Road Biking - Anyone ?

frekeyguy

frekeyguy

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Used to mountain bike / Trail ride when I was younger, thinking about getting into road biking.

Anyone road bike on this forum ? seems like a expensive hobby to get into.

(I'm taking about pedal bikes)
 
My wife bought me a decent road bike (Specialized Tarmac w Ultegra) a few years ago to replace my vintage bike (Fiori Roma w Exage). Riding on the road can be fun (so much faster than on a mountain bike), it is punishing on the body. If I were to do it again, I would get a Roubaix to take the edge off.

I can give you a great price on the Fiori if you want ($150 if you pick it up), honestly I probably won't ride it again. It needs new tires (currently hold air, but I'd be worried about a sidewall blowing out) and it won't come with pedals. I liked riding it, the frame flexes a lot at the head tube when your speeds increase (60 km/h+ down hills) and it is disconcerting, but it has never let me down.
 
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I've been riding for years....growing up in Belgium my childhood heroes were mostly cyclists.
Like people said, you don't need to spend much if you don't want to.
My current bikes I bought the frames and assembled them myself.
I would invest more in a good frame than components. You can always upgrade the components later one by one if you wish.
Frame material will have the biggest impact of your enjoyment of the sport.
I have ridden steel, aluminium and now CF.
Aluminium is very light but also very stiff, you will feel every bump in the road.
CF is a lot more comfortable although still being plenty stiff.
Don't get too hung up on weight.
A good place to start looking for a bike is at the bike show.
Enjoy.
 
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I'm 5'11 with a 33-1/2" inseam. I've been told to find a 20-24" frame. Im down from 242 to 216lbs now.

Would it be cheaper to go after a frame and components and build it as I went along ? Really not sure what I would like, I've never ridden road bikes before. Always mountain bikes.
 
frekeyguy said:
I'm 5'11 with a 33-1/2" inseam. I've been told to find a 20-24" frame. Im down from 242 to 216lbs now.

Would it be cheaper to go after a frame and components and build it as I went along ? Really not sure what I would like, I've never ridden road bikes before. Always mountain bikes.
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I've been riding for years and used to race a lot. At your height I would think you're looking for a 56cm road frame. The best adivice I can possibly give you is go and be fitted. If the fit is off by even minor amounts you'll never feel quite right and or could cause yourself injury. I would say no on the build unless you're patient and hope to find stuff on eBay. 11 spd is the new norm. That said 10 spd is more than enough. A good friend of mine owns a shop and we're only 20ish minutes away from you. If you have questions or I can help feel free to pm. Campy, Shimano and sram in that order. Personally I'm not a fan of sram shifting.
 
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frekeyguy said:
I'm 5'11 with a 33-1/2" inseam. I've been told to find a 20-24" frame.
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4" is a huge difference for road bikes. I'm 5'10 and I ride 56/57cm frames. I'd say you would probably fit a 57/58cm frame. Road bikes fit very differently than mountain bikes. Again, best would be to check bikes out at the bike show.

frekeyguy said:
Would it be cheaper to go after a frame and components and build it as I went along ? Really not sure what I would like, I've never ridden road bikes before. Always mountain bikes.
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A good frame should last you a lifetime. So that's where I would put the money. Now that being said, a lot of bikes out there are already assembled and of course most manufacturers will put the most high end components on their top of the line frames. If you can just get the frame and depending how good you are with a wrench, it's really not that hard to put a bike together. Then you could save on the components and replace them as you see fit.
 
Keep in mind as well that not all 56 or 57 cm frames are the same. Each manufacturer has different geometry and they will all fit differently. This is why a fitting is very important. Frame size, crank arm length, stem length and even bar width make a massive impact on how you work with the bike.
 
Roomie said:
Keep in mind as well that not all 56 or 57 cm frames are the same. Each manufacturer has different geometry and they will all fit differently. This is why a fitting is very important. Frame size, crank arm length, stem length and even bar width make a massive impact on how you work with the bike.
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well said
 
I'm thinking about picking up a generic Road Bike from a GTAM's. and seeing how much I like it.

I guess if I love it - just build one myself. There are few used frames out there, and wheels. Just have to find the crank set and derailers that work for me and build it.


Now to find people to road bike with!!!?
 
I know this makes me a hipster but anyone looking forward to the velodrome in milton opening? I'm thinking about getting a fixie and trying my legs at sprinting. Could be a fun winter hobie. I know nothing about bicycles though and I'm 6'1 so no idea what I need. Maybe they will offer rentals so I can try to see if I like it.
 
Roasted said:
I know this makes me a hipster but anyone looking forward to the velodrome in milton opening? I'm thinking about getting a fixie and trying my legs at sprinting. Could be a fun winter hobie. I know nothing about bicycles though and I'm 6'1 so no idea what I need. Maybe they will offer rentals so I can try to see if I like it.
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A friend went in last week and loved it. Apparently you can sign up for 2 hour intro lessons on their fixies.
 
A bike that fits right is what is most important IMO. The bike does not need to be really expensive (light weight, strong, low cost—you can only have two).

