Picked up my first road bike this evening

Clockworkdog

Soooo - just picked up my first road bike. Scott Speedster 20 triple (2014). All set up and ready to do a few miles tomorrow.

My other bike is a Specialised Rockhopper SL Pro so completely different. Been doing some mileage on the road and thought it time to make the jump properly to road biking.

Can't wait to take it out. Wondered whether to share my anticipation - and thought why not. I'm sure many other remember the feeling.

Andy

KevChallis

It's the same every time you get a new bike

Enjoy it

macleod113

hope you enjoy it. like many, its an odd sensation going from a wide handlebarred MTB to a narrower road bike. its a bit wobbly to start with but stick with it and take your time. you'll soon be leaning into the corners and flying down hills with plenty of confidence,

P.S. avoid pot holes as your road bike will feel them a hell of a lot more than a MTB :-)

homers_double

My first road ride after coming from a Heckler was hell on wheels, my legs ached in different places, my backside ached as it was a different saddle. Those massive metal things with wheels were all out to get me and don't even get me started on pot holes, I'm lucky at my age not to have any fillings but if I did, I wouldn't by now.

Cornering was a nightmare and I've never felt so utterly rubbish on a bike, even my kid could have cornered faster than me on that ride.

A few rides later and I can switch between bikes no problem, my skills are improving and I can corner etc quite well.

Arse still hurts though!

daveski12

I hated my first road bike to begin with, you soon get used to it though.

Brakes were the biggest thing for me. MTB brakes are so much better.

homers_double

I'm contemplating discs for the road bike if such a thing exists, I've what happens when a brake block goes through a side wall.

markhewitt1978

homers double wrote:

I'm contemplating discs for the road bike if such a thing exists, I've what happens when a brake block goes through a side wall.

They do although they are a very new thing on the road scene, although they've been around in cyclocross for some time.

Check out this post about the 5800 groupset and disc brake compatibility http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/arti ... ook-40450/

Initialised

markhewitt1978 wrote:

homers double wrote:

I'm contemplating discs for the road bike if such a thing exists, I've what happens when a brake block goes through a side wall.

They do although they are a very new thing on the road scene, although they've been around in cyclocross for some time.

Check out this post about the 5800 groupset and disc brake compatibility http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/arti ... ook-40450/

I've been riding with discs for a year now, so yes, they do exist and are quite good, but mechanicals take regular tweaking. Until the new Shimano 11 speed 105 group came out last month there hasn't really been an easy way to do hydraulics. I have a Parabox v2 kit waiting to be fitted. Don't expect to see a hydraulic 105 kit on bikes under £2k for a couple of years.

kajjal

daveski12 wrote:

I hated my first road bike to begin with, you soon get used to it though.

Brakes were the biggest thing for me. MTB brakes are so much better.

I first found out about road bike brakes down a steep hill, being used to MTB disc brakes it was an "experience" !

After a brake upgrade it was a lot better in the dry but the wet is another story

Initialised

Kajjal wrote:

daveski12 wrote:

I hated my first road bike to begin with, you soon get used to it though.

Brakes were the biggest thing for me. MTB brakes are so much better.

I first found out about road bike brakes down a steep hill, being used to MTB disc brakes it was an "experience" !

After a brake upgrade it was a lot better in the dry but the wet is another story

Which is why I run discs on mine.

kajjal

Initialised wrote:

Kajjal wrote:

daveski12 wrote:

I hated my first road bike to begin with, you soon get used to it though.

Brakes were the biggest thing for me. MTB brakes are so much better.

I first found out about road bike brakes down a steep hill, being used to MTB disc brakes it was an "experience" !

After a brake upgrade it was a lot better in the dry but the wet is another story

Which is why I run discs on mine.

#

Waiting for the disc brake technology on road bikes to settle down and become cheaper and will be joining you

Elfed

I'm running 105 calipers with Swissstop green on my bike, no problems.

Enjoy your bike!

markhewitt1978

Initialised wrote:

I've been riding with discs for a year now, so yes, they do exist and are quite good, but mechanicals take regular tweaking. Until the new Shimano 11 speed 105 group came out last month there hasn't really been an easy way to do hydraulics. I have a Parabox v2 kit waiting to be fitted. Don't expect to see a hydraulic 105 kit on bikes under £2k for a couple of years.

How do you find them compared with rim brakes then? Yesterday I went down this road, which I'm sure you'll recongise



and I didn't like the 20% descents at all! A very steep hill with a sharp turn at the bottom meant I was riding the brakes all the way down as I didn't have any confidence in my ability to get rid of the speed at the bottom!

Clockworkdog

Well - I love it! My bike (Scott Speedster 20) is so much more fun on the road than my Rockhopper SL pro. I've had it 9 days so far and been out 6 times having built up to 50M distances. Fitness is picking up (averaging nearly 16mph over the longer rides).

And in a bizarre way - I'm really enjoying the hills. They really hurt but I still enjoy them! Mainly because I am seeing progress and they are a challenge. I realise that the hills I am climbing are nothing compared to some of the proper hills out there that experienced riders eat up.

Being able to go out with others is really enjoyable since I have a few friends who have road bikes. I'm wondering about joining a club but think I need to get a bit fitter. It probably sounds daft but joining a club seems a bit intimidating as I am a beginner. I'm guessing lots would recommend this?

Andy

mrfpb

I've had my cross bike (Genesis CdF) for 10 days now and felt like a kid at Christmas the first time I went out. I've been riding a hybrid for nine years, including an London to Brighton last year, so I'm used to riding on roads, but I was nervous about transferring to drops. But it felt great after about 2 minutes. I was wobbling a lot going uphill out of the saddle but that settled down after my first ride. Basically I think it's because it's a much lighter bike than I'm used to. Still need a "big" ride as I've not dome more than 10 miles so far, due to work and family commitments.

Clockworkdog

Well I did my first 50+ today. 51.25M to be precise. Legs are still burning this evening. Averaged 16.2mph which given the strong wind and distance I'm not too disappointed with.

I fell off my bike again though. Again basically stationary and couldn't unclip right foot. Must loosen that one.

When I fell off I managed to knock the back wheel over out of alignment. Loosened and set straight. I now have some noise coming from what I think is the hub and bearings. Is it easy to damage this? Hoping not serious but guessing I may need to take into lbs? Is this something I could fix myself?? Any advice appreciated....

Thanks. Andy

Initialised

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Initialised wrote:

I've been riding with discs for a year now, so yes, they do exist and are quite good, but mechanicals take regular tweaking. Until the new Shimano 11 speed 105 group came out last month there hasn't really been an easy way to do hydraulics. I have a Parabox v2 kit waiting to be fitted. Don't expect to see a hydraulic 105 kit on bikes under £2k for a couple of years.

How do you find them compared with rim brakes then? Yesterday I went down this road, which I'm sure you'll recongise



and I didn't like the 20% descents at all! A very steep hill with a sharp turn at the bottom meant I was riding the brakes all the way down as I didn't have any confidence in my ability to get rid of the speed at the bottom!

No actually I don't recognise that one, where is it, sound's fun?

First time out on the road bike with the hydros fitted last friday, did 41 miles and 2440 feet climbing, steepest descent peaked at -15% and I peaked at just shy of 40 mph. I was surprised by how much better they felt (compared to the BB5s they replaced), it was damp rather than wet, but I never felt close to losing control, running out of grip or not being able to slow down.

I was thinking that the main advantage over the BB5s would be maintenance and reliability, less cable stretch, even pad wear, less chance of warping a disc when it gets hot... but there's more too it than that. Going from rim to disc is like going from an analogue thumb stick to mouse control, going hydraulic is like going from a ball mouse to a high DPI laser gaming mouse. Once you get used to the higher degree of control it's much much better and smoother. So yeah, they're grand, yes there's a little box under my stem looking messy but that's the price of early adoption.

@Clockworkdog: If you have quick release it can be that it's not tight enough so there's a little play in the bearings, or too tight so they grind a little. Listen for it by pressing your ear against the saddle while spinning the wheel (ideally with the chain off so you don't hear that).

t4tomo

Back to brakes, on a road bike you have a lot less rubber in contact with the road, this will ultimately restrict your ability to slow down quickly vs mountain bike, whether using discs or rim brakes. So whilst so road discs anecdotally are better than road calipers (not tried them myself) they will never be as good as the disc brakes on your mountain bike.

kajjal

t4tomo wrote:

Back to brakes, on a road bike you have a lot less rubber in contact with the road, this will ultimately restrict your ability to slow down quickly vs mountain bike, whether using discs or rim brakes. So whilst so road discs anecdotally are better than road calipers (not tried them myself) they will never be as good as the disc brakes on your mountain bike.

You would be surprised how much difference discs brakes make on a road bike. You can hold the brakes on the edge of traction much more easily due to the much increased power and modulation. For heavier riders this is much more apparent and also in the wet the difference is very noticeable. Having more grip will help but can slow down a road bike, my XC MTB is a lot slower uphill than my road bike.

markhewitt1978

Initialised wrote:

No actually I don't recognise that one, where is it, sound's fun?

Here https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/54.82 ... m2!1m0!1m0 near Muggleswick.

I would have thought you would have known that one since you'd mentioned riding around Blanchland / Meadows Edge area.