Road bike slower than mountain bike?! (HELP!)

[TheSoulReaver03]

Hey guys.

Okay, so I've bought an used road bike 2 days ago (RWC-27 Weekend... you probably won't find the brand anywhere. It's an old bike though.), 630 tyres, 2x5 speed, frame lever shifters. As soon as I could I made a speed test (tyres are not at very high pressure though).

I noticed that it's harder to pedal than MTB (26'' tyres) and is not really faster ( no noises from pedaling except the chain touching the front derailur). I don't know if it might be a tight chain or the drivetrain needs replacement or something.
Also, I made a downhill test. Without pedaling, to my surprise, my MTB was rolling much faster downhill than my road bike.

I've checked the front tyre, and I can move it to the side a bit with my hands, and it makes a clunking sound every turn it makes, so the hub is loose.

What can the problems be? Could it be just the tyre pressure alone? Do the hubs just need some greasing? Do I have to replace them? Also, would buying new hubs get me a performance boost?

I really need to fix this bike up as now I'd be faster with my MTB, which is frustrating considering I spent money on this bike.

Thanks for your help in advnace!

EDIT! Tyres are 27''

 

[gbb]

Id suggest lifting each wheel and spin it...does it spin freely ?. If not, check the brakes aren't rubbing. Then check the wheels are correctly aligned and the tyres arent rubbing on the forks or frame. If thats ok but the wheel still slows down quickly, its probably the hubs. A hub overhaul or at least strip down may be required.
The front is obviously showing wear so should be stripped anyway.
Badly underpressure tyres will drag the speed down.

 

[TheSoulReaver03]

Id suggest lifting each wheel and spin it...does it spin freely ?. If not, check the brakes aren't rubbing. Then check the wheels are correctly aligned and the tyres arent rubbing on the forks or frame. If thats ok but the wheel still slows down quickly, its probably the hubs. A hub overhaul or at least strip down may be required.
The front is obviously showing wear so should be stripped anyway.
Badly underpressure tyres will drag the speed down.

Thanks for the reply. They do spin freely, although it seems to me that the MTB tyres may be spinning a bit longer (not sure). The tyres widen to the side as I sit on the bike, so I guess it's not at optimal pressure. The bike itself is pretty old, too. I reckon it could be at least 20 years old, maybe more. By the way, the front hub is strangely narrow compared to the rear, so maybe the bike itself was put together from other bikes.

Any thoughts on hard pedaling? More effort but same speed.

Right now I'm really depressed about this. This is my first road bike, so I've expected the narrower tyres and the aero frame to give me a boost so I can keep up wit the carbon guys.

 

[rusty bearing]

Grease dries up on old bikes, sounds like the hub bearings are shot. Take the wheel out hold the axle at the ends and spin the wheel, what do you feel? Any notchiness, roughness, does the axle try and turn?
It may be that new balls and grease will cure it. It may be that the bearing seats are too worn to be smooth. Run the tip of a ball point pen round them and see if it feels rough.

 

[TheSoulReaver03]

Grease dries up on old bikes, sounds like the hub bearings are shot. Take the wheel out hold the axle at the ends and spin the wheel, what do you feel? Any notchiness, roughness, does the axle try and turn?
It may be that new balls and grease will cure it. It may be that the bearing seats are too worn to be smooth. Run the tip of a ball point pen round them and see if it feels rough.

Wouldn't I need to disassemble the axle to check the bearings? I'm not really a bike expert. I only have some basic knowledge concerning bikes. I'm thinking of taking it to a service but I don't know how much it would cost, and whether they'll install a quality hub or just replace it with the cheapest they can find if it needs any repairs.

 

[marzjennings]

If it's something like this...

... then I'm impressed you actually got it going.

 

[TheSoulReaver03]

If it's something like this...

... then I'm impressed you actually got it going.

Yes, it's very similar, however...

- The one I bought has more modern brake levers, also black bandage and a straight up short bike stem ( thinking of replacing it)
- Gears are black and based on the look of the cogs, it's new, or at least in good condition
- Tyres are new
- New brake pads
- New chain (the guy claims he changed it in March)

The bike itself cost about 100$ (rough estimate, I'm hungarian)

The transmssion may be the same (SIMPLEX). I'M a bit worried about that as I don't think I'll ever find a spare

 

[gbb]

Wouldn't I need to disassemble the axle to check the bearings? I'm not really a bike expert. I only have some basic knowledge concerning bikes. I'm thinking of taking it to a service but I don't know how much it would cost, and whether they'll install a quality hub or just replace it with the cheapest they can find if it needs any repairs.

