harsh ride

claudie

hello bike radar

this is my first post as a relative newbie to road biking

I bought an orbea aqua gavia about 4000 miles ago and it has been a great bike but I do find it quite harsh. It has recently had its wheels upgraded to hope pro3 monos, i run gp4000s 23mm and use crud race blades ( cant fit a wider tyre ), the seat post is carbon 31.4mm.

How can I redue the harshness of the rear end?

If there is no real solution, what frame would you advise. I am thinking of a genesis equilibrium of condor fratello - I would like proper mudguard eyelits. I use the bike for a 24 mile coummting round trip and want to do some sportives

Thanks

rjsmith

Get a 27.2mm carbon post or even a 25mm post and use it with a seatpost shim. It will introduce more comfort.

danowat

Tyre pressures?

giant_man

And I'm guessing you didn't test ride if before hand?

sungod

sorry to ask the obvious, you are wearing padded shorts aren't you?

a different saddle might help

i have heard rumours that there are such things as seat posts with suspension, but we don't hold with that sort of perversion on the road, indeed, the very thought makes me blench

claudie

Thanks for the replies

Any recommendations for a flexy post as there are so many to choose from?

Tyre pressures about 110 psi ( recommended by continental ) and I weigh about 67kg

Yes to padded shorts

Yes I did test ride it but not very far and i had no idea what tyre pressures the test bike had

danowat

claudie wrote:

Tyre pressures about 110 psi ( recommended by continental ) and I weigh about 67kg

That will give you a harsh ride, try drop it by 10psi

CarleyB

danowat wrote:

claudie wrote:

Tyre pressures about 110 psi ( recommended by continental ) and I weigh about 67kg

That will give you a harsh ride, try drop it by 10psi

i run mine at about 90

giant_man

Sounds like a tyre pressure thing to me, as suggested drop 10-20psi and try again.

Evil Laugh

Nice vittoria tyres will also give a better ride than the contis. I run my open pave around 100-110 and they are lovely.

But yeah try lowering the pressure first.

kfinlay

+1 to dropping the tyre pressures as it's free to do and experiment with.
If the harshness is seems to be from road buzz on poor surfaces then I found that a Selle Italia Flite saddle is excellent at stopping this - there is a max version if you need a wider 150mm saddle depending on the width you need but at 67kg your probably a standard 130mm saddle width. Planet X have them at £70 on offer just now too.

HTH

peter101cycle

I run all my tires at around 110 front and 115 rear. It is very much a weight dependent question, I am 12.5 stone.

But it is something I am experimenting with this year.

danowat

I am a fairly "big boy", but even so, I've found that, above about 90psi-100psi, the only difference you get is harshness, rolling resistance difference is negligable, for me at least

alfablue

If you inflate too much rolling resistance will actually increase if the road surface is less than perfect (as well as giving a harsh ride).

I think you will enjoy a Fratello, however.

cougie

+1 to lower tyre pressure - I run my conti GP4000s at about 95 PSI and I'm not light.

Has the harshness come because of the wheel change ?

northpole

Reducing tyre pressure will help particularly as you aren't heavy & can probably get away with it. I'm around 85kg and wouldn't drop below 110psi - fear of punctures and 'bouncy' ride develops when the pressure falls away!

Wheels can make a difference - did you notice a change with your new set?

Peter

claudie

Thanks for all the replies

I was surprised that I actually noted a difference when I changed wheels, definitely smoother

Monty Dog

I would doubt a carbon seatpost would make much difference for your weight - unless you have a lot of exposed post i.e. >150mm. Tyre pressure would make a big difference as well as more supple / 25mm tyres (fit raceblades for clearance) - you'd have to go below 60 psi before it gets 'bouncy' - I can quite easily hold 32kph on the road riding 32mm cross tyres at 50psi for example

Berk Bonebonce

You want to buy a new bike because your current ride is harsh? You badly need some common sense advice, the type you would get in a cycling club from people who have been riding longer.

I never run my tyres at max pressure - UK roads are amongst the worst in the developed world. Try lower pressures and fatter tyres. And better quality tyres are more supple.

And sorry to point out the blinding obvious, but some saddles have more padding than others.

ADIHEAD

Simple, get the XL raceblades and fit wider tyres, possibly with Latex tubes. I've an Aluminium Kinesis and with Conti 23mm tyres, it's harsh as hell. With 25mm Vittoria Rubino Pros it's totally different With Open Pave's it's even better. I don't use Latex tubes on this bike but when I put them on my race bike with Vittoria Open Corsa CX's I actually thought the pressures were 20psi too low and had to check with a guage!

I find all Conti's harsh riding - strangely they even have this reputation on their car tyres also - sorry to mention the 'C; word on here.......

Best of luck and strike me down if I'm wrong :twisted: