Newbie upgrading to a road bike.

[Nutty1979]

Hi...my first post :-) just joined.

Been commuting into London for about 4 months now, I do a 16 mile a day round trip from Leytonstone to Angel station, half road half canal, I currently do the 8 mile one way in 35-40mins in low winds. I ride a crap but cheap £190 Apollo FS 26 with road tyres, that weighs about 20kg, breaks squeak and it feels like its going to die on me soon, they say you get what you pay for, the idea was to try the commute out and see if I like it.

Well after 4 months I love it and i've decided to get a brand new road bike through the cycle to work scheme, waited over a month for it to go through ( I blame my work) got my phone call and should be picking everything up Saturday. I went for a Trek 1.5 with racing shoes, Look KEO sprint peddals, wireless comp, racing helmet, as well as some tight sporty bibs and tops which came to £950. I've never been on a road bike and never used cleats so going to try and get used to them the weekend before my long trip into london on monday, I also understand I wont be using the regent canal anymore which is cool with me as I hate the slow cyclists and dog walkers haha. I've been told i'm gonna be blown away with the difference from the MTB...im kinda excited like a fat kid in a sweet shop. Will let you know how i get on :-)

thanks for reading.

 

[dhague]

Good luck with the new bike!

From recent personal experience, I can pass on the following tips:
- Practice clipping in and out of the pedals a few times in the hallway before you go out onto the road.
- When you do go out onto the road, clipping in at traffic lights etc can be tricky at first. Start by clipping in one foot before the lights change, and then use that to pedal off and get some momentum before looking down at the other foot to clip that one in (basically to make sure the pedal is right way up as it comes around on the crank).
- You may find the road bike much less comfortable at first. You will get used to it, but it will take a few days/weeks of progressively finer adjustments to seat height, seat position, stem angle & bar angle in the stem - in that order.
- You may need to get another saddle if the Trek one is unbearably uncomfortable.

All the best,
Darren

 

[magnatom]

Welcome and good luck!

I'll just add that the road bike will feel very wobbly and unstable at first compared to your hybrid. Keep with it though and you'll soon realise that wobbly and unstable actually means responsive and fun!

 

[Downward]

How much did you pay for the bike on it's own ?
I like the 1.5 even if not all agree with the colourscheme.

 

[Nutty1979]

Thanks darren for the clipping advise, i'll be sure to practice what you have just said. should be fun.

I;ve seen how responsive road bikes are when they pass me everyday and dodge man holes and rubbish in the road.

My local shop which is involved in the cycle to work scheme were selling it for £675, I prefered the trek 1.2 becuase of the colours but when i saw the 1.5 in the shop that metallic green looks pretty cool and abit different so went to that as it was in my budget.

 

[andyfromotley]

Hi Nutty

you will loooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvveeeeeeee it. it really will seem like your flying!

 

[Jake]

wow going to be so differnt!!! used to use my old mtb on the same canal, nightmare. Got a road bike and woooshhh. you will notice the difference, you will be shitting your pants at the speed it will go at. Tip for the cleats, what ever you do, keep the bike going when your trying to flick your foot out, otherwise you will fall off. Same as when trying to get on, DONT STOP! if you think your going a bit slow and going to fall off, just give your other a leg a 1 rotation on hte pedal and clip it in. Not sure if that makes sense, or if anyone else can explain it in English lol

 

[Nutty1979]

i'm quite excited about the speed increase, i dont hang about on my MTB as it is, i'm always overtaking other cyclists, trying to beat my time into work most mornings.

The canal run was nice and kinda amusing, saw a guy on his bike go straight into the water a few months back, few of us had to help the poor guy out. Also see come crazy drunks down that canal...think i'll be safer on the road.

Cheers for the tips jake, i've been behind people at traffic lights and seen how they do it, i just need to put it into practice. Cant wait to get rid of my 20kg bike haha. What route do you take now your not on the canal? i looked at your youtube vids, recognise allot of the places.

BTW what are the best pedals?...the guy in the shop said the Look KEO ones are good but the guys at work say them crank brother egg beaters are the best.

Cheers for the info :-)

 

[ngalbrai]

On the pedals question, I recently swapped from Shimano spd's to racing shoes and look keo cleats and while they are MUCH better when clipped in and riding they can be absolute b*stards to clip into in a hurry, especially up a hill. I would be inclined to go for the egg beaters and you can kinda mash your feet onto them and they clip in as opposed to it being a more tricky movement with the looks. You will get better with them though, I did. The other thing to bear in mind is that with the stop start of commuting and putting your foot down a lot the cleats are wearing surprisingly quickly on the foot I put down, as opposed to the shimano spd's which were recessed into the shoe.

 

[Jake]

i use simano something or other. They can be a bit awkward to get on and off sometimes, but generaly fine. Still the odd day when it slips and i got to look down to see which way its rotated, but usualy clips right in. Make sure you get the right shoes too. Evans were really helpfull when i got mine. The shoes i really wanted just didnt fit (fashion victim), so had to go for ones which did not look so good or have a flashy name, just because feet are so wide.

yeah once you loose that bike, it will be awesome. The stearing is so different too and delicate. the smallest movement and your changing direction. Throw it into the canal. Yes used to live in canning town and used the canal, so many nightmare stories. But moved to brixton now, so completley differnt route to Angel. Not sure the best way for you to go now. There are some guys on here, forget their names, who have a simular route at the begining, so hope they respond.

 

[Nutty1979]

Thanks, i'll see how i get on with the look keo's, if i fail then i'll invest in some egg beaters as i've seen them on quite a few road bikes.

I went for the specialized sport road shoes as they felt so much lighter then the ones you can walk around in and was told i would benefit allot from them.

Well my plan is to stick to the mile end road till i hit City road which brings me to Old Street roundabout which i'm dreading.....that's one crazy roundabout. might see if i can cut it out going down a side road.

1 more day to go on my squeaky halfords beast. Roll on sat

 

[dellzeqq]

At the risk of being fantastically boring.....don't count, or even attempt to take big lumps of your time all in one go. The limiting factor isn't your speed - it's your safety. I know the Regents Canal has its own special risks (I designed one of them) and I don't rate it as a cycle route, but the roads that run parallel do take a bit of getting used to, and I think that a road bike renders you a little less aware of your surroundings than an MTB or a hybrid. Might I suggest doing the first week on the road route with the MTB?

I don't know where you end up in Islington, but I find the right turn off City Road in to Graham Street pretty useful.