[Closed] Thinking of trying a road bike - should I?

The darkside is calling my son. Come on over.

So yeah, don't worry about lycra, it'll soon make sense. If you can, get an old steel beater off ebay or the like. Aim for anything with reynolds 531, but anything will do, then get out and give it a go. It might need some work, but road bikes don't wear out like MTB's so don't worry about it being old and s**tty. The first time you fly up a hill, or hit 40+MPH you'll get the bug!

Also, the idea of lycra certainly doesn't appeal, would it be wrong to wear my mountain biking gear on a racer

Avoid buying something old steel and rusty, bits will break, the bar tape will be horrible cheep stuff (or that really bad plastic stuff from the 80's) and you'll probably end up with the wrong size.

Go on the Canyon website, use the road bike sizing calculator and a tape measure and it'll give you a size, then find something fromt he last few years on ebay with the same top tube length and you wont go far wrong.

Many are called, but few are chosen.

You will learn to suffer, to embrace the pain and to revel in the desperation.

It's all good.

I recommend using a vintage razor for shaving your legs!

It's all riding, and another excuse to get out more.

Do it...

I recommend using a vintage razor for shaving your legs!

I tried this, seriously, dont, I've never bled so much as when I tried it with a safety razor!

I've actually been offered a brand new boardman road team which currently sells for £999 in halfords for under £600.

My thinking is to give it a go and that if I don't enjoy it, I'll probably recoup most if not all of my money.

Lycra one day maybe, shaved legs - not a chance 😆

Its the speed that is drawing me in. It has a compact 50x34T chainset, is this more beginner as I've read some of the standard doubles are really tough going up the hills?

Its ace - buy one but dont listen to old blokes telling you to get steel frames. Carbon is calling.

Get some razors and lycra and dont think it will be easy. It never gets easier only faster.

Noooooooooooooooooo!

Yeah, get one. You'll find it all adds to your fitness anyway, so you'll ride your mtb better.

I have the self-same Boardman and its excellent, good vfm brand-new, better second-hand. 50/34 sounds about right.

I haven't changed down to the granny ring on mine since about June of last year, thinking of going 1/9 now.

I really fancy the ease of just riding out of my house and covering a nice distance with relative ease.

Oh, and you'll soon understand why we wear lycra.

Get one but if you think they're an easy option to cover miles then you'll be in for a bit of a shock. They're bloody hard work as you never get to rest as you do when mountain biking.

Haha, I've noticed a fair few comments ref this. Always assumed with light weight and low rolling resistance that it would be easier?!

Many feel happier on a compact (34-50). I've been fine on std chainsets. Give it a go.

I'm quite new to it myself and... mmm, enjoying it isn't right, tbh it's just like going to the gym, boring and sometimes quite unpleasant, yet still satisfying. Aye, satisfying is the word.

It's no alternative to mountain biking IMO- really very dissimiliar- but it's a good way to spin the legs and I'm hoping to get some fitness benefits too as it gets me out at times where I wouldn't take out an mtb.

Oh aye, and still wearing all mtb kit and not in the least bit bothered.

Haha, I've noticed a fair few comments ref this. Always assumed with light weight and low rolling resistance that it would be easier?!

Yes it is easier, but you don't rest, if you consider how you ride off road you'll realise that for a lot of the time you are actually coasting, over roots, rocks, etc. On a road bike you pedal.

The speed is addictive, so you pedal more, you pedal faster, you feel your legs and lungs burning, you pedal more....

go out with other road riders, that is more fun.

I'd get that boardman if it fits ok, sounds a good deal. I got my first road bike a year ago with some trepidation but I love it. Great for doing decent rides from home, just done a quick blast on dark country lanes - never thought I'd enjoy that but it's brill.

Still love the mountain bike, it's all good.

Get one!

i often ride up the rhigos and bwlch on a roadie and an mtb , roadies are not easier up the hills their just faster up them , faster down too .

still not as much fun as a mountain bike though .

It's worth a go, not the same as mtb but good in its own way and it's nice to be able to get riding straight from home. No need to wear lycra, some padded undershorts may be worth a go though.

still not as much fun as a mountain bike though .

I don't know that I agree. There's a lot of fun to be had battering along a flat (or even better a false flat) on a sunny day in the countryside keeping up with or passing cars on winding roads. Descending quickly on a road bike is also a very different type of ride to descending on an MTB but gives you the same buzz. It's just... different.

No need to wear lycra, some padded undershorts may be worth a go though

People ride MTB without padded shorts? Seems like needless comfort avoidance to me.

is this more beginner as I've read some of the standard doubles are really tough going up the hills?

