As winter rolls towards us, there’s a good chance that many of us will be starting to think about road bikes. Whether your trails are unrideable in winter, you want to get in better shape for next year or you just like the idea of trying something different, a road bike can be a good addition to your stable. Among us mountain bikers, road riding tends to get stigmatised as joyless, which is unfair. Yes, it’s not the same intense experience as tearing down an alpine fall-line or carving perfect, fresh loam, but that doesn’t mean it can't be fun. And, I believe, if you think about what bike you choose and how you spec it you can make it a little bit more fun.
When I bought my first road bike I had little money and even less idea about what I was doing. Logging onto Chain Reaction I scrolled down their range until I found the Vitus in my budget and ordered what the site recommended for my size. It arrived without pedals so I bolted on a set of flats and amused myself by bombing up and down the valley road in board shorts, Birkenstocks and no helmet. The brakes came in Euro setup, the wrong way round for me, but I could never be bothered to re-learn how to setup a cabled brake or re-tape the bars, so I ran them that way for my entire time with the bike. My favourite pastime was to find a middle-aged guy in replica team kit and buzz him as I steamed past up or down the mountain. I have fond memories of summer evenings letting the tiny 21mm tyres skate around on the rough roads of Northern Italy on the descents, then dropping by the local bar for a beer after.
I was having fun which meant I was riding the bike quite a lot and the more I rode it the deeper down the rabbithole I went. Realising I was hitting 70km/h on the descents, I started wearing a helmet. A friend gave me some lightly used road SPD pedals and shoes. I hated how heavy the bike was, so the cheapest way to save weight was to remove the small chainring and front derailleur, leaving me with a 50t single ring. The position on the descent was wrong so I bolted on a Renthal 90mm stem I had left over from a press launch. It’s a pattern we should all recognise and very soon I started eyeing up carbon fibre bikes… and then came the day when I tried lycra.
It’s a slippery slope, but one I have thoroughly enjoyed going down. Of course as a professional bike nerd (I may have that printed on my business cards) I have tweaked my road bike into something I think is a bit more fun than an off the shelf bike. It’s nothing too wild, I think in the last hundred years road cyclists have crafted a pretty good machine and it would be arrogance to think it’s completely off the mark, but I do think it’s just that little bit more fun this way.
| as I approach the end of my 30s I have made my peace with not wanting the same riding position a 21-year-old racing snake with a spine made of rubber. |
One of the biggest mistakes I made early on was assuming that a road bike is, well, a road bike. Once you start digging you quickly realise that there are a galaxy of ever so slightly different takes on a bike with different frame properties, geometry and intent, but it’s much more subtle than with a mountain bike. Do you need a race bike, a climbing bike, an aero bike? If you go and find a popular spot for roadies what you will most likely see is lots of people riding race bikes, which is, quite frankly, ridiculous, in my opinion. Race bikes are built for young, flexible ultra-athletes who are happy to suffer in the name of glory. They tend to have twitchy geometry and are stiff enough to shake your teeth out, as road cyclists seem to worship on the altar of stiffer equals better. While I’m happy for you if you’ve done well enough in life to head out and buy a Pinarello Dogma, rest assured that I’m probably having a far better time on my trusty Genesis.
My Datum is, strictly, a quietly progressive gravel frame. Current gravel bikes tend to head more into MTB territory as brands wrestle to try and square the growing popularity of gravel riding with the uncomfortable truth that gravel was always about suffering to reach wild places, and the mass market is not prepared to endure such pain. Although there seems to be some debate on optimal reach numbers, with many brands' reducing the reach on their gravel and endurance bikes compared to their racing machines. You are faced with a choice between low and long or short and high, while here I have managed to put together a bike that is both long and high. The geometry of the Datum meant I could jump up from a 54 to a 56cm on a frame that was already on the longer side of things. In practice what this means is that my Datum has a slightly longer reach than either a race bike or a gravel bike, much taller stack than a race bike, longer chainstays, slacker headangle, greater tyre clearance, a similar BB drop and a more compliant ride than a race bike. I have seen a few riders opt for CX bikes for the winter, which used to be a decent option for getting better geometry than a road race bike. The problem there is that for CX they raise the BB to increase mud clearance and the frames are even stiffer than road race bikes as they are intended for use in a one hour race where you are on the limit the entire time - comfort is not even a consideration.
