First impressions

Super Domestique

Well I picked up my first road bike, a Spesh Allez 16, yesterday.

Being my first road bike I had nothing to compare it to really, other than a few quick 'spins round the block' on road bikes over the years.

Compared to mtb's (which I have been riding on and off since the mid 80's) the steering seemed mega quick, so much so that I wobbled around while trying to spin and clip into the toe clip when I first pulled away which was a tad shameful! (on that note the plastic pedals and toe clip and strap combo really is as cheap and cheerful as it gets and will be upgrade number 1)

I thought I would find the riding on the hoods a bit stretched to begin with and would sit more upright with my hands on the centre of the bars but actually, after a couple of minutes, I was soon using the hoods mainly.
The drops are still to get used too though!

The gears changed smoothly, as you would expect, plus I remained in the big ring the whole way home which was a surprise given my level of unfitness currently!

The 'freebie' wireless computer (Cateye Vectra) was of good encouragement meaning I kept an avg speed of 25khp (iirc approx 15mph) for the mostly flat 6 mile ride home. Not stunning performance I know but as mentioned above my fitness is virtually zero at the moment.

The only negative point were the brakes. I am not sure if it is because I am used to tightly set up V Brakes on my mtb or if they need to bed-in, etc but braking was power was less than I expected. Do they need a few miles to get 'sharp' anyone?

All in all I am pleased and despite a few hiccups in the process with the shop and poor communication, they came good in the end and even supplied me with my bike fit printout and along with my freebies will still do a free service after 200 miles.

Biles

You can get plently of power from the brakes if you use them from the drops you cant get as much leverage from the hoods, i think its just more about your technique and getting used to the new bike. I have an Allez Elite (only really the frame is original now though) and i love it doubt ill ever sell it so good choice of first bike. hope you stick with it and get some new pedals ASAP makes a huge difference.

Mike67

+1 to more leverage from the drops.

There may be some element of bedding in to the brakes. You don't say which type you have fitted. I upgraded my tiagra stock pads to Koolstops and found braking improved.

Coming from MTBs though, I doubt you will ever get the kind of power you can achieve with Vs or discs. They are designed for tyres with lots of knobbly grips on them.
You don't really want/need that kind of power on the road as locking up a road bike wheel is not fun and usually means saying hello to the tarmac. They tend to be more progressive to allow you to control speed rather than slam on the anchors.