Hello I'm new

AntLockyer

To this forum and road cycling.

My name is Ant, I'm 33 and have been around bikes all my life. Only now am I thinking about road cycling as my knees have pretty much given up the ghost and my cardio is starting to suffer.

My dad raced track when he was younger and has advised me to go out and buy a secondhand bike to get me out on the road. Currently I'm riding a crappy old MTB with 1.25 inch slicks on it and it's not ideal in anyway

Hotblack Desiato

Take your Dad's advice. Secondhand is a fine place to start until you're sure that road biking's for you, and then the serious spending can begin.

.

ash68

hi Ant welcome to the forum,pleased to hear you've got the cycling bug.Sounds like you've got a ready supply of advice in your dad. If you need any extra advice there's always plenty given out here. Good luck and enjoy your cycling.

AntLockyer

Thanks for the welcome, this is my current off road machine. Not much good going uphill

http://antonyl.brinkster.net/bitch.jpg

I've not picked the best time of year to get out on the road but luckily I can ride rollers so can get plenty of training in before the sun comes back.

McBain_v1

If your knees are shot to bits, why do you think that road cycling is going to be easier?
Just curious...

AntLockyer

A good question, I didn't really explain the knee thing.

I used to be a 10k runner and a Karate student. My peak fitness was about 3 years ago but a serious ankle injury and the constant pounding my knees had taken over the years meant I couldno longer run. I can cycle without pain but don't enjoy cross country cycling as much as the downhill sort of freeride stuff I do. To do that sort of riding means I have to drive 30 miles to somewhere decent.

I've been going out on my dad's old cross country bike with the road tyres on it for a couple of months and do so most days. I think having a road bike will enable me to enjoy it more as the MTB tops out at 22mph with a 90 something cadence.

Hope that made sense.

purplemad

Hi Welcome to the forum, I'm still a real newbie to road cycling and this forum, but though I would say hi anyway

McBain_v1

Right, good one!

As for road bikes, if you can do 90rpm on a 53/12 then I think that you'll be doing comfortably more than 22mph

If you are going to invest in "clipless" pedals then make absolutely sure that you get your cleat set up right. Incorrect positioning can really doof in your knees if you are not careful. It is well worth the faff of spending at least a week tuning cleat position until you hardly know they are there.

Oh yeah, and until you are really comfy with clipless I'd back off the tension on whatever pedal you normally lift your foot off in order to touch down on the ground

AntLockyer

Thanks for that advice. I tried clipless a long time ago when I was racing BMX. It was horrible for me at the time and I went back to flats instantly. I've read all the stories of people falling over and am prepared for the inevitable.

I'll keep scouring the classifieds and ebay for the right thing to turn up.

popette

hi
welcome to the forum. I've been cycling about 6 months now so relatively new as well.
Good luck finding the right bike. I bought giant SCR3.0, which has been a good starting bike (I think you can get some good deals on these bikes at the moment).
Have fun

John C.

If you are new to this forum.

How come you already have 400 posts ?

Just wondered.

AntLockyer

I wonder if they are carried over from the old Mountain Bike UK forum. I'm guessing that must be the case.