Generally, road riders tend to size down their bikes and add longer stems -
there are a lot of ideas floating around as to why this is (stack height, weight, aesthetics), but I worry more about overall bike handling, which doesn’t seem to get a look in. I wanted the larger frame to give myself more space in between the axles paired with a shorter (110mm vs 80mm) stem to bring the bar back behind the front axle so I felt more comfortable descending. It’s the same basic logic Mondraker pushed with Forwards geometry, and aside from the occasional moment when I’d like the toptube to be a shade lower, I see no reason to ride a smaller bike, and as I approach the end of my 30s I have made my peace with not wanting the same riding position a 21-year-old racing snake with a spine made of rubber.
Then there are the chainstays - an area that the mountain bike industry is finally starting to embrace in a more nuanced way than claiming that shorter = "playful." Race bikes all have ultra-short chainstays as the most important consideration is how close the person behind can get to draft more effectively and in the worlds of marginal gains, a 400mm vs a 420mm chainstay is a no-brainer for them. For me, who usually rides on his own, the longer stay means a little more space between the axles to move my weight around and more predictable handling. I really enjoy playing on the descents, pushing my weight back for the braking phase of a corner, then forwards as I enter the curve to weight the front - something you can't do without that bit more space.
| Do I even need to discuss brakes with mountain bikers? We’ve known since the 1990s that disc brakes are just better. |
One of the first questions I usually get about my bike is “why the single ring?” My love of single-ringed road bike started with my hacked Vitus, but since then I have had some time to consider it and I think there are a few other advantages. Firstly there is weight - if you’re building a bike on a budget, needing fewer things to mount to it is both lighter and cheaper (although with these fancy Easton EC90SL cranks, the cheap ship clearly sailed for me a while ago). The important question to ask yourself when you are choosing gearing is “what am I trying to do on this bike?” For me, the answer was to try and become a stronger mountain biker. That means I don’t need the close gear ratios to spin along in a pack and I don’t need to worry about speed work (high cadence pedalling), as that’s not something I ever do on my mountain bikes. What I need is to get stronger, so I stuck on a fairly big ring and persevered until it felt comfortable as it’s a good way to build strength in your legs.
The Easton cranks must be at least five years old now - while on the mountain bike side carbon cranks can be a questionable investment as you plough into rocks, the fact that these still look good after this long means it's easier to justify pushing the boat out a little more. And yes, I run a power meter. It's been an interesting lesson in teaching me how pointless numbers are in many ways. I can put down pretty respectable power numbers, but it doesn't translate to me being fast. As for the Renthal chainstay protector? I just thought it looked cool.
At the back, I pair it with a wide-ish range (for road) 11-32t cassette. It is becoming more common to see previous generation MTB cassettes on gravel bikes (up to 42-46t), but for pure road riding, I think they are heavy and defeat the whole plan of running hard gears to build strength. Plus, if you are on the flat, I find the jumps in between gears a bit jarring. Until recently I was running an 11-speed XT derailleur with a Wolf Tooth Tanpan adapter to match it to the slightly different ratios of road shifters. The only downside for road riding is the clutch mechanism weighs a shade more, but the benefits of security and quieter running on rough roads seem undeniable to me. Also, if you’re building your bike on a budget, pulling an old MTB derailleur out of a box and adding a €5 adapter saves a fair chunk of cash. When you pair a clutch with electronic shifting, like I have here with my shiny, new Shimano GRX Di2 transmission (one of the benefits of being married to a Shimano ambassador), I really don’t see a downside to running a clutch and if you’re worried about the weight you could always shave your head to make the same kind of weight saving.
Do I even need to discuss brakes with mountain bikers? We’ve known since the 1990s that disc brakes are just better, so why would you go back to 1970s-style caliper brakes? The current trend is to pair a 160mm disc to a 140mm rear disc. Maybe there is an aero reasoning behind this I don’t understand, but I have never bought into the weight-saving arguments for running smaller rear rotors, I always prefer increased heat dissipation and precision of a larger disc on all my bikes. I did wonder if I could find a 20mm adapter to mount a 180mm disc on the front, but it felt too much like being different for the sake of being different. My STIs (the combined gear shifter and brake lever assembly) are the new Shimano GRX Di2 which are designed to give you a little more control than standard road STIs - they have improved ergonomics to help you move the bike around and the brake feel is crisp and confidence-inspiring. Apparently ditching the mechanical shifting mechanism allowed them to rework the STI for maximum brake performance - which is one of the better arguments I have found to justify electronic shifting.
