nope, it’s all too confusing for me. aside from the trinny and susannah fashion victim-ness which some of us do see to so love i feel the need to have some sort of emotional graph i can measure myself on.

i’m off out on my roadbike shortly so i should be grumpy right? and self conscious as i’ll be wearing the wrong helmet. but when i come back most likely i’ll have a spin on the mountain bike at some point. so where does that leave me? mountain bike on the road – an obvious fool. and most likely i’ll still be wearing my road gear so a subject a mockery for any passing mountain bike type. so now i should be upset as well as self conscious.

not that it gets any better. if i take my hard tail then i’ll be over focused and have to compensate for some sort of inadequacy by racing everyone i see, esp on the uphills (where obviously i will conquer what with being ‘roadie scum’ and all). not that it gets any better if i take my full suss. then i’m either going to be old school, all bike and no skills or insufficiently baggy. and that’s before the niche-ness. i only go out on my rohloff bike or the vintage bikes when no-one’s looking. and then there’s the cyclocross bike!!

back in the day when i thought it was all just about fannying about on bikes i seemed much happier….

you are not niche enough.
no mention of rigid 29’er either?

How then? What setup is there to do?

Indeed, I didn’t think it was possible to get it wrong but clearly some people are. I run my pads very close to the rims on my roadbikes and the pads are completely flat to the rim, no toe in or anything daft like that.

I rarely need to apply more than a finger of pressure to bring myself to a rapid halt, even from speed. Maybe it is something to do with the pads but I’ve only ever used 105 pads even with my Ultegra brakes.

I really like the “idea” of road bikes, indeed I’ve bought a couple, but in both cases ended up selling them again. Partly because the image of sailing effortlessly along smooth roads seems to translate to a reality of crashing and banging along the pot-hole riddled mess that passes for country roads on a bike that seems far too nervous and fragile for the job. And partly because no matter how I adjusted my riding position, after an hour or so I invariably ended up with an aching back, stiff neck and completely numb hands.

Shame really ‘cos I still really like the idea <wanders off to gaze wistfully at shiny new road bikes>.

Partly because the image of sailing effortlessly along smooth roads seems to translate to a reality of crashing and banging along the pot-hole riddled mess that passes for country roads on a bike that seems far too nervous and fragile for the job

Don’t be a buzzkill.

At least let me shatter my own dreams in the next week or so 😉

I didn’t think it was possible to get it wrong but clearly some people are. I run my pads very close to the rims on my roadbikes and the pads are completely flat to the rim, no toe in or anything daft like that

Same here. Still the same. Can stop reasonably in the wet in a non-emergency situation; cannot stop quickly at all in the pouring rain.

Jamie – you soon learn where the good and bad roads are. And you may never learn to deal with the disappointment when they tar and chip one of your fave routes.

Molgrips

It might be worth cleaning your brake surface up a bit if thats the case.
You haven’t got ceramic rims by any chance have you ?
In fact what rims are you running full stop?

because no matter how I adjusted my riding position, after an hour or so I invariably ended up with an aching back, stiff neck and completely numb hands.

Shame really ‘cos I still really like the idea <wanders off to gaze wistfully at shiny new road bikes

if you were fitted properly that shouldn’t be an issue. no point in buying the latest bling machine if you have no budget for the important things:

a bikefit done by somebody who knows what they are doing.
good shoes/insoles(if needed)
good shorts
a change of stem and/or bars to get the ideal fit.

These threads always leave me with the impression that ‘mountain bikers’ are like the emo kids of the cycling world.

And you may never learn to deal with the disappointment when they tar and chip one of your fave routes.

The main road I ride on every day gets this done about once every year or so, and it’s always in summer when the tar melts, so both spots of tar and loose chips get flicked up at your frame 🙁 Still haven’t got the tar marks out of my old frame.

As for the brakes they slow me down well enough but they can’t compare to the power of v or even u-brakes. Mind you mine are the cheapies that come on an Allez 24.

a bikefit done by somebody who knows what they are doing.

I did start a thread about bike fitting http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/road-bike-why-does-it-hurt-so-much . It’s been a while since I read it, but I don’t recall it resulting in much of a consensus.

Anyway it’s academic now, can’t afford another road bike, let alone bike fitting.

I did write a long response but deleted it in favour of a simple MTFU and learn to ride a road bike properly whilst wearing the proper clothing.

Amen brother……

😀

Had all these:

good shoes/insoles(if needed)
good shorts
a change of stem and/or bars to get the ideal fit.

Just not this:

a bikefit done by somebody who knows what they are doing.

Can’t be arsed to MTFU, would rather go for a ride on my mountainbike, it’s far more comfortable and more fun. Which ultimately is the point (YMMV).

I didn’t see the original thread but there seemed to be some conscenscus to me that the fit was wrong – I’d have guessed at the saddle being too high – did you measure BB centre to saddle at any point and compare it to your MTB ?
All fits do is give you somewhere to start from but the most improtnat bit is to get you sitting in the right place on the bike – the rest of the contact points follow on from there
Also were the saddles the same ? A Bel air for instance can end up squishing down quite a bit due to the padding compared to your average roadie razor !

Don’t MTFU. Roadies are a weird lot, they think it’s all about pain and suffering, that’s why they are so miserable. In the real world however it IS possible to get your bike set up without everything hurting, you just have to work at it – more than with an MTB unfortunately.

Re brakes – Mavic open pro rims. I do clean the rims and pads from time to time but the effect only lasts half a ride.

I would suggest a slightly lower saddle on the road bike – cos you have to lean forwards more.

I’ve just swapped out some shimano pads for some aztecs on the winter bike and the difference is huge (better) for 8 notes an end it might be worth a bash !
Funnily enough though I must be the only person ever to ride a road bike and have never ridden open pros – my open sport rim is noticeably worse at braking than my reynolds wheels, spinergyys, pianni or campag rims

**** me asphalt hurts like a **** and I take back the take back. Is this some blood ritual every roadie goes through? Thing is yesterday I was a hair’s breadth away from admitting I had fun, but it turns out a crosser will not let you do what you can on a mountain bike, surprised me that bit.