Looking at a road bike for 2 hr blasts around country lanes. Using my old racing bike and finding the road surface, which tends to be poor, making it a pretty shuddering experience. But enjoy the lightness and flickability of the bike. A shop said that the modern ali frames with carbon forks eased the vibration much better than an all steel or ti frame. Anyone experienced this?

And wondering about a CX style bike, but think the weight and slower tyres are offputting. Again, anyone ride a racer vs CX and see real world differences.

Budget of possibly £1k (but aiming less and secondhand) -recommendations?

Thanks

you can always put road racing slick 23s on the CX bike – which is what I do for my winter training/CX race bike. Other than that you just get potentially lower gearing (though most ‘CXs’ seem to come with 34-50 chainsets these days, so similar to most road bikes, CX bikes may come with wider-ranging cassette than a typical road). Anyway, handling is a little slower, but you can generally put racks and full ‘guards on a CX (unless it’s a race-specific bike). Weight is a little heavier, but not much really.

Road for out and out speed. Be careful though as most ‘pure’ road bikes will not have clearance for full guards, and you may need to use something like a crud racer guard (if you see yourself going out when it’s wet).

Hard to compare frame materials directly these days. A Cannondale CAAD10 is one of the nicest riding bikes regardless of material. Some carbon can be overly flexy etc…

I generally recommend people get themselves to a bike shop, try a few and work with them to get properly fitted – which will give far more comfort benefits as the miles go up compared to what material the frame is made from.

Thanks cp. Do CX bikes generally prompt you to ‘go for it’ which i’m finding my race bike does?

Bargain if your size…
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=84316

Should be plenty of decent carbon-framed s/h bikes available up to a grand though. I find my carbon Boardman really comfy.

Not sure I agree about the statement about carbon having better ride quality that steel, it’s very dependant on the way the frame is made.

I have a steel frame and it rides very well, one thing you can look at is getting a flexy post, which might improve the ride.

You just have to get out and try a few, I just changed my 700 x 20c tyres for 23c and that has made a big difference to the feel.

but think the weight and slower tyres are offputting

Not a massive weight difference really in bikes around £1k.

I have an aluminium road bike, an aluminium cx bike – both with full carbon forks and a full carbon road bike.

There’s a fair difference in weight between the ali road bike and cx bike but not a lot of difference in speed. The full carbon road bike is on another planet speed wise but it is a full on arse up/nose down race weapon. I like the feel of the heavier bike for commuting, feels solid and planted.

If you only ever plan on using the bike on the road then there is no point in buying a cx bike, go for a proper road bike.

A shop said that the modern ali frames with carbon forks eased the vibration much better than an all steel or ti frame.

‘A shop’ is talking silly generalisations. You simply can’t state that. Some carbon forks are very jarring, others aren’t. Similarly, some steel frames aren’t remotely springy.

Basically, you’ll have to try them to really see how they ride.

And wondering about a CX style bike, but think the weight and slower tyres are offputting. Again, anyone ride a racer vs CX and see real world differences

CX bikes shouldn’t be much heavier for the same money and you can easily swap the CX tyres for road ones, making it almost as quick as a road bike. I use my cx bike as a winter road bike and have done sportives on it, using road tyres and at most I reckon it’s 1mph slower.

I have 2 road bikes both alu framed with carbon forks.
One is a basic frame with an unbranded carbon fork.It is quite jarring and the cheap fork does nothing to help.
The other is a higher end frame with an easton carbon fork and it rides completely different.Far smoother and the better quality fork tracks better on bumpy bends and doesn’t give me numb hands like the other bike.
If you go for a carbon fork get quality as the cheaper stuff i think is a step backwards from steel or alu.

using road tyres and at most I reckon it’s 1mph slower.

What does that mean? if i ride at 2mph on a road bike i will be doing 1mph on a CX bike? if i ride at 30mph on a road bike i will be doing 29mph on a CX bike?

I subscribe to the idea of tools for the job, if you want to race CX get a CX bike, if you want to ride on the road, then get a road bike. If you want to do long touring type rides think about an Audax/Tourer, if hurting yourself appeals get a purer race bike. but think about mudguards, you can fit them to some close clearance bikes but it is more of a faff than to a “training” frame.