To keep the bike in line with my road riding intentions (and not wander off into gravel territory) I run a set of Acros all-round road wheels. If you’re riding or racing road bikes on the flat, the tendency would be to run deep section wheels as the aero advantage outweighs the weight penalty, whereas for mountain climbing the rim gets paired back to a minimum as weight is at a premium. These sit somewhere in the middle, although more modern rims do tend to go a little wider as having a consistent profile with the tyre offers an aero advantage. Oh, and the freehub on these wheels puts a grin on my face every time. Riding in groups it’s considered bad form to have a loud freehub as I’m sure it would get annoying with time, but I don’t care about that and the machine gun sound of the ratchet is so loud and obnoxious that I love it.
Shimano GRX Di2 STIs are the heart of my cockpit, paired to 160mm discs front and rear. Schwalbe G-One Speeds are my tyre of choice with Effeto Mariposa strips and fluid inside.
My wheels are shod with a set of Schwalbe G-One Speed tyres mounted tubeless. Tubeless is one of the current debates in road cycling, and having done years on tubeless mountain bike tyres I really struggle to understand the resistance to the technology. There is a valid argument that for elite racers being able to continue riding on flat tubular tyres is important, but I don't think there are many amateurs ready to drop four figures on carbon wheels only to grind them into the asphalt to get back to the parking lot. I think the MTB equivalent of the G-Ones would be running heavy casing enduro tyres all year round, which is what I tend to do on my longer-travel bike. Sure, lighter tyres would roll faster, but I cannot be bothered to change tyres regularly and I prefer the security, extra grip and lower pressures of a burlier tyre, especially on the rough mountain roads around my house. Much like MTB tyres, I think there is a limit on size and that the 35-40mm tyres that are now common on gravel bikes are a lot like plus MTB tyres - they don’t roll fast and when it gets ugly you are forced to choose between a lead weight of a tyre or constant punctures.
To put the change in context - when I got my first road bike I was running 21mm tyres that needed to be inflated to 100psi (6.9 bar) to avoid punctures and they had zero tread, so even a mildly moist day was terrifying. Today, having gone up to a 30mm casing, the stippled tread pattern seems to roll fast enough, but still offers grip in the wet and I have done several thousand kilometres this year on them and the only problems were down to human error. When I went to wider tyres I dropped down to 70psi (4.8 bar), but then I forgot to check the pressures regularly and realised I was safely running around 50psi (3.4 bar) in the front and 55 psi (3.8 bar) in the rear, and they were much smoother and more comfortable at the lower pressure. These pressures offer just enough give in the tyre that if you push hard against the rear you get a little deformation to help you pump the bike, but the handling still feels precise descending. It is definitely worth going through the same kind of process you would on your mountain bike to try and get the pressures right - searching for the magic point where they don’t quite wobble around under load and impacts don’t blow straight through to hit the rim.
To finish the build I have a 460mm wide Thompson carbon bar. The orthodoxy on the road is to run narrower bars as it reduces your front profile for an aero advantage, so many of the pros go down to around the 400mm mark. At my level as a cyclist, I really don’t waste time thinking about aero gains - riding more and losing weight are far more useful ways to try and go faster - so I applied the mountain bike logic that a wider bar gives you better control. I also find it keeps my lungs more open, so I can breathe a little more easily. The saddle is an indulgence. It is a Selle San Marco Mantra Super Leggera that is utterly pointless (they retail for something like €400), but it is so nice. It even has the weight (113g) hand-written underneath. I have been asked a few times about the comfort as it has zero padding. The thing to keep in mind with saddles is that padding is for short rides, while it’s the form of the saddle you need for longer days on the bike. Think of airport chairs that feel great when you first sit down, but after 15 minutes you’re hunting for a chiropractor’s help. This saddle is the opposite of that - it feels unforgiving at first, then you forget about it and it’s only some hours later that you realise it’s been keeping you comfortable all ride. Finally, I use Time cleats as they have a good amount of float in them.
Carbon may be nice, but it's nowhere near as classy as a Thompson Masterpiece post and clamp, although I prefer their bars in carbon and as wide as possible. It's winter, so mudguards are essential - and did nobody tell you that Pinkbike Marshguards will fit a road bike with enough tyre clearance? Time Atac pedals are simple, light and reliable. In France bells are mandatory in cities, so I found this Knog number that is pretty discrete - I also run one of their lights on the rear to make myself as easy to spot as possible at all times. I run an old Garmin Fenix 3 for my GPS as it's done five years and just works every time - I want the most simple, toughest GPS possible as generally I only have my heartrate showing and I can't be trusted with anything delicate. Saddles are priced very much like Porsches - the less there is, the more they cost.
