After several MTBs, my first road bike.

supertwisted

Family commitments and winter mean my mountain biking time is short.

So in an attempt to maintain my fitness over winter and try something new, I've bought my first roadbike, courtesy of groove65 of these very forums.

Usher forth Giant's SCR 3 circa 2008:



Gave it a quick clean and made a few adjustments, tomorrow I shall get to ride it. Feels fast just sitting on it, intrigued to see how it compares to the old MTB with slicks and a rigid fork I used to use on road.

Supergoose

It looks great, spotless in fact! It will feel like a rapier compaed to your MTB. 8)

supertwisted

Had my first ride on it yesterday. One word: horrendous. Being on two wheels has never felt so unnatural.

Wobbling this way and that I felt like a stiff breeze would knock me over and the first thing I hear is the saddle creaking like an old leather sofa.

No matter how I positioned my hands on the bars I felt neither comfortable nor in control. If my hands were on the hoods I could barely pull the brake levers. Rather than resting on the hoods it felt more as if my hands were being crushed into them, not comfortable at all.

The drops weren't much better, my silly small hands meant I could only just reach the levers, and it felt as though the bar ended too soon, so resting on the drops the bar ended halfway in my palm.

And all the while I was trying to contend with clipless pedals for the first time. Clipping in and out was surprisingly simple. However standing up and walking in road specific shoes with big SPD-SL cleats was more complicated. I hope no-one witnessed the man staggering around as though drunk while his bike stood patiently lent over waiting for him to get on.

So tonight I made some adjustments.

Wound out the reach of the Sora levers as far as they would go and then readjusted my brake tension.

Rotated my bars up a few degrees.

Swapped out the SPD-SL pedals for my Crank Bros Smarty SPDs.

The results: miraculous. So much better. Bags more confidence braking, both from the drops and the hoods which are also far more comfortable. The drops are slightly less useable now the bars are at a steeper angle, but I can live with that for a first adjustment.
Either due to my improved confidence or the change in bars, but the bike felt so much more responsive. Despite the poor light I was entertaining myself slaloming around potholes and puddles. I'm surprised how controllable a drop bar bike can be.

Also much happier with my normal SPDs. Can walk around happily and find them just as good as the SPD-SL for clipping in and out of.

The saddle still creaks. but I can live with that.

andy46

you've just descibed my first ride on a road bike a few weeks ago

it makes my scott spark seem like a comfy arm chair!

I am getting more confident everytime i go out so stick with it, nice bike you got there too 8)