Which are you?

More people round our way seem to be developing a taste for practical, well thought out road irons;
Guards, saddlebags, higher bars, triples, comfy tyres, decent lights, wider gearing.
Audax type bikes, basically.

This appears to be in stark contrast to the last few years which saw a massive number of newer cyclists on wholly unsuitable, pretend racing bikes with silly gearing and no provision for luggage.

Nowt wrong with proper racing bikes, if you’re a racer in training.
But why would you want a pure racing bike for a nice day out in the hills?

Rack and guard mounts won’t make you any slower, even if you never use them.
Being wet, cold and uncomfortable because you’ve nowhere to store a layer is uncomfortable and dangerous.
Many also seem desparate to obey self imposed rules re stem hight and gearing and see discomfort and suffering as some sort of badge to be worn with pride.

Which are you?
And why?

Confirmed roadie realist here – guards and seatpack all day long.

slammed stem and 23mm tyres here – no guards

for me its speed, if I want to potter I take the MTB or crosser

Have you tried a motorbike? 🙂

no provision for luggage

We don’t all want to do multi-day epics 🙂

a roadie doesn’t have a “nice day out in the hills”, he has a brutal day out in the hills with momentary pain induced euphoria

Both! Cross bike for the practical stuff.
Bling road bike for sunny summer blasts and trips to the Alps.

i’ve been riding a wholly unsuitable, pretend (and real) racing bike with silly gearing and no provision for luggage for both racer in training rides and nice days out in the hills for over half my life

maybe i don’t comply to your self-imposed rules, i’m okay with that

Multi day epics?

It can be snowing in the morning and cracking the flags half an hour later round here.

More people round our way seem to be developing a taste for practical, well thought out road irons;
Guards, saddlebags, higher bars, triples, comfy tyres, decent lights, wider gearing.
Audax type bikes, basically.

sounds rather dull to me, maybe when I’m 60, or maybe not.

Mainly I ride

Audax type bikes, basically.

[quote]guards and seatpack all day long.[/quote].

But why would you want a pure racing bike for a nice day out in the hills?

Because after riding MTBs and practical road bikes, a racy ~17lb bike feels like effortless speed and I love it. Only ride it a few times a year though.

Many also seem desparate to obey self imposed rules re stem hight and gearing and see discomfort and suffering as some sort of badge to be worn with pride.

To be fair to those that think ‘the rules’ are actually rules, I see riding a 23lb+ steel road bike with guards etc the same way – no-one got strong by taking the easy (ie light) option : )

i have three road bikes (well strictly speaking 1 CX, 2 road)

CX bike is winter bike, guards, etc etc. gets stripped down for CX racing when needed.

carbon road bike 1 is training bike, no guards, saddle bag.

carbon road bike 2 is racer / TT bike. aero, deep rims, slammed no luggage.

I’m ok with it too. 😀
We’ve just imposed different rules on ourselves.

I just want to know why you choose pain and speed over comfort and practicality.

Rusty Spanner – Member

I just want to know why you choose pain and speed over comfort and practicality.

some days i choose it to be painful and fast, some days i choose it to be comfortable and practical

some people need all the help they can get to go fast.

others want to look fast.

i’ve been riding a wholly unsuitable, pretend (and real) racing bike with silly gearing and no provision for luggage for both racer in training rides and nice days out in the hills for over half my life

yeah but you stayed indoors at lunchtime today ‘cos you didn’t have ‘guards and heated handlebars 😉

Which are you?

err… none of the above, I cycle, I do it on a bike that’s appropriate for the kind of cycling I’m intending to do. Sometimes that bike [this suggests, maybe, that I have different bikes, loik] is clean and shiny, not often though. But, I cycle somewhere for some purpose pretty much every single day of the year, and I very rarely drive to get to that place.
Are you going to try and write some new, witty, IT based rules on what’s acceptable in the hope of generating internet traffic and frotting action to your own website?

No guards? In the UK? Madness!

wwaswas – Member
i’ve been riding a wholly unsuitable, pretend (and real) racing bike with silly gearing and no provision for luggage for both racer in training rides and nice days out in the hills for over half my life

yeah but you stayed indoors at lunchtime today ‘cos you didn’t have ‘guards and heated handlebars

i was going to go out on the ‘cross bike actually, the one i sometimes use for racing, and the one i sometimes use for nice days out in the hills 😉

to your own website?

Which one’s that then?

It’s improved no end this afternoon – I appear to have leeched all the moisture from the sky and into my shoes over lunchtime.

‘cross could be interesting after all that rain, though 🙂

No. 😀

I’m sat in the pub chatting to a couple of mates.

I ‘ve just been called, and I quote, a ‘bobble hatted throwback’ because I expressed a desire for a nice new Carradice saddlebag.

Oh, the humanity……

I have an MTB for off road and a road bike for roads, now ‘mostly’ I ride my road bike when the conditions are so bad off road I can’t be arsed, for me, road bikes are the cleaner option…in comparison to mountain biking in mud that is. But I don’t generally use guards at all, I tend not to ride in the rain ( as I have a choice in the matter)

Can you really tell what gearing other riders have, unless you are stood right next to them? You’d have to have eyes like an owl surely?