I think this all adds up to a slightly more fun take on the modern road bike, one that is perfect for those winter miles to make you faster on your mountain bike. I really enjoy riding it all day, I can descend with more confidence, it's comfortable and simple - and I think simplicty is one of the most important things on a road bike (I have mountain bikes if I want complication). I imagine many roadies would turn their noses up at it as it's not the lightest bike, the frame errs on the side of durability rather than lightweight, and a bit of me would quite like a newer frame as 12mm axles front and rear so I could replace the wheels more easily when the time comes. But, every time I come to think about replacing it I simply can't justify finding the money to replace my sturdy workhorse as it rides so well. Reading
the review of the new Specialized Aethos on our sister site, I get the impression that there are pure road riders out there looking for something not so dissimilar from this - simple bikes with a focus on handling and comfort.
I went from a road bike with 23s, then 28s to a gravel bike with 37mm slicks then 43/40mm small knob tires. I barely notice a speed difference. It's more sluggish to accelerate, but after i'm up to speed it's great. I wasn't pushing out massive watts and getting super high average speeds on the road bike either.
Now when I get on a road bike with 25-28mm tires, it's torture. I'm way happier with riding a gravel bike on the road. Keep in mind the roads are terrible where I live. But the my gravel bike also has more stable geo, a bit more upright position. It's just better to ride for an avereage Joe like me who's not chasing Strava times. Personally I don't see a reason to torture myself on a pure road bike. But that's just me.
PS: Knobby tires might have comparable rolling resistance with slicks, but the aerodynamic efficiency is a lot worse.
I'm not saying gravel bikes are not worse, just not that much worse. It's not like if you get a 30km/h avereage on a road bike, you'll get a 10km/h avereage on a gravel bike with the same effort. (And again, the road surface matters a ton. The roads are horrible where I live. Where I have to brake with 25mm tires, I can usually just glide with ~40mm tires without touching the brake lever .)
All i'm trying to say is that if you don't race, chase Strava times etc. a gravel bike can be a great option. With the right tyres it's not so slow that it can't be "fun", and other factors like comfort might be a big positive to certain people. But we are all different.
You do not need big fat and heavier wheels for British or any roads, what you need are lower pressures and tubeless tyres. 28mm tubeless tyres at a sensible low pressure [45psi for 75kg rider on 21mm int.width rims is sweet spot for me] can cope no problem, heck I've even ridden rough gravel and rocky MTB trails with them. Though I do think 32mm on 21mm+ rims will become the optimal road tyre width in due course.
I've even taken a full on aero race bike off road with no issues and despite what the cliches/myths claim, it was one of the most comfortable bikes I've ever ridden. But then I didn't use 150psi in the tyres. Tyre pressure=comfort or discomfort, everything else comes a long, long, long way back.
A key point to note, never try a really light bike [of any kind] - unless you can afford to buy it.
Does everything just takes a little more nerve on the trails.
On the plus side you impress all the kids at the local jump spot when you zip through the drops on the drops....
Alsp you're not going to achieve road bike speed with a gravel bike anyways, so where's the point?
.30 mile (.48 km) climbl at 9.9% grade
4:31 time YT Jeffsy - XT 12 speed
2:59 time Specialized Tarmac - Shimano 105
2:52 time Niner RLT9 Sram Force 1
*Niner had the advantage I believe because of perfect gearing for that climb
1.48 mile (2.38 km) descent at 3.2%
who cares YT Jeffsy - XT 12 speed
3:13 Specialized Tarmac - Shimano 105
3:18 Niner RLT9 - SRAM Force 1
*Tarmac faster I believe because of rolling resistance and aero
In the end I am putting my Tarmac up for sale. It is no doubt the faster bike on the road, but the Niner is way more comfortable with the 650Bx47 IRC Boken+ tires and I can get out more comfortably on local gravel routes like the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. I did 63+ miles over 5 hours last weekend and only had to cross about 5 or 6 roads. I can still do all the rides I can do on my Tarmac, albeit slightly more rolling resistance and more touring geo, so less aero. I have done a few singletrack rides and gravel climbs and was instantly sold. I will always still prefer my mountain bike because steep and loose, rocks and roots, and jumps, but really enjoy that gravel bike.
No issues? So you were able to ride it just as fast on the same lines as your trail bike and you didn't break anything or even have to work significantly harder?
Past a foot away from your elbow at 65mph! And they are So much more fun than the road bikes I’ve had in the past, and you don’t get a squitty Cornhole when hitting a pothole on a descent! And I can still keep up with roadie mates too ????
Final thought... I see lots of roadies on dark coloured bikes in black clothes with no lights. Let's not be the ones that get run over as nobody can see us - full enduro colour schemes please!