The sport should only be super expensive for people actually racing competitively (real race bikes), the high-end gear makes that little bit of difference between finishing and winning... Of course there is the self-entitled traffic holding up, lane and intersection blocking weekend group riders all dressed up in their Tour de France getups on multi thousand dollar sudo-race bikes with all the latest carbon, titanium, etc., if you are one of them of course you are spending, but for what?

When all this was a trend in the 80s (last time this was all the rage) I was very happy with my $100 velo-sport racing those group rides and smoking them on my POS (man they got mad, how dare he pass me on that, I will show him, I can’t catch him, f-him…). Now I am a fat guy trying to get back in shape, I now have a Jeunet (French bike) form I think the 70s I am fixing up (mechanically, leaving all the patina), my hope is to get back in shape and piss off some of the modern Tour de France group riders…

What is interested comparing the Jeunet to modern frames is the role lawyers play in the design of a modern frame. For the street level (even high-end) bikes geometry has been changed to decrease lawsuits, more so than to improve performance (actually at the loss of performance IMO). I can’t say for the all-out (real) race bikes.
 
There are a bunch of things, here are a couple. Many of these things changed decades ago (long before the current hipster craze).

Cranks that hit the ground sooner in steep lean angles--high speed really tight corners (where you likely won't be pedalling anyways). Modern solution is to get around this by raising the bottom bracket a little to gain more ground clearance, less likely for a dumbass to pedal strike. This means the seat must be higher (higher CG) to get the same as to foot distance. Also some shorter cranks in some cases. Counter argunemt is well now you can pedal in that corner... A pedal strike is still possible but less likely.

Changes in steering geometery making the modern bike more stable in a striaght line, at the cost of handling. Again some would say this is better, is it really, do you ride a cruiser or sport bike (sorry a little extreme in the example)...

People crashed and sued (pedal strike, rider goes flying. Steering was too quick, rider went flying). Bike makers modified the designs to avoid these cases (obviously not all of them but as much as they could--a new bike can still crash pretty easy but now they have done some due diligence=less suits...).

There are many good things in modern bikes... like brakes that work! It is not like the 70s were the best ever but... you have to do some riding on one of those 70s racer bikes to get the feel for what I am talking about. Weird at first, then you get it.
 
backmarkerducati said:
There are many good things in modern bikes... like brakes that work! It is not like the 70s were the best ever but... you have to do some riding on one of those 70s racer bikes to get the feel for what I am talking about. Weird at first, then you get it.
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I still like down-tube shifting, sure it isn't as efficient because you hang out in gears longer than you should, but the simplicity and durability is unmatched.
 
GreyGhost said:
I still like down-tube shifting, sure it isn't as efficient because you hang out in gears longer than you should, but the simplicity and durability is unmatched.
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Hard to beat modern shifters when it comes cycling through the gears from a stop.

Hard to beat the workout of powering through the wrong gears... just ask the singlespeed guys.
 
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Roasted said:
I know this makes me a hipster but anyone looking forward to the velodrome in milton opening? I'm thinking about getting a fixie and trying my legs at sprinting. Could be a fun winter hobie. I know nothing about bicycles though and I'm 6'1 so no idea what I need. Maybe they will offer rentals so I can try to see if I like it.
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Absolutely hipster! I'm dying to get out on a track. The nice part is that track bikes are incredibly cheap in comparison to something like my road bikes. It's the crash boom bang of no brakes that worries me :lmao:

backmarkerducati said:
A bike that fits right is what is most important IMO. The bike does not need to be really expensive (light weight, strong, low cost—you can only have two).
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Completely agree. This is the biggest thing new people should know going into the sport.

The sport should only be super expensive for people actually racing competitively (real race bikes), the high-end gear makes that little bit of difference between finishing and winning... Of course there is the self-entitled traffic holding up, lane and intersection blocking weekend group riders all dressed up in their Tour de France getups on multi thousand dollar sudo-race bikes with all the latest carbon, titanium, etc., if you are one of them of course you are spending, but for what?
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Not always fair to judge. I'm on multi thousand dollar high end race bikes because I used to race. While I don't anymore I wouldn't part with them for anything and in judgemental entitled Ontario I get looks all the time. Then again I don't block lanes or intersections either but thanks to twats that do it's automatically assumed I'm guilty by traffic. Makes for fun riding around here.

When all this was a trend in the 80s (last time this was all the rage) I was very happy with my $100 velo-sport racing those group rides and smoking them on my POS (man they got mad, how dare he pass me on that, I will show him, I can’t catch him, f-him…). [/QUOTE]

Nothing makes my day more than chasing and passing the group of trendy middle aged guys on 15k time trial bikes leaving belfountain. Makes me :lmao:
 
A 2cm diff in frame size can mean the differance between loving the bike and hating it. Get fitted and buy the correct size. If you're between sizes take both for a ride around the block and you'll quickly feel which one your body is going to prefer for those long miles.
I used to road ride as well as MTB but i just don't have enough good roads around here so i sold the bike and now just use the MTB.
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