Most of my road riding is 1-2 hour blasts round country lanes on the Isle of Wight, which officially has the worst roads in England, according to the local paper last week.

I ride a 2011 Wilier La Triestina road bike which has carbon seatstays and forks and an alu frame. I did find it a slightly jarring ride to begin with but I kind of expected that, having come to it from mostly riding mountain bikes with suspension. I’ve since replaced the stock alu seatpost and handlebars with carbon.

My “other” road bike is a steel-framed Cotic Roadrat, again with carbon bars. 23C tyres on both bikes. There’s not much in it in comfort terms. However, all things considered the Roadrat is slightly more comfortable and seems to soak up more of the chatter from poor road surfaces, but it’s a fair bit heavier. The Wilier is lighter and quicker.

Obviously those are just two random bikes and a subjective view but I’d say that if comfort is more of a priority than speed a steel frame might be a better bet. I’d thoroughly recommend either bike.

There’s a review of steel bikes in Cycling Plus this month which might be relavent? Damming with faint praise really though, for the money of most of the ones reviewed you could get a Felt F4 or F5 which has a sub kilo frame (920g rings a bell) and a 330g forks, compare that to the steel frames of which even the expensive ones weighed in at 1800g + a fork @ 400g for a carbon or 700-1kg for the steel ones makes them easily double the weight for similar money.

If I wanted a comfortable bike I’d get something from Van Nicolas, complete Ti bike weighing just over 8kg for £1500 is hard to ignore!

As for the carbon Vs aluminium debate, there are plenty of good comfortable aluminium bikes, and plenty of flexy horrible carbon bikes, and there are plenty more that fit the generalisations, not many demo rides so unless you can find one it’s a case of reading reviews and picking the one oyu like the look of. IME though most shops will just sell you whatever they stock that’s closest to what you ask for.

What does that mean? if i ride at 2mph on a road bike i will be doing 1mph on a CX bike? if i ride at 30mph on a road bike i will be doing 29mph on a CX bike?

That your deliberately obtuse, I’m no mind reader but i reckon he’s probably talking 1mph slower on an average loop, with an average rider doing an average speed (say 17mph for someone moderately fit).

A shop said that the modern ali frames with carbon forks eased the vibration much better than an all steel or ti frame. Anyone experienced this?

Let me guess – you currently have an all steel or ti frame? I wonder what the shop’s motivation to say something like that could be?

If you want comfort get fatter tyres and or a frame with more relaxed geometry and longer stays (eg a CX style one as suggested). A compact frame with lots of seatpost showing also helps a bit (as does the saddle, though that’s a very personal thing).

Hard to compare frame materials directly these days. A Cannondale CAAD10 is one of the nicest riding bikes regardless of material. Some carbon can be overly flexy etc…

CAAD10, here. Couldn’t find any appreciable difference, with my ropey riding style, between it and the carbon framed SuperSix.

That your deliberately obtuse, I’m no mind reader but i reckon he’s probably talking 1mph slower on an average loop, with an average rider doing an average speed (say 17mph for someone moderately fit).

Just something that i find annoying because it is meaningless, even saying an average rider can do 17mph isn’t much better. I rode home from work yesterday 16miles average 21mph, couple of days before i rode the same route at 15mph. There are to many variables such as wind, traffic, hills etc. to make any average speed meaningful.

and a 330g forks, compare that to the steel frames of which even the expensive ones weighed in at 1800g + a fork @ 400g for a carbon or 700-1kg for the steel ones makes them easily double the weight for similar money.

I’ll give you that a steel frame will weigh more than the lightest of carbon frames , but a fork is a fork, If you want to fit 300gram forks to a steel frame you can.

A fat unfit person on a £6k Madone is still going to be slower than a averagely fit rider on a £50 ebay special. You can buy a bike, buying legs is a bit harder.

End of the day, buy what looks nice to you. Something you are proud of and can enjoy. Frame material is almost irrelevant, it is what is done with it that matters.

