Decided to try out this road bike malarkey

[novocaine]

@trailstar82 my god man, I didn't realise I had a brother.

 

[trailstar82]

@trailstar82 my god man, I didn't realise I had a brother.

 

[eightyeight]

And the 39 Was Clean as a Whistle – Velominati

www.velominati.com

 

[eightyeight]

Woz I would generally agree that road bikes have a gear issue. Actually, no, all new bikes have gear issues, what's with those dinner plate cassettes on mtb nowadays? (Don't get me started on wheel size).

I agree though most don't need 53/12. I don't often drop out of the 53 on my bike but i hardly ever use the 12 either (12-27 cassette). Modern road bikes tend to come with 52/34 on the front now but also come with (IMHO) mtb cassettes on the back (11-32). I don't imagine many will use the 52/11 (or most of the bottom half of the cassette in big ring) and i can't help but feel closer ratio cassettes would be better with smaller front chainrings.

Don't take my opinion though i spend most of my time riding fixed (50/1 even on hilly routes in south wales. People always think that it must be hard on climbs but it's nothing compared to the descents (150+ rpm).

 

[CassidyAce]

Some very interesting posts and it's good to hear others' riding experiences.

@Woz makes a lot of sense. This particular bike has 50/34 up front and 11-28 at the back and I was thinking that the gear ratios were perhaps a touch high for me on the local hills. I haven't yet taken the road bike on any routes that I haven't covered many times on various mountain bikes and the hills are definitely more of a challenge on the road bike. The point about the unsuitability of pro-level gear ratios being applied to entry level bikes is not just valid but compounded, I think, by the entry level bikes having cheaper, heavier wheels, which makes it even harder to use the highest gear ratios than on a pro-level bike. With the bike I've just acquired, my feeling is that the weakest point is not the Tektro brakes—they're powerful enough to lock the wheels and throw me off—nor the generic parts but the wheels: 960g for the front, with skewer and rim tape; 1560g for the rear, with cassette, skewer and rim tape. With lighter wheels, the gear ratios might be about right for me. However, I already do a lot of riding, in in my highest four MTB gear ratios most of the time, too; for a complete newbie, I expect the road bike ratios would still be too high, even with lighter wheels.

. . . Whatever you do to it enjoy and experiment until you find your sweet spot. Your perfect cadence balanced with just enough resistance can make riding longer distances far more enjoyable and less draining.

Very well said!

 

[eightyeight]

Well I think there are 2 answers to this:

1 - Buy some new wheels
2 - Build a bigger engine

Now that you have become a 'roadie' it's my duty to point you towards 'the rules'

Velominati – Keepers of the Cog

www.velominati.com

You will see rule number 5 referenced a lot.

Don't take them too seriously (like some do).

 

[CassidyAce]

Well I think there are 2 answers to this:

1 - Buy some new wheels
2 - Build a bigger engine

Now that you have become a 'roadie' it's my duty to point you towards 'the rules'

Velominati – Keepers of the Cog

www.velominati.com

You will see rule number 5 referenced a lot.

Don't take them too seriously (like some do).

Rules aren't really my thing. But my knees are. New wheels, it is.

 

[Fatal Swan]

Some very interesting posts and it's good to hear others' riding experiences.

@Woz makes a lot of sense. This particular bike has 50/34 up front and 11-28 at the back and I was thinking that the gear ratios were perhaps a touch high for me on the local hills. I haven't yet taken the road bike on any routes that I haven't covered many times on various mountain bikes and the hills are definitely more of a challenge on the road bike. The point about the unsuitability of pro-level gear ratios being applied to entry level bikes is not just valid but compounded, I think, by the entry level bikes having cheaper, heavier wheels, which makes it even harder to use the highest gear ratios than on a pro-level bike. With the bike I've just acquired, my feeling is that the weakest point is not the Tektro brakes—they're powerful enough to lock the wheels and throw me off—nor the generic parts but the wheels: 960g for the front, with skewer and rim tape; 1560g for the rear, with cassette, skewer and rim tape. With lighter wheels, the gear ratios might be about right for me. However, I already do a lot of riding, in in my highest four MTB gear ratios most of the time, too; for a complete newbie, I expect the road bike ratios would still be too high, even with lighter wheels.

Very well said!

I would take both options personally - wider ratio cassette as a definite (though potentially this might need a replacement chain/rear mech), and then some new wheels if you can spare the money for it. I find the benefit of having a 32t sprocket which will get you up more or less anything far outweighs the slightly wider jumps between gear ratios. Again, it's about your enjoyment as you get used to the road bike, and for me, also coming from riding only MTBs since I was a kid, knowing I won't come across anything I'll run out of gears with a 34x32 gear ultimately adds to that enjoyment. I fitted a 11-34t for a while, though the chances are you won't really need that unless you're looking at riding 25% gradients. If you do replace the cassette try to get a decent model like XT or PG1090 if you can - the cheap 10 speed ones are really heavy in the wide ratios. If you need a longer cage mech then with 10-speed road shifters you can use any old Shimano 9-speed MTB mid/long cage mech with them no problem.

Wheelset weight specs are measured bare, without skewers, rim tape etc so you'd need to do a bit of work to estimate your current wheelset weight for comparison with a new one. Probably 60-70g per skewer, 20g per rim tape? The cassette will depend on the model, maybe 280-300g for something 11-28? So I'd estimate your current front wheel would probably be around 870g-ish and rear somewhere around the 1200g mark. That's heavy enough that you'll really notice switching to something around the 1500-1600g mark. Second hand it's worth looking at wheels like Shimano RS80/RS81s C24s, some of the lighter Mavic Ksyriums. The Cero AR24 and AR30 are good in terms of weight/performance to price and if you buy them new they hold their second hand value quite well, although they're a bit more expensive now than they were a year or so ago.