First Road Bike - Advice

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cole4ord

New Member
Location
Somerset
Hi all

Been reading this forum for a while but never posted before so hello all.

I was after a bit of advice if possible. I have recently got very into cycling. Currently ride a mountain bike but dont do off roading. Road biking only so im about to buy my first road bike but am a little unsure on gears. The 3 that i am looking at and have bneen recommended to me at my local Evans store are the Trek 1.1, Specialized Secteur and Specialized Allez 16, with the Trek being the one that im leaning towards. My only uncertainty is how many gears to get. The Trek only has 2 rings on the front whilst the Sectuer has 3. I live in somerset so will have hills to tackle and am aiming to gradually get into doing long rides and im worried about getting the Trek 1.1 and finding that i do not have enough high or low gears.

Can anyone offer any help to a confused beginner? Should i go for 2 or 3? I really want the Trek but dont want to be left with too few gears and either struggle on big hills or not be able to have a big enough gear to reach high speeds on the flat?

Thanks for any help anyone can give.
 

frank9755

Cyclist
Location
West London
It depends on the rider but, from what you say, in particular the fact that you are used to a mountain bike with low gears, I think you should listen to your preference for the bike with a triple.

I got my first racing bike (having already got a tourer) at the start of the year. It has a compact chainset but no triple. After my first club run in the Chilterns I realised the gearing wasn't low enough for me to ride comfortably, so I was going to change to a triple. Instead I ended up switching the rear mech to accommodate a 34T rear cassette (which actually gave me slightly lower gearing than the triple would have done). No regrets.
 

jimboalee

New Member
Location
Solihull
There are several of my clubmates who bought bikes with triples. That was a few years back and they still go on the D ride.

Last year's newbies who bought a bike with a double have progressed to the C ride in their second year of membership.
 

tdr1nka

Taking the biscuit
I'd say to go with a triple, you don't have to use all the gears, but like you say it might be better to have a range.

It's also easy enough to convert to a double when or if you feel like it.
 

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
not a gearing buff but you can can cover he same range albeit with wider steps surely?

depends on you and the way you ride

waht are the A and B rides?
 
OP
OP
C

cole4ord

New Member
Location
Somerset
hi all

Thanks very much for your replies and help. I found them very useful.
I decided to go with the Specialized secteur with the triple in the end. Hopefully picking up up from my local evans on saturday
 

iendicott

Well-Known Member
Location
Peterborough
Tynan said:
not a gearing buff but you can can cover he same range albeit with wider steps surely?

depends on you and the way you ride

waht are the A and B rides?


I am assuming the A and B are faster club rides but it's the first I have heard of it referred to as this :biggrin:
 

thanos

Active Member
Newbie road cyclist, just rode back from work (short commute), and managed not to use the granny chainring on the last hill (a discussion on gear ratios on cyclechat caused this small experiment) - if I had to climb another hill in succession I definitely would switch down. If youre not a seasoned road cyclist there are days where you may not be at your best (didnt have that extra pancake or whatever), and the third chainring comes to the rescue.

my opinion anyway..

Oh and congrats on the purchase!!!
 
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