Worth upgrading to road bikes?

[al-fresco]

It's difficult when you see these heavily discounted 2015 bikes online and think how nice they look

Tell me about it, number 7 (a Salsa Warbird 2) is on the workstand at the moment. That Charlie the Bikemonger is as bad as a crack dealer.

 

[slowmotion]

I think I have to agree with @Keith Oates. I try to convince myself that a cyclocross bike is the best compromise but the grin that appears on my face every time I head up the valley on my Cinelli Experience tells me otherwise. I have more expensive bikes but the little Cinelli suits me best, the riding position is spot on, the campagnolo gear set is a joy to use and on the road it feels responsive and effortless. Yeah, roadies have it.

I have the very same bike. I absolutely love it.

 

[midliferider]

Sun's just come out so time for a little ride

Thanks - Bob

Now that is an outrageous thing to say

 

[RMurphy195]

Depends what you mean by "Road Bike" - and how strong you are

One like this will give a comfortable ride, and have gearing (probably!) similar to your hybrid but should be a bit faster. It won't necessarily be quite the same as putting drop bars on the hybrid. http://dawescycles.com/product/galaxy/ is but one example

Whereas one like this will be of the "twitchy" type, be much lighter, won't have racks/mudguards etc., will have higher gearing so will be harder to pedal up hills (and you may not find it easy with some makes to lower the gearing) and will be quicker than the hybrid or tourer - if you can turn the pedals. http://dawescycles.com/product/giro-600/ is but one example of many - since this type of bike is the trendy one at the moment (Bike shops have tried to sell me similar bikes when I was looking for a tourer earlier this year)

To put it another way, on my tourer once I reach 25+ mph (downhill!) my feet are spinning around quite fast in the highest gear, whereas I often follow road bikes doing 30mph (I'm in the car of course!) and the riders feet are hardly moving!

To get an idea of what I mean, look at the chainring and sprocket sizes on your Hybrid, compare them with those on a typical tourer and a typical road bike, and study the gear tables available from this link to understand gearing and what the 3 bikes may feel like in comparison to each other http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/components/transmission-gears

To put it another way, on my bike I have 2 rear sprockets that are bigger than my smallest chainwheel (=easier to pedal), a typical road bikes biggest rear sprocket will be quite a bit smaller than the smallest chainwheel (=harder to pedal)

 

[mjr]

Bear in mind that road bikes come with 23-25mm tyres that need 80-100psi to avoid 'pinch flats'

Oh for to good old days of sensible road bikes with 32mm tyres except we called them 27x1¼" then...

You can do a lot on a good road hybrid. Road bikes really benefit with Aerodynamics and multiple hand positions.

Not necessarily. Sticking North Roads or Porters flipped on a hybrid gives multiple hand positions, including a fairly aero tuck - but I've not replaced the brake levers, so I have to move to brake and can't match the trip average of a road bike. Oh and road brakes are usually weaker too... so it's a rather different style of riding, at least for me.

There's very few LBS over here and they are not very likely to discount away from the RRP.

But there seem a fair number of bike rental services over there, so you could give some different styles a try for a few days...

 

[raleighnut]

Oh for to good old days of sensible road bikes with 32mm tyres except we called them 27x1¼" then..

I always ran 27x 7/8 on the Carlton.

 

[mjr]

I always ran 27x 7/8 on the Carlton.

There's no accounting for lunacy

 

[the bald eagle]

Beginner cyclists here, been riding for a couple of months & slowly seeing some fitness benefits & enjoying the outdoors. My wife & I currently ride Trek 7.3FX hybrid bikes on the road. We are slowly upping our distances & recently did a 25k ride, trifling to many of you I know, but a real milestone for us. We aspire to building up slowly to some longer rides as we go through the winter. The countryside here is hilly, there are no flat sections more than a few kilometres long, and whilst we are improving on the hills, it's still a battle.

So my question is, would we see very much benefit in buying "proper" road bikes? By proper I mean something like Cube Peloton triple or something similar?

Would be grateful for some knowledgeable insights, thanks - Bob

Same here, started out messing round on a cheap mtb but started thinking about getting road bike. Finally took the plunge and bought a cheap one (£320) that has all the features of a mates bike that was £1000, and the same weight too!

I love the road bike, I'm still a bit nervous about riding on the roads in bust times but really seeing the difference in performance from that to.my heavy mtb. It depends on the type of riding you want to do with if, if it's trails then stick with what you have.

If you are going to do a mix of road riding and trail then get one surely and keep the other. I enjoy riding the roads, but really enjoy thrashing round the paths and trails too.

