Do I try road cycling?

[Annon12345]

Hi all, used to mountain bike lots as a teenage. Had a hybrid bike last few years which has mostly collected dust but now lo has started school I've got to start cycling again. I'm overweight but fit ish. I run 3 times a week. I love my hybrid bike its just a carerra crossfire but it's hard up hills and it's very hilly where I live. I mostly cycling on country roads. I'm tempted to try road cycling, sat on a few in bikes shops and seem comfy enough but I'm worried about taking the plunge! Will I notice a real difference in speed and ease I can go uphill or should I stick to the hybrid?

I do wish I'd read my posts for spelling and grammar before pressing post. Sorry!

Yes! You will notice a real difference in hills. Road bike will be miles easier and quicker. Do it!!! 😁

I've recently started road cycling.

I started indoor cycling around March 2020 to keep up with exercise during lockdown. I had always had a mountain bike (also carrera!) and was used to cycling around on and off road with the kids, pulling a bike trailer with kids etc. After around 18 months of cycling indoors, I realised that my cycling fitness had really improved (happy pandemic side effect) and decided to try taking outdoor cycling more seriously.

I bought a gravel bike (using the Cycle2work scheme) -it's like a road bike, with drop bars but can take chunkier grippier tyres. Huge difference from my mountain bike -lighter, faster, more gears. It's fab. I started training seriously and did the Loch Ness Etape (66 miles) last Spring. Loved it.

I'm now feeling like I'd like to see if there's a difference with smooth road tyres so have bought a second wheel set for my gravel bike -I'll use the gravel wheelset most of the year I think, and the road set in spring/summer, training for events and that sort of thing. My local bike shop are showing me how to change the wheelset myself -apparently its a 5 minute job!

A big difference in going from flat bar mountain bikes to drop bar road bikes is the forward position, which gets more forward leaning the closer you get to a race bike. Roughly:

Mountain bike -fairly upright
Gravel bike- forward
Road endurance -more forward (between gravel and race)
Road race -most forward leaning

Worth thinking about. People who don't like road bikes usually mean they don't like the forward position on the bike. That's why I'm sticking with a road wheelset for my gravel bike -the frame has a good position that suits me and I don't want to be further forward. The other advantage is that gravel bikes usually come with more gears than road bikes making hills a bit easier!

Have you heard of the Breeze network?

I’m going to stick my neck out here and say, no, swapping to a road bike won’t necessarily be faster. I could give you my training bike (road bike) to ride… and I doubt you’d find it faster. Why? It weighs a tonne (heavy frame). I have the cheapest wheels on it (heavy and don’t roll well - it’s a winter bike, who cares) and super heavy tyres (to cope with crappy winter roads and gravelly trail riding). It takes an effort to get it going and get it up hills. Yet I go on my mountain bike (full carbon frame - so super light) 29” wheels (road bike size) and light weight race tyres… I go super fast on that, on the road.

It is very much down to the weight of the bike. You are trying to transport less mass up a hill on a lighter bike, therefore you will go faster and it’ll feel easier on the lighter bike. In terms of on the flat/ downhill you are going to go fastest on the bike you can crouch down most (to minimise the amount of your body hitting the wind). That’s likely to be a road bike if the fit is spot on for you.

Out of the brands/ models that feel comfiest, pick the lightest you can afford to be sure to notice a difference.

Happy peddling.

I would argue differently.... your mtb 29 er is faster because your running semi slicks at high pressure, a 29er is also a lot bigger than road bike wheels once you fit 2.3 inch tires or bigger, so roll better... ... it also cost north of £3k, probably considerably more if you got it fairly recently and has a very wide gear range.

So regardless of weight, you need the gears for the hills you intend to tackle, a hybrid possibly has limited gears? i.e they are quite high, so make hills feel hard... plus you need aerobic fitness, which will take a considerable amount of time to build.

The cheapest way to save weight for the hills is to lose it off you, not the bike, which means diet changes.

But there is no magic bullet, if your not fit, whatever you buy will not the make the difference you might think, unless you go electric... With bicycles, always buy the best you can afford and go to reputable bike shop to get the bike that best suits your flexibility and core strength.. and that will change as you get better at riding.

I'd advise you go to a dealer who has demo bikes that you can try for the week end, my local Specialized Concept shop in Cornwall does that & others do too.

Absolutely! It's an absolutely great sport for fitness and head space - with the added benefit of coffee stops along the way.

I second the light bike suggestion. Comfort too is key. A good saddle can't be beat.

And for long distance the Assos chamois cream is worth its weight in gold.

I’d recommend what is now known as a gravel bike rather than a road bike. It will be more comfortable, more versatile and you’ll feel safer on it (greater grip from wider tyres and more upright position). So you’ll be more inclined to ride more frequently and get fitter that way. If you’re not actually racing, then a road bike isn’t the best choice for most people.
That said, your hybrid probably isn’t far off a gravel bike anyway. So you could just keep that.

Nope. Not got semi slicks on my MTB. Tyre pressure - 40psi MTB, 110psi (best) road bike and 90psi in the heavy old winter/training road bike. The tyres on my MTB are certainly wider than on a road bike - but the wheel is still the same circumference. So clearly it’d go up a hill quicker than a MTB with 26” wheels, with the same width tyres. And my MTB certainly didn’t cost more than 3k. Nothing to do with the gearing either. My fastest (on road) climbing is via my (best) road bike - I run a semi-compact and 11-28 cassette on that. MTB I’ve got a whopping 10-51. My (best) road bike is lighter than my MTB which is why I can climb quicker on it (I would also think that the narrower tyres - therefore less contact/ rolling resistance on the road help?). My MTB vs winter road bike (heavy old thing) which has a compact chain set and 10-32 cassette - MTB would win. Again, down to weight though. On a road climb, on my MTB I wouldn’t go anything close to using the 51… my legs would be spinning like crazy and I’d be going nowhere quickly. Having cycled (and raced) for years I’ve also got the leg strength to push a big gear climbing but that’s not really relevant to the OPs original question.

My original point still stands that in upgrading a bike, when looking for something ‘quicker’ weight of bike does matter - my heavy old winter road bike being the good example. Which is essentially what you are saying but advocating loss of weight off body - but where’s the fun in that 😬 shiny new bike or diet. Hmmm. The weight loss becomes a consequence of the shiny new bike, which is arguably more fun to ride 😬so hopefully OP will be doing loads of cycling on it.

Update! I decided to buy a second hand road bike. Cost £100 and had been sat in someone's garage for over a year hardly used. I feel like I'm leaning too far over so I'm changing the stem to see of that helps but frame is perfect size otherwise. Can't get used to gearing either but I figured I'll give it a go and if I like can eventually upgrade

That's great, and definitely a cheap way to try it out!

Have you found a replacement stem? You can get a range of sizes, but also different elevation. I have an ergotec charisma stem on my bike.

Have a look at the gear set on your hybrid. It might be highly geared so picking a lower geared road bike will make quite a bit of difference.