My last road bike was a carbon Cannondale Six and I’ve now got a alu Cannondale CAAD10. The Six was marginally smoother on rougher road surfaces, barely detectable though…but then I would say that 😉

Very hard to test two frames against each other unless the builds are exactly the same esp wheels, tyres and tyre pressure.

i have cheap alu bike with cheap carbon forks and its a pretty harsh ride, the forks dont appear to do anything to take away the impact of every little change in the road surface. I can’t really comment past that point as its just a cheap thing for commuting on and i have no other experience of road bikes

HTH 🙂

Very hard to test two frames against each other unless the builds are exactly the same esp wheels, tyres and tyre pressure.

and the frames are disguised so you have no idea what it is you’re expecting it to feel like.

footflaps – Member
Very hard to test two frames against each other unless the builds are exactly the same esp wheels, tyres and tyre pressure.

Exactly the same build (105) and (heavy/crappy)Shimano wheels with Ultremo tyres(120psi).

The CAAD10 now has Ksyrium Equipes.

Cannondale Synapse 105 is aluminum and pretty comfy with slightly taller headtube and flexy stays – about £1050 so worth a look.

If in London Swift cycles (http://www.swiftcycles.co.uk/) do there flashy bike fit for that, and bike fit is supposed to aid comfort.

I bought a steel Equilibrium in the end (which now has an old ti seatpost on) and did 75 miles on first ride and no problems with comfort.

mrmo – Member

What does that mean? if i ride at 2mph on a road bike i will be doing 1mph on a CX bike? if i ride at 30mph on a road bike i will be doing 29mph on a CX bike?

Just something that i find annoying because it is meaningless, even saying an average rider can do 17mph isn’t much better. I rode home from work yesterday 16miles average 21mph, couple of days before i rode the same route at 15mph. There are to many variables such as wind, traffic, hills etc. to make any average speed meaningful.

You probably get all grumpy when people talk about ‘Hoovers’ too 😉

Of course it’s meaningful. It’s just not precise or specific.

Lots of people ask me the same question. I give that answer and they then have the answer they were after rather than me going into some long, boring technical explanation of how so many factors affect it that it’s impossible to be exact when all they wanted was a ‘typical’ answer which IMO it is. IME, my cross bike with road tyres on is almost always around 1mph slower than my road bike for the same sort of rides and conditions.

+1 for cx bike with narrower slicks on.
tyres play a huge part in how comfy a frame feels, so does frame geometry, frame material on the other hand plays a lesser part IMO.
full mudguards? = pure luxury.
ive recently bought a charge filter hi, a disc braked cx/tourer type thing, it rides well, takes full guards, has brakes that still work properly in the wet.
however, its definitely not light, not even close.
ride a few bikes then buy the one you like, you will be riding it for a long time.

You probably get all grumpy when people talk about ‘Hoovers’ too

No i just get grumpy after driving on the M5 for 3hours. Really should get out on the bike for a bit and enjoy the devon sunshine now i am here.

there was a thread on here a while back where the consensus was that if you’re after more comfort then fitting 25mm, tyres rather than 23s, assuming they’ll fit the frame, will help comfort a lot and for an average ( ie not racing whippet ) rider the difference in speed will be negligible.
i could see this making more of a difference than what materials have gone in to the frame/fork/seatpost.

sounds like a plan mrmo 😉

there was a thread on here a while back where the consensus was that if you’re after more comfort then fitting 25mm, tyres rather than 23s, assuming they’ll fit the frame, will help comfort a lot and for an average ( ie not racing whippet ) rider the difference in speed will be negligible.

This +1, I’ve got 25mm schwalbe blizzards on my CAAD at the moment, 100 miles is reasnobly pain free.

Way out of budget but the new Trek Domane looks very cool. A super stiff frame, but the seatube passes between the seatstays and is connected by a pin and brearings, so the whole seatube can flex like a bow allowing the saddle to move and absorb the buzz from Belgian Pave (or ConDem funded road maintenance).

A shop said that the modern ali frames with carbon forks eased the vibration much better than an all steel or ti frame. Anyone experienced this?

I would disagree with that, and with the experience to back it up. I have an alu CX bike and a Ti road bike, both with Easton EC70 forks. The Ti is considerably comfier to ride, and I tested this theory on a LeJog where my friend borrowed my CX. I took it out for a wee spin at one point and the Ti was far comfier in absorbing road buzz.

few bike son sale here to help the budget:

http://www.head-for-the-hills.co.uk/2012_bike_sale.htm