 

[Reefcat]

Some of the discounts on offer for 2015 bikes were too good to resist. So today we ordered a Cube Peloton Pro & a Cube Axial WLS for my wife, both from the UK, so may take some time to get over here. They are both triple chainsets, similar gearing to the hybrids to help us on the hills. We reasoned that we might as well take advantage of the prices whilst we could.

We aspire to doing some longer trips as our fitness progresses in the new year. We'll keep the mountain bikes for having a bit of a play on the trails from time to time as well. Our idea of heaven is to ride for a few hours, find a nice little cafe/bar for a top up, and a nice ride home again. We are blessed with very good weather for most of the year, so looking forward to getting some miles under our belt.

Thanks to all who contributed with their advice and insights, very much appreciated.

 

[raleighnut]

There's no accounting for lunacy

Equivalent to 23s or so, envy of all my mates cos I wouldn't let on where I got em from.

 

[RMurphy195]

Some of the discounts on offer for 2015 bikes were too good to resist. So today we ordered a Cube Peloton Pro & a Cube Axial WLS for my wife, both from the UK, so may take some time to get over here. They are both triple chainsets, similar gearing to the hybrids to help us on the hills. We reasoned that we might as well take advantage of the prices whilst we could.

We aspire to doing some longer trips as our fitness progresses in the new year. We'll keep the mountain bikes for having a bit of a play on the trails from time to time as well. Our idea of heaven is to ride for a few hours, find a nice little cafe/bar for a top up, and a nice ride home again. We are blessed with very good weather for most of the year, so looking forward to getting some miles under our belt.

Thanks to all who contributed with their advice and insights, very much appreciated.

The Cube Peloton Pro does look nice - almost tempted myself, for similar reasons!

 

[RMurphy195]

Some of the discounts on offer for 2015 bikes were too good to resist. So today we ordered a Cube Peloton Pro & a Cube Axial WLS for my wife, both from the UK, so may take some time to get over here. They are both triple chainsets, similar gearing to the hybrids to help us on the hills. We reasoned that we might as well take advantage of the prices whilst we could.

We aspire to doing some longer trips as our fitness progresses in the new year. We'll keep the mountain bikes for having a bit of a play on the trails from time to time as well. Our idea of heaven is to ride for a few hours, find a nice little cafe/bar for a top up, and a nice ride home again. We are blessed with very good weather for most of the year, so looking forward to getting some miles under our belt.

Thanks to all who contributed with their advice and insights, very much appreciated.

The Cube Peloton Pro does look nice - almost tempted myself, for similar reasons!

 

[smutchin]

Depends what you mean by "Road Bike"

Exactly what I was going to say. The Trek 7.3FX is closer to a "road bike" than an MTB, in that it's designed for riding in urban environments rather than offroad - though perhaps "street bike" would be a better term.

The Cube Peloton Pro triple is a couple of kilos lighter, so in that respect might be a little easier to ride up hills, but that's only part of the story.

As a newbie, you might find the riding position on a "road bike" uncomfortable at first. The Peloton isn't as harsh or aggressive as a full-on racing bike but the handlebars are set lower than on the Trek, and your hands will be even lower if you use the drops, so you have to ask yourself if you're physically ready for that. And you have to get used to the different position of the brake levers too - road bike brake levers are best used with hands in the drops, but if you're new to drop handlebars, you'll probably spend most of your time with your hands on the top of the bars where you can't generate as much braking power.

Also it comes with 25C tyres, which aren't especially skinny by road bike standards but might feel a bit harsh if you're used to 32C tyres (skinnier tyres give a firmer ride).

All that said, it's worth trying the Cube if you can, to see how you get on with it - you might be fine and love it from the off.

 

[123456789]

Just my own humble opinion but I ride mostly on the road and have tried so many variations such as a cyclocross bike and also a commuter type bike (Whyte Sussex). Yes they were OK but the bike that made me smile the most was my Cannondale Caad 8. I now own a Mekk that feels very similar to the Caad8. Ultimately I keep coming back to the proper road bikes, yes they may be higher geared, yes they may not be the most practical, yes they may feel a bit twitchy at first and yes you will spend hours cogitating if keeping dry is justification eneough to spoil the the aesthetics of adding mudguards. But I have finally learn't my lesson my next upgrade will be a road bike and the upgrade after that will be a road bike.

I do not think you will regret your decision and think you will enjoy the cubes.

We are all different though the best type of bike in the world is the one that makes you want to go out and ride, the one that tempts you to phone in sick on a nice day (more applicable to the UK) andthe one that makes you smile.

 

[Tin Pot]

Trax TFS.1 to Cinelli Experience

20km route up and down Biggin Hill

16 minutes faster