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?

Thanks. Overwhelmingly a comfort thing then, I assume on longer rides than what I’m used to. Will investigate if I ever get a sore undercarriage or feel my shorts ruining my otherwise flawless aero profile.:wink:

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

This. There are pros and cons to either – I get more of a buzz from MTBing, but there is more faff with cleaning and maintenace, and kit breaks more often. On the other hand, I love the fact that I can be ready for a road ride in 5 minutes, straight out, and get a useful workout in a couple of hours or so.

Either way, it’s all cycling so it’s good.

oh and they are fantastic at showing off your massive man bulge.

i can only assume those resisting lycra are worried about people seeing their modest packages.

A road bike is great for mixing it up.

All depends on your local roads though. Cycling in heavy traffic is pretty awful but on scenic b roads it can be amazing.

Wear what you feel right in. Lycra is comfortable and practical.

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.

not whole days at a time, but not long enough to get uncomfortable.

i stand up for the tricky bits. if there aren’t enough tricky bits and i’m sitting down long enough to get uncomfortable then i’m riding the wrong trail.

maybe i’ve just got a very tough gooch…

ransos – Member

There are pros and cons to either – I get more of a buzz from MTBing, but there is more faff with cleaning and maintenace, and kit breaks more often

Haven’t ridden my MTB since I ripped the mech off (and replaced it!) but have been on the road bike loads. The ‘riding from your door’ thing is a big pro IME.

As an ex (below average) DH racer, I used to think road bikes were for fags. Then I got curious and now lycra up every now and then and get out there. I love it. Speed, silence, freedom, fitness – and fitness.

It’s massively helped my (previously crap) cardio fitness, which means I enjoy mtb more too. I wish I’d had one when I raced DH.

Road bikes let you go fast, really fast. If you want to go fast, embrace the lycra and get on the drops and enjoy the speed.

If you don’t want to go as fast as you can, fair enough, go baggy but why even bother with the road bike?

I recommend using a vintage razor for shaving your legs!

real men use an epilady

if you feel you need to get a road bike…go ahead and get it… i got a road bike this time last year…i wanted to do some extra training sessions and benefitted drom it in the long run…. i was training for a 47 mile off road challenge so i bought the roadie bike for that extra training…lol it paid off..lol …. i do like road riding tho..just gotta watch out for the traffic alot more.. 😉

I recommend using a vintage razor for shaving your legs!

I hope when you say vintage you mean a straight edge, can’t be doing with any of that new fangled safety razor crap!

Can’t you just inflate your tyres and ride on the road ?

Surley the only reason for a road bike is to have greater speed, you can still ride an MTB on roads… it won’t die.

course you can. not half as much fun though. bit like all the worst bits of xc, without any of the going fast bits of road.

I love my road biking, coming from that background to the MTB later in life!!

Doing both has really brough my fitness on much quicker than just doing one or other, i love the fact i can go out for an hour after work do 15 or 16 miles and be home for tea. The MTB i need to keep for the weekend due to the extr time, it means i get more cycling in that i would otherwise be albe to.

without any of the going fast bits of road.

I have 3 motorbikes capable of 170mph+ 🙂

Cheers for all the comments and the banter 🙂

Think I’m just gonna buy the boardman and see how I go. Worst case I’ll sell it on and can at least say i’ve had a go. Best case I’ll end up with another hobby I love:)

Anyone recommend some cheap ish flat pedals as it doesn’t come with any?

Wellgo B54s lol

hmm. i’ll have to check my garmin to see if i’ve ever hit 170…

it’s just i have seen a fair few friends in recent years who have eschewed the dirt altogether for tarmac

They’ve given up riding off road, not died. I don’t see what the big deal is, its all good and if its what you enjoy then that’s great.

Baggies on a road bike or mountain bike – why?

Just my opinion Gary M. I do both and enjoy both, however I couldn’t imagine ‘retiring’ from MTB and spending all my time on a road bike. I think one of the main reasons a lot of us love off roading is that genuine ‘get away from it all’ feeling that you get whilst hiking, it’s just loads more fun on a bike. It is possible to find lovely quiet country roads, especially in God’s own country Lancashire, however you are still never far away from an altercation with a sunday driver or white van man

What size frame are you going for? If you dont like it let me know i may take it off your hands, my current road bike is looking very old these days.

Haven’t read the whole thread, but if its “just riding” why has it only taken 2 posts to mention lycra and shaved bloody (literally!) legs?!
Get your normal riding kit on and go for a road spin, if you don’t get knocked off by a moron in a car you might enjoy it. Then again, you might find it really bloody boring like I do and just use it to get to work. 🙂

wonder what the correlation is between folks that find it really really boring, and folks that wont commit to buying lycra and just try road biking by going for a spin in their normal kit.

😉

Lycra makes it more exciting! I knew I was going wrong somewhere 😆

A road bike is a far safer mid life crisis than a motorbike.