The cost of a new hub plus rebuilding ding the wheel will be prohibitive.
While its an old bike, there's no reason it shouldnt still be good for many miles. Take it to yourLBS and ask how much to service e the hubs, itmay not be too much.
If you were local, id do it for you, it only takes about half an hour per wheel when you know how.
Front hubs are narrower than the rear, that's quite normal.

 

[slowmotion]

I went down a Canadian tarmac road on a 17kg clunker with criminally dangerous tyres faster than I've ever been on my road bike. I think that the wonderful rumble from the tyres may have drowned out the screams of terror.

 

[biggs682]

you could be surprised how much difference some fresh grease would make to a bike that has been sitting around for a while and the exsisting grease has set hard

 

[TheSoulReaver03]

Heads up :

I went to a service. The guy didn't change the front axle itself, just some inner parts. Now It's not moving side to side and the knocking noise is much more silent, however it's kinda "knocking' the frame. Each turn I feel like I'm going over a bump. It starts at the front then I can feel it at the saddle. I don't know what's causing it. Could it be that this is slowing the bike down?

Plus the guy said that greasing the axle costs 9 pounds each! WTF?! I didn't get that. I spent 15 pounds of repair on it already.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Heads up :

I went to a service. The guy didn't change the front axle itself, just some inner parts. Now It's not moving side to side and the knocking noise is much more silent, however it's kinda "knocking' the frame. Each turn I feel like I'm going over a bump. It starts at the front then I can feel it at the saddle. I don't know what's causing it. Could it be that this is slowing the bike down?

Plus the guy said that greasing the axle costs 9 pounds each! WTF?! I didn't get that. I spent 15 pounds of repair on it already.

Post some pictures of the bike. TBH I can't make much sense of what you've described so far. And as for £9 to grease the wheel bearings, they have to be stripped down first and you can hardly expect the shop to work for nothing.

 

[TheSoulReaver03]

Post some pictures of the bike. TBH I can't make much sense of what you've described so far. And as for £9 to grease the wheel bearings, they have to be stripped down first and you can hardly expect the shop to work for nothing.

Each turn the front wheel is doing something that gets transerred to the bike frame and feels like i've gone over a small bump...it's shaking the frame basically. Even if I were to take pictures you couldn't see it.

 

[Crackle]

I too am finding it hard to visualize your problem but here's a belt and braces approach that I might start with.

Basics:-
Pump the tyres up. Each one will probably need about 80psi in depending on tyre size, wider less, narrower more
Make sure the seat height is right for you
Make sure the seat is not too far back or forward (knee over pedal as a starter guide)
It changes into all gears, adjust limit screws on front and rear dérailleurs if it doesn't

Fault checking:-
Check the whole frame and forks for dints, bumps, cracks and rub marks near the wheels
tighten the quick release levers and make sure the wheels are fully in dropouts
spin each wheel and watch if it's straight by observing the space between brake block and rim
Spin the cranks by hand, make sure there's no stiffness or notchiness
Make sure the rear freewheel is free by pedalling backwards
No play in the hubs, side to side movement (you already did this)
Lift the bike and move the bars, they should move freely no notchiness
put the front brake on and rock the bike, there should be no play in the headset
put the brakes on and off, they should release, check this by spinning the wheel after using them
Check all bolts to make sure they are tight
examine the chain to make sure it's lubed and there are no stiff links
Examine the tyres for bulges or splits

I'd start with that. Youtube will tell you how to do each of those things if you are not sure.

 

[gbb]

The knocking from the front.....lift the wheel again and spin it. Does it feel better now its been serviced ?..freer, spins better than before. ?
With the wheel in the air, can you still feel the knocking ?.
If its only evident when the wheel is in contact with the ground, make sure of the following...
Check the tyre for a bulge.
Look round the bead of the tyre where it meets the rim...make sure the tyre is seated properly.
It could be someone has had some slime or similar puncture product in there..I had some once and it created a very hard section in the tyre when it reacted to a puncture, like a rock solid section going round. Horrible.
Stand at the front of the bike, lift the wheel and spin it...look carefully at the rim, make sure it doesnt suddenly jink to one side then back indicating a buckle. Make sure the rim doesnt touch the brakes at any time while the wheel is turning
Look real careful and take your time, you can easily miss any of the above.

edited to say...I asked of it runs freer than before. Because its just been greased, it may feel sluggish for want of a better word, thats the new grease. Thats not a problem in itself, what you want is for it to run smoothy.