Yes they are far harder and only used by a very select few from here.

But seriously folks, no not beginner at all. It just means you'll be able to manage most stuff. I use a standard non compact and most rides I find myself on a hill in 39x25 weaving all over the place praying for a compact.

atlaz - Member

People ride MTB without padded shorts? Seems like needless comfort avoidance to me.

if you're sitting down enough to need padded shorts, you're doing it wrong.

you don't 'need' lycra, in the same way you don't 'need' to take your jeans off when you go swimming.

it's perfectly possible to ride in baggies, but alas ****ing stupid.

mtbers seem to have this preconceived idea of 'you wont catch me in lycra, i'm keeping my peak on my helmet etc. etc.'

i just don't get that mindset. you aren't going to look cool. your mtb mates will presumably still think you are a turncoat, road riders will think you're a tosser, and the general public will still regard you as a menace to society...

I just use baggies and a peaked helmet because i already own them

Its just a bike, if you want one just buy one.

I love road riding.

fair enough i suppose, but given the level of expenditure displayed on this forum for people to gain the latest, new and best thing in the world of mtb, its a bit daft to not splash out £20 on some new shorts IMO.

First you start riding it during the week, then you start riding it for a couple of hours at the weekend and the next thing you know you're sacking off your mates on a Sunday to go for a club ride and the MTB is sat at the back of the shed, behind your girlfriends bike...

God I hate all the pretentious faux melodramatic bunk people manage to dredge up every time road bikes are mentioned on here. Bikes are great until people start loading them with their own ego-driven, narrow-minded prejudices and preconceptions. Every time someone writes 'darkside' I cringe like a slug parachuted into a salt lake... 😉

I just use baggies and a peaked helmet because i already own them

if you're sitting down enough to need padded shorts, you're doing it wrong.

Not to derail the thread but I can't say I've ridden anywhere for any length of time where I wasn't sitting on climbs or flat trails at least part of the time. If you ride out of the saddle for whole days at a time, kudos.

Why is wearing baggies stupid? The only time I've had a problem with them was when i was wearing old shorts which were about 2 sizes too big so they flapped around a bit and caught on the saddle when stood up. If you use a padded short its perfectly comfy. And bike riders look stupid to everyone else anyway regardless of what they wear.

i give up. do you want me to repeat what i and others have said on the subject? or do you want a new reason why baggies on a road bike doesn't really work?

and the general public will still regard you as a menace to society...

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o-dog never had a road bike on the DVD version?

then why bother with a road bike, i presume you already own a MTB?

Not all road bikes need to be carbon fibre race replicas ridden in full lycra as if you're competing in the TDF.

Wearing baggies is stupid enough on a mountain bike, its only part of the uniform with no sensible function other than hiding your penis, just like baggy swim shorts. Are you riding or are you poncing about in a cafe or in the car park?

My Monday night riding is with an ex pro downhill racer, (now rapha condor sharp mechanic among other things), and ex GB elite track sprinter who now does mtb guiding abroad and at home, and a top cyclo cross bloke in his late 40's, and a couple of fat knackers like me who have been riding since mid 90's. Quite an accumulation of experience here. All wear lycra without baggies on our gisburn rides.
Road biking is excellent in it's own right, but i've never understood how it has lured so many away from the off road stuff in recent years. Tarmac or woods?

Personally I just like riding bikes. Road bikes are bikes. MTBs are bikes. I'm quite happy with either.

for me:

simplicity.
fitness.
less need for latest kit.
good race structure.
good club structure.
reduced need to travel.
less broken kit, less kit wearing out.

just seems like a purer form of riding. i still ride mtb, but i'm now fairly strongly of the opinion that sub 2hr rides don't really count, and that the mtb fails to give me a decent workout!

Totally agree atlaz, it's just i have seen a fair few friends in recent years who have eschewed the dirt altogether for tarmac

The thing about road biking I liked best in the UK was just riding from the door. I can ride both MTB and road from the door now so my road rides are more about covering miles to see the new country.

less need for latest kit.

You're doing it wrong.

do you want a new reason why baggies on a road bike doesn't really work?

Yes please. Genuinely curious as I'm on the verge of buying my first proper road bike. Have done 50 miles (I know it's not that far) or so on my fixed gear without lycra or padding and no discomfort. I can appreciate why you might need padding on longer rides but why lycra?

faster/less effort to drag through a given wind. more comfortable, better wicking, no chaffing, no flapping, slightly supportive, better when it rains, better designed pockets for road, better coverage, fewer drafts, mates better with arm/leg warmers, and so on.

that enough?