Borrowed a road bike after 20yrs away from them. Hated it, the ride was a badly planned death march with head wind on return, the bike had campag which I detested. After serious mtb injury I got a road bike on C2W to get fit (orbea acqua 105). Ridden it more than the mtb- riding from your doorstep means you can snatch the odd hour here and there. Effort is sustained more so than on an mtb where there is more variation in speed and more stopping. Lycra makes sense for reasons above, I like baggy mtb kit but one road ride with mtb jersey was enough. Peaked lid will strain your neck trying to see out under it.

It’s a very pure form, I think the bike is better looking than any mtb I’ve owned and whizzing along in silence is quite Zen. FWIW I mostly ride road alone, I know a lot of friendly roadies who encourage me to ride with them but I like the solitude and pushing myself, and have known too many standoffish roadies.

I use my old mtb shoes and spds (now use flats off road) and refuse to shave my legs as regardless of all the reasons offered I think its a mixture of muscle defining vanity and a symbol of being a serious roady.

What size frame are you going for? If you dont like it let me know i may take it off your hands, my current road bike is looking very old these days.

Its a 53 cm medium?

Haven’t read the whole thread, but if its “just riding” why has it only taken 2 posts to mention lycra and shaved bloody (literally!) legs?!

MTBers wore lycra too, until fashion considerations dictated otherwise. With you though on the shaved legs – why?

Go for it OP! (roadbike and not shaving the legs)

Once I start requiring regular massages (more than weekly) on my legs I’ll start shave them.

If you don’t want to go as fast as you can, fair enough, go baggy but why even bother with the road bike?

I ride mine for fitness as I feel I push myself harder on a road bike than I do on a mountain bike on the same roads (not really much local off road worth riding), not because I want to wear lycra and shave my legs. I don’t think the clothes I’d wear would have any impact on the effort I’d put in and I’m not arsed about squeezing every last bit of speed out of it.

atlaz – Member

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

It’d be silly to do it if it was uncomfortable.

tracknicko – Member

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

Will any of them get around the awkward fact that actually, they work absolutely fine?

Baggies would flap annoyingly on a road bike. You need snug fitting clothes.

Mountain biking is very popular in South Africa because of the dangerous roads and the well-developed network of superb off-road tracks and dry weather, yet you never see South African riders wearing baggies. I can only conclude that the XC scene there is far more competitive and riders appreciate the benefits of lycra. I guess baggies would also be uncomfortably clingy and chafing in hot sweaty weather.

Anyway… on road riding, yes, I gave up mountain biking for the road 3 years ago and my Rebas are on Ebay right now. Just wish I’d taken up road riding years ago; I’ve missed out on so much fun thanks to my stupid prejudice against road riding.

Well thought I’d post an update. Popped in my LBS last friday and fell in love with a Cube peleton pro. Sales guy said all the right things and I ordered one which I collected yesterday and did my first ride tonight.

Luckily I managed to get a special order with a compact rather than a triple (which really sold it to me) as cube have done a single batch of 11 bikes with a compact.

Ended up getting some spd pedals and shimano shoes, a saddle bag with all the bits I need which is far nicer than having to carry a hydration pack like I do on my mountain bike.

Was only a quick ride tonight, a fair bit of climbing, wind against me and a little hale, tracked it on my Garmin edge 800. No idea if its a respectable first ride time but found it far easier than I was expecting and could possibly do with a bigger chain ring down the hills.

First ride stats;

Distance: 20.81 mi
Time: 1:19:35
Avg Speed: 15.7 mph
Max Speed: 44.9 mph
Elevation Gain: 298 m
Elevation Loss: 308 m

And a pic

Thanks again for the info guys, definitely something I will enjoy more and more

Very nice – even the cat looks impressed!

Respectable first ride stats, good work fella.

The tallest gear on my Allez is 52:13, nothing much to pedal over 40mph though, need to drop to a 12 or 11 on the back for some more speed…

Wow! Kewl bike and a respectable first trip out, especially on a windy day. Now I’m going to make some predictions:

1 – Within a few weeks (especially with summer coming) you’re going to realise you’re hooked and have hardly touched the mountain bike.

2 – Being ridiculously young and full of testosterone your leg muscles will bulk up and within a couple of months you’ll be wondering if anybody makes jeans with a fuller leg.

3 – In about a month you will jump on your mountain bike and will fly up the first hill then mutter to yourself: “Sheeit, I’m fit! Why didn’t I try this years ago?”

4 – You will love the riding so much that this summer you will join a club and start enjoying the thrill of bunch riding, as well as the benefit of drafting at 20+ mph.

5 – By the end of the summer you will have mysteriously accumulated several items of clothing that you would never have worn as a mountain biker.

6 – Within a year you’ll be eyeing a new bike and thinking of relegating this one to winter training duties. Or you might keep this one and buy a CX bike as a winter trainer.

7 – By the end of summer you’ll be on first-name terms with the owners of all the cyclists’ cafes within a 30 miles radius of your home.

Have fun!