"On my single speed I love passing people with gears"
"I love riding my rigid and blasting by some 270lb endurobro in a rock garden"
"Nothing better than passing a 9000 bike on a 1200 bike"
"I ride a bike from 03 and love passing people on more modern bikes"
You have heard it all 1000 times by now.
/s
As a rule? What rule? What is stronger legs anyway? 1 rep max back squat? 3x5 front-squat? Capable of a 50 mile green-trail ride at 95% max effort? Sub 3 hour marathon?
But when is a watt a watt? What watt is what?
Turns out that "rule" isn't backed up by the science.
What a nobhead
People seriously misperceive the dangers of cycling. It is not inherently dangerous, for example both pedestrians and drivers are slightly higher risk of head trauma than cyclists. But no-one insists they need helmets to go about their business.
Humans are simply shocking at risk assessment or indeed anything involving probability.
Which problem? Don't get me started.
Manual Cars doesn't prevent texting. Here in Europe almost every car is manual and you can see far too many people driving and texting.
Just in Spain, where I live, there are over four thousand deaths every year related to texting while driving, in a country with a population of 47 million is quite a lot.
I guess I just like the "i'm in the middle of nowhere out in nature" feeling? There are some paved roads that are out in the middle of nowhere as well, but there is just something about riding on dirt I guess, or I don't know.
Siting in a bar doing nothing: probably boring
Siting in a bar with your best friends, catching up on life and enjoying a meal and drink probably not boring:
Road riding is boring because you tell yourself that it is boring and make it a chore. For me, it is just part of being outside.
I also like to run great distances too, for fun.
The trail situations might have less energy sent solely through the pedals, but the total energy required to get a road bike down a good DH track in one piece is going to be quite a bit more than than the total energy input that a DH bike would require.
Pedaling efficiency is only the most important efficiency when "on smooth roads for going long distances". Once off-road, traction (efficiency at continuously putting pedaling power to the trail) needs to be taken into account. Once going downhill off-road, suspension efficiency (how well the suspension isolates the rider so they don't have to expend extra energy absorbing or otherwise account for trail obstacles) also becomes a factor. For really really long rides, bike fit becomes a factor, because a bad fit takes energy to adapt to and that's inefficient.
On the CX I can ride to the trails 50% faster and hit a quick XC loop, whereas I wouldn't do a quick loop on my full sus because the ride feels like more of a time investment.
You're doing it wrong. I go out and do power-hours on my trail bike to run the dog all the time. If you don't need all kinds of extra gear on the CX bike on trails, why does the trail bike need it? Helmet, gloves & glasses if you prefer, hit it. You're only going for an hour, you can even skip the water if your bike for some reason doesn't have a bottle mount (or stick a soft-bottle in your shorts back pocket, works surprisingly well).
This is funny, because in Belgium exactly the opposite is happening: many roadies moving to MTB during winter...
I prefer off road in winter, you tend to be working harder at lower speeds, so you stay warmer. I'm still wearing summer road mitts whilst MTBing even now, in mid November [-6-11C], yet I need winter gloves for on road.
Doesn't really change the fact that the average grip width lines up pretty close to 40-42cm, as stated by @vid1998. Bar width isn't all about aero, and overall comfort/fit is still a decent part of both a race (despite the snark about 30 year olds being less flexible*) and endurance road bike, and while race bikes will sacrifice some comfort for aero, it's not one-dimensional, because it still needs enough comfort for the rider to put in dozens & dozens of miles over and over again.
*(Oh hey, maybe that middle-aged guy you keep buzzing is just not as flexible as he thought he was and is saving for a bike that fits better, and meanwhile you're being a dick to him.)
This nothing more than a myth. I have Specialised Crux, a purebred CX race bike. A bike which I've done 12 hour days on over 180km/100miles on very mixed on and very off road terrain and it's been lovely and comfortable.
A few reasons, the geometry is almost identical to that of a the old steel Stumpjumper from the nineties, not a bike that was ever claimed to be stiff and unyielding.
It's tyre pressure/width that actually give you comfort. Not the frame material/design - the double diamond bike design is inherently stiff. Modern and more appropriate lower pressures make all bikes comfy, even a supposedly teeth rattling ultra rigid aero bike. Something the article starts to acknowledges later on. I ride even lower pressures than mentioned. My MTB is similar with 19/20psi with 29er/2.3" tyres.
I've also ridden so called comfy bike frames and gotten serious hand and foot buzz from vibrations in less than 20km - all because of traditional too high tyre pressures.