Also I’m not sure having ‘no provision for luggage’ makes you a wannabe racer…’oooh he’s not carrying luggage, he must be an elite rider’

I’ve never considered a saddlebag as uncool as I saw Cav training with one once and they’re good enough for him then they’re good enough for me. He wasn’t carrying any luggage, mind.

My road bike has race geometry. Fair bit of drop – not sure, maybe about 10cm – but stem not ‘slammed’. It fits me. I bought it because I like speed and sharp handling. There is no pain. Compact gearing for the hills. 25mm tyres. I have room for a layer in my jersey pocket.

If that makes me a fantasist then fair enough. I just like riding my bike.

Duggan – Member

Can you really tell what gearing other riders have, unless you are stood right next to them? You’d have to have eyes like an owl surely?

it’s not *that* hard, especially if you’re a total nerd like me.

and you can simply have a guess that a rider might have been a little ‘ambitious’ with their gearing when you see them straining uphill with a cadence of 12.

Bought a cross bike for road (and commuting) use for exactly the reasons in the OP.

• Mudguard & pannier eyelets
• BB7 disc brakes
• comfortable position (not head down, arse up)
• Clearance for nice comfy tyres (I run 28mm but could go larger)
• Extra wide 11-32 cassette (SRAM WiFLi) to get up big hills
• 8.75kg = Still lighter than mate’s Allez 😀

Sometimes it occurs to me that other people might be interested in judging me on the basis of their prejudices and preconceptions. So I ride my racy racer with a non compact double, no eyelets, headset spacers and 23c tyres in my baggies wearing a camelbak and no crash helmet, slowly.

I think if you worry less about other people you have more fun yourself, I prefer to carry stuff on me and not the bike.

But why would you want a pure racing bike for a nice day out in the hills?

Lighter bikes FEEL quicker, more responsive and nicer to ride. So that’s why I don’t have mudguards and racks on my road bike. As for getting wet – even if I have mudguards I still get wet whether or not it rains, and I still have to wash my kit when I get home. Makes no difference.

I have mudguards on my commuter, because I need to keep myself clean, and I’m often only out for a short time so they make a difference in keeping my kit dry when I may have to sit on a train in it, or if I am wearing normal clothes.

It does have a triple chainset though. For those times when I want to go up hills but I don’t want a strength workout.

…when you see them straining uphill with a cadence of 12.

Having “unsuitable” gearing is what made me a stronger climber. I could have had a triple on my road bike but then I would have crawled up the climbs and had no ambition to MTFU and try harder. I tried harder and now I climb with a cadence of 16 instead 😆

i did say ‘might’…

i’m a pathetic weakling, i need all the gears i can get.

extra gears you say? – 2 please.

If it don’t fit in your jersey pockets its not worth carrying.

I am realistic and know that I will never be a racer, what I enjoy is longer sportives, audaxes or own rides, so bike is a Giant Defy composite, which is pretty light, but set up for practicality and comfort, 25c GP4000S when weather is good, Michelin Endurance when weather is rubbish, stem is only just lower than the saddle and i’m not adverse to raceblade mudguards and even a tri pack on top tube when it is a distance more than 100 miles as i’d rather carry food there than in back pocket.

neilsonwheels – Member
If it don’t fit in your jersey pockets its not worth carrying.

Buttplug?

bitplug

Some of them glass ones weigh a fair bit and would counteract all the carbon lightness.

This appears to be in stark contrast to the last few years which saw a massive number of newer cyclists on wholly unsuitable, pretend racing bikes with silly gearing and no provision for luggage.

Nowt wrong with proper racing bikes, if you’re a racer in training.
But why would you want a pure racing bike for a nice day out in the hills?

This is the car equivelent of what you seem to want to ride.

This is the car equivelent of a racing bike

This is a road up a mountain.

Transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, transit or lotus, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I’m struggling.

i’ve been riding a wholly unsuitable, pretend (and real) racing bike with silly gearing and no provision for luggage for both racer in training rides and nice days out in the hills for over half my life

maybe i don’t comply to your self-imposed rules, i’m okay with that

This. Slammed stem, 23mm tyres, 53/39 chainset, no guards, no provision for rack/luggage.

It does what I want it to, why would I want to change it? It’s not unsuitable, it suits my needs perfectly. Those are clearly different to yours.

Its the persuit of being as efficient as possible.

‘Transit or Lotus, I’m struggling.’
Have you tried lower gears?

Nah, the car equivalent of a racing bike on the road would be a Caterham with a close ratio box, no weather protection and nowhere to rest your left foot.
Great on the track, pain in the arse everywhere else.

That Lotus is a road car – s’got a roof, passenger seat and room to for a toothbrush and credit card.
Deffo fast tourer/audax type.

The bike I have is the fantasy: carbon bike bought (8years ago) for speeding round sportives.

The bike I now want is the realistic option: comfy audax bike, guards, rack, dynamo lights….

Sadly I can’t afford to turn fantasy into reality.

And obviously, having both would be even better….

But why would you want a pure racing bike for a nice day out in the hills?

Because it feels fast and I prefer riding a road bike that feels fast than one that feels comfortable (within reason). YMMV.