatever happens, I'm getting more and more convinced I'll need a proper fitting session...