CX bikes aren’t going to be the best road bike conversions, but I’d suggest that has more to do with the steep and short geo (including higher BB as mentioned) for dealing with slow & tight muddy corners; road bikes tend to feel a bit more stable at speed.
So, basically being a dick, giving mountain bikers on road bikes a bad name. Great work!
or...
Embrace the N+1 life and just have fun riding, regardless of wheel size, or style of bike that's under you.
If you live somewhere nice I could get into it, but unfortunately I live in an urban area and after one too many car vs bike situations I stopped - figured it was better to get injured on my mtb where it is my fault rather than risk the roads!
Strange thing to me is that road crashes (even the minor ones) are always far worse than mtb, contrary to the image! You wear far better protection, the surface you fall onto tends to be better (outside of rock gardens), etc, although that will depend on where and how you ride...
I found the best compromise is a turbo trainer, get the fitness benefits out of road riding but none of the danger. It also gets my off the sofa and the heart rate up when it's too grim or I don't have the time/inclination to get out in the woods.
This pretty much describes being a bike messenger, which is the only time I was not bored on a road bike.
And my all-road bike is less expensive than yours and has zero carbon and no electronic anything, so I must be having even more fun than you!
So I guess any mountain biker who follows this "guide" to road riding should just: 1) Find something to hate, maybe bikes you can't afford, 2) Be a dick about it. 3) Get expensive shit for cheap/free so your bike is closer to the ones you hate on. 4) Be a dick to other people when riding your hypocrite-cycle.
Oh and the flat pedals and board shorts (and peaked helmet) is an absolute must if any PBer rides a road bike. Just to make the point to roadies.
If 25 mm per side makes a significant difference to your safety, your roads sound terrifying!
I ride road, dirt, and urban (commuting). My road and mountain bikes are fairly conventional. For commuting, I've converted an old mountain bike into a road bike: rigid fork, road drivetrain, narrow bar, and fat slicks. Very happy with that set-up. It feels more stout than my road bike, brakes engage at full power a bit quicker, and the fat slicks don't drop into storm sewer grates or cracks. That's not to say road bikes are terrible for urban riding, I just think this set-up is a little better.
In any case, I agree a wide bar is unnecessary for the road and could get in the way in tight situations. I've set up my flat bar as narrow as possible, limited only by the ability to slide the brakes and shifters inboard. It would be even better if it was a little narrower, but it's close to ideal for me and I like it better than a drop bar for urban riding.
Drops in the traffic are pointless, even roadies friends of mine confess to never use them at all, except for country side downhills.
What happens then is that you're forced to ride in the hoods to be able to use the brakes, and even so the brake power you have from the hoods is shit. That alone is worth changing to flat bars and brake reliably at all times. But also the maneuvrability in the hoods is shit, cause you have to bend your wrist in a very unnatural way in tight turns.
And flat bars can be trimmed to the content of one's hart too
No idea what you're doing to with your wrists in tight turns, sounds like you have a badly setup bike by your various complaints. I ride in awkward traffic and also very twisty teach terrain on my CX and have zero problems steering, or using brakes. from hoods.
With modern brifters and good brakes you have all the braking power you'll ever need when you're holding the hoods. On my SRAM levers I can put 3 fingers on the levers when i'm holding the hoods, and my middle finger reaches the end of the brake lever in this position. I've done countless singletrack descends on my gravel bike while holding the hoods. I've had no issue with braking power, or control, even on twisty singletrack, or if I had to jump stuff.
Most people rarely use the drops, that's true. That's because a lot of them are trying to imitate TDF racers with their position on the bike (if you have a drop bar bike, you have to have a massive saddle to bar drop with a slammed negative stem, right?), and/or the bike comes with a super aggressive position from the factory. If you raise the bars to a more comfy position, the drops will be more accessible and you'll use them all the time.
All that said, for a dedicated city bike and/or city commuter i'd go with flat bars 100%. But drop bars are not as bad as a lot of people say. A lot of negative experiences are connected to too aggressive geo and bike fit.
It can be done and thousands do it daily, but is far from the ideal set up for city conmuting. Most of London conmuters just don't know better.
My city bike has flat bars, I don't currently own a bike for road riding.
It also has a 2kg U-lock :/
The 800mm bar are a bit wide but there are many bike lane where I am so it's not an issue 99% of time.
The dropper seatpost is also pretty cool at traffic lights, and a not so stylish but totally usefull Zefal defletor rear mudguard for full suspended bikes.
The Big Apple tires are great for building an urban monster truck. As you said, they roll quite well and you certainly won't drop into a storm drain or a road crack.
