Road bike to keep me out of the mud

gregwari

Dudes,

I'm looking at getting my first road bike. In all honesty, it'll be used for a combination of fitness training, and another cycling option when the mud gets too much to bear on the mountain bike. I think I'm fairly confident on sizing (6ft tall, 33" inside leg so it looks like a 54cm is about right??), one thing I'm not too sure about is the choice on gearing (ie standard??, triple or compact???). I'm guessing standard is a 2 ring configuration and triple is a triple ring on the crankset, what does compact refer to? Most of my riding will be done in and around the Chilterns... any advice on a first purchase would be welcome.

BruceG

54 would probably be on the small side, go try for size at your nearest shop, but i would put you more in the realms of a 56.
As for the gearing depends a lot on you, your fitness, climbing prowess etc, but whatever you choose it is all changeable in the future if your first choice doesnt work out

springtide9

A Triple, is a Triple..

Compact vs Standard
http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/blo ... lications/

Compact chainsets are probably more popular, especially if you live in hilly areas (basically the two front cogs are smaller on a the front).

MichaelW

When the trails are too muddy, the roads are also wet and dirty. Are you going to need mudguards? If you are then it is much better to consider them from the start and get enough clearance and sufficient threaded eyelets. It is possible to strap, velcro or clamp mudguards to a racebike but if that is your intention, there are better ways.
A winter training bike like Kineses TK2 is a a useful style of road bike.

bails87

I found Crud RoadRacers to be absolutely fine on my Ribble carbon road bike.

If you want to attach racks (for commuting) or put on wider tyres for riding when it's icy, or pottering off down a bridleway/towpath then consider something with the necessary mounting points or tyre clearances. But for mudguards alone, just buy the bike you want and put the Crud RRs on it.

I went from only ever having ridden MTBs to getting a road bike, mainly for commuting, but also to ride when my local boring trails where turned into swamps. Geo varies, but I'm between 5ft 11in and 6ft and my Ribble is a 55cm, my Boardman CX is a 53cm, but it's as long as the Ribble.

I found a compact to be fine, no massive hills around here and I'm fairly fit, but prefer the spinny side of things to grinding up a hill in a massive gear.

Have you considered a CX? Disc brakes mean you can still stop when it's wet (something you'll be used to on the MTB, trust me, you don't know what you've got til it's gone :shock: ), you can put wider tyres on, take it off road if you want, it'll be a bit more practical in case you start commuting by bike too.

Team515

im a 33 inside leg and i got a 58" frame

gregwari

MichaelW wrote:

When the trails are too muddy, the roads are also wet and dirty. Are you going to need mudguards? If you are then it is much better to consider them from the start and get enough clearance and sufficient threaded eyelets. It is possible to strap, velcro or clamp mudguards to a racebike but if that is your intention, there are better ways.
A winter training bike like Kineses TK2 is a a useful style of road bike.

Thanks, unfortunately the mud situation the other weekend meant pedalling to get downhill. After 5 hours of what felt like torture and not riding I've decided to expand my horizons!

gregwari

Thanks guys, really appreciate it. Hadn't considered CX bikes either.... having just seen a review of the boardman one I've got to say it may well be something to add into the mix

Cheers!