Road bikes...

JamesN

Hi,

I currently have a RockHopper Comp 08, and love it...but have realised I do enjoy the road riding aspect of it as well- I regularly do a route which is all on road- not a track in sight!

Therefore...I am considering a road bike :shock:
But I havent got a clue where to start, or even what sort of budget would be needed to get something decent. I'm also about to start learning to drive, and being 17...money is an issue, but I do work, so its not as much as an issue as it could be.

Could you give me some pointers as to where to start looking? Obviously I'm going into my LBS when I get back from my holiday, but any tips to get me started? Makes/models to look at or avoid? MInimum budget? IF it makes any difference, I'm 5ft6inches.

Thanks
James

nicklouse

may be a help to read this.

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12577960

The Spiderman

I reckon you need to spend around £500 to get something reasonable.Cheaper road bikes tend to come with 8 speed Shimano Sora drivetrains.Sora works OK but the shifters are a bit cheap and nasty.Going up to a bike with Shimano Tiagra gets better shifters,and 9/10 speed cassette.Specialized Alllez,Giant SCR,Boardmans,are always reccomended.

If you can get a bike with a compact chainset (smaller rings),which gives lower gearing,and allows you to get up more hills,particularly if you are new to road bikes.
Sizing is very different,to a mtb,and made more complicated as some manufacturers use compact geometry,eg Giant SCR.Best look at manufacturers website for size guides then test at your LBS.

What you will notice is that even budget roadbikes are on a completely different level,for rolling speed and ease of covering the ground.Handling feels quite alarming at first too!

forgotrafe

I've just bought a Genesis Day 02 and am loving it. It's a hybrid (flat bars, more MTB like geometry but skinny 700 wheels/tyres) and after changing the stem so "reach" was the same as my MTB I have no problems switching between the two bikes.

crimsondynamo

The geometry of a road bike in relation to your own vital statistics is critically important.

The very first thing I'd do if I had may time again would be to head along to your local roadie specialist and get yourself measured up. They have a mechanism which takes a whole series of readings of your body, the whole thing gets fed into a computer, and a while later you get a diagram showing the ideal, optimal geometry of a bike for you. They will then be able to advise you accordingly.

The process cost about £30 when I did it about 6 years ago. I was pretty lucky, all I had to do was raise my saddle a bit, buy a new (longer) stem, and tilt up my bars. But by jingo, what a difference it made.

Splasher

Don't buy any bike (mountain or road) on seat-tube dimension. This is unfortunately how the frames are sized but with 200mm of adjustment available in the seat-post, it is an irrelevance.

Check out the length (virtual top-tube is a reasonable comparable since it theoretically levels the playing field between traditional and compact geometry frames). But once you've established your prefered length and narrowed it down go ride your shortlist.

As for budget, £500+ is a good threshold as stated above. For info, Shimano groupsets go from bottom to top: Sora 9sp, Tiagra 9sp, 105 10sp, Ultegra 10sp, Dura-ace 10sp. Campagnolo groupsets go Xenon, Mirage, Veloce, Centaur, Chorus and Record - all 10sp. Hence any bike you see with 8sp Sora or 9sp Xenon is using obsolete componentry.

Hope this helps and if you want more opinions, post on the Road section.