I am a hardcore (LOL) flat bar rider. More control, more comfort, and 90% of the time when I see a road rider they are on the hoods anyway. I know its possible to bunnyhop and get steezy on drop bars, but 30 years of MTb and racing Enduro and DH I feel sketchy as hell on drop bars just riding along, not to mention uncomfortable. I suppose there is a sligth disadvantage when really pushing it, but considering I pass way more roadies than vice versa I can live with it.
I'd also question that cx bikes geo is relevant for road bikes. If you race cx, then great ride it on the road, but if you're buying a bike a gravel bike now exists so you don't need to buy a cx bike to ride drops with bigger tyres.
Something you can't do _as easily_, or with as much forgiveness, with a shorter wheelbase. You make it sound like a slightly smaller wheelbase means you must be static fore-aft on the bike.
How about the plain simple fact that rear brakes do less work, see less force, get less energy into them that needs to be dissipated. Can you buy into that? A smaller rear rotor isn't weight saved, but rather a larger rear rotor is weight wasted. Save that weight and maybe you won't care about the weight difference of a clutched mech.
But they don't roll significantly slower, especially for someone who isn't chasing marginal gains. You proved it in the next paragraph when you talked about the pressure drop not being a bad thing. Softer _is_ faster (up to a point of softness, and 35mm all-road tires is not even close to the point) on anything besides an indoor track surface. You also just mentioned how you could have gone with lighter tires (which "would roll faster"? What?), instead of the heavy "enduro casing equivalent" tires you have, but then go on to say that just a little bigger tire size means a choice between a super heavy tire and constant punctures... But you already chose a super heavy tire... so why not go a little wider and get even more "security, extra grip and lower pressures of a burlier tyre", because a 35mm gravel tire is not like a 3.0 or 3.2 plus tire, definitely closer to a 2.3-2.4 trail tire feel. And what constant punctures? Road and gravel riding is quite different than trails, and a well made 38 or 40 mm tire can be both quite light and quite durable for even rough roads and rowdy gravel.
Was thinking that with Matt's enduro bro fender (which I like BTW) those pedals seem even more out of place.
Binned the curly handlebars as I was doing the same as everyone seems to do, riding with my hands on the fat top section as they're so uncomfortable and giving myself no immediate access to the brakes or gears. Chucked some old flat bars, ODI longnecks and bmx brake levels matched to some cheap MTB shifters, boom, more comfortable and far more enjoyable. Amazing how much difference the longnecks make to vibration compared to bar tap.
I go out with my mtb mates on their road bikes and we ride 50-60 km chating the whole way and stop at pubs.
It is dull in the riding sense but you see nice places and its social but most importantly you get fit!
I still have the gravel bike and it is still that but its use is limited.
I won't share roads with automobiles voluntary anymore. Witnessed too much and been a victim of too much.
First is for just for nerds, and is that yes, less aero. Disc and caliper produce more turbulence, Hambini speaks about it in one of his videos.
Second, and this is more of a real world one, is that is not uncommon that in rainy days the spray from the road contains oil and diesel that's gonna land in the rotors. No explanation needed, I've seen it happening.
Third one is that road levers are expensive enough, and hidraulics add weight, complication and price, when actually rim brakes are good enough for most people.
To me is understandable that most of them are put off for all this together.
Is there anything wrong with the Dura Ace calipers on my Super6 Evo? No
I will never leave my 26" bikes behind to discinigrate into memories they all work fine. Ya I own a few 650s but I will never stop riding mountain bikes as I feel a road bike is just one big penis.
It's about frame stiffness more than anything (and weight). Smaller triangles, stiffer bike. Stiffer bike, better power transfer. When you're reefing on a bike for all it's worth it makes a big difference.
What about BMX?
Trials bikes?
Fixies ?
Single speeds?
BTW I commute full time by bike. Riding on the road is not fun. It's work.
.
I'd like to ask you how tall are you? And what size is your Genesis frame to which you mounted a shorter stem?
So I don't guess we all ride in pelotons very often but people buy what pros ride and the industry builds it.
Good example: Spezializeds new Diverge, a roadbike with slacker angles, shorter stem and longer cs.
A very interesting bike in my eyes but media recensions were mixed.
People - especially the road bike people - are very traditional.
To me more fun on road commuting (currently using hardtail) means using curbs to jump, using road canal to bunny hop over, doing some wheelie and manual practice where possible etc. - basically use any object on the path to make ride more fun.
Just sitting and pedaling on paved road is still boooring to me, no matter if you have road or MTB deraileur or single or double chainring setup....
1. Flat pedals.
2. Ride to the pub at the beach with your partner.
3. Share a chippy dinner with extra pees and a larger tops.
4. Ride home whilst watching the sunset.
5. Get icecream on the way home.
6. Repeat every few weeks. Fall in love, enjoy the ride together, laugh and be happy.
7. Bonus... leave the younger kids with the older kids whilst you are out.
Also, I'd never go near those passes in holiday season, the lazy people who need engines to get up them can't be trusted. As you know, its like motorbike carnage some days, once saw a line of German motor bikers all crash into the same bend on the Stelvio. Dry road, just didn't see the hairpin coming.
Seriously, this shit is not mountain biking.
And for those quick to flame me, I have tens of thousands of miles riding road, toured multiple continents, so bite me!
I’d sooner XC ski, post hole up a hill, fatbike, anything other than ride a bike with no suspension on asphalt or gravel.
Boring!!
Sometimes I take my gravel bike on the local trails too. It can be fun, for like 20 minutes. When I took it on longer rides on rough terrain, it was torture. On longer descends sometimes I stopped halfway because I simply couldn't handle the constant rattling, it felt like my head was about to fall off.
You’re simply wrong and an elitist. Your gripe is with slow riders on public trails... get over yourself, you’re not that fast...
Most really fast riders never complain about slower riders, they’re too busy enjoying the ride.
Those are not the options you're looking for. The second two are types of the first one.
I see the "just throw some drop bars on a hardtail" comment a lot. Sadly (or not) it's not that simple. Straight bar bikes pretty much always have longer top tubes, and drop bar bikes have shorter top tubes. If you throw a drop bar on a straight bar MTB frame, you have to shorten the stem significantly to get the reach to the bars right. On modern MTBs that are designed around shorter stems to begin with, you might not be able to reduce the reach enough. You can size down, buth then you usually end up with less stack.
MTBs use wider BBs, so a GRX crankset will not fit. Even if you find a MTB crankset with higher gearing (they exist), the frame might not have enough clearance for a bigger chainring.
You might be able to find a hardtail frame that will work with drop bars, higher gearing etc. But nowadays you can also just buy a complete bike that's pretty much a hardtail with drop bars, and it's a better option because it was designed with drop bars in mind to begin with.
We are all different. Just look at the comments. Some people say road riding is miserable. Some people say it's fun. It's very possible that these modifications made the bike more fun for him to ride on the road.
I ride a gravel bike on the road. Some people say that's dumb, I say I like the added comfort and i'll take the slight speed decrease AND I think it's more fun than a road bike. Whaaaa????
If you look at the road/drop bar world, certain "innovations" or changes are MTB inspired. That doesn't mean these bikes are turning into MTBs. Just because a road bike has a 1x, a clutch RD, and a 20mm shorter stem than usual, that doesn't mean it's anything like an XC hardtail...
I think if the author wanted to ride a mountain bike on the road, he would ride a mountain bike on the road. But that's just a guess.
Personally, I'm in favor of anything that gets people riding but this article is a shitshow of bro takes on road riding that's really just making a road bike, gravel bike actually, more like a mountain bike and has nothing to do with making road riding more fun. The bit about him having more fun than the guy on the Dogma is stupid as f*ck, cause I can guarantee you it isn't true. Add in the bit about his favorite pastime being buzzing past the middle aged guy in proper road kit and the whole article is just juvenile and idiotic without a single bit of useful information for anyone looking to actually ride road and have more fun doing it. All his modifications aren't beneficial for road riding and you'd be far better off buying a stock endurance oriented road bike or gravel bike and getting a proper fitting than trying to replicate this approach.
Step 2: Now that the crisis is averted, go ride your mountainbike.
Worth a watch here too:
youtu.be/U00tU9P1Sew
Cover it in rocks and soil. Job done.
#2 Performance in wet sure, that is a valid reason I could stand behind.
#3 That is a fault of the manufacturers, because they could make a rim brake that would fit even 60 mm tires (mtb rim brake anyone?).
I know this because every time I see a gravel bike I think aww look it's a dandy riding his gravel bike into town to go buy a Barbra Streisand CD. It looks so lame. You can hate on this comment if you want. Will you change my mind? Nope.
I'd be more embarrassed to call people "a dandy" than I would be to ride a gravel bike. It really cracks me up how serious mountain bikers take themselves and image. I promise enduro riders are no more or less cool than roadies, cx, xc, trials trail track bike, none of it matters. To the general population we all look like dorks, infighting doesn't help.
I'm a fan of wearing my triathlon shirts on my long travel bike. Makes people look twice when I am sending the big ramps at the bike park.