First road bike under $1500
03-24-20, 03:27 AM
#26
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If you want to go fast on paved roads, get a TT/Tri bike or a performance-oriented recumbent. Either option can give you a couple mph over a typical road fit.
Actually, I take that back. If your priority is to go fast on paved roads, get a car or a motorcycle.
03-24-20, 08:13 AM
#27
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Why are people saying to buy a bike with 32mm tires when the OP already has a really nice hybrid bike that could be used for gravel roads and such.
No matter what people say about big tires and comfort, When you have 100+ PSI in small tires the bike will roll really fast if the pavement is smooth. If you have good roads that are well surfaced then you can bump the pressure way up and you w;il go noticeably faster. So listen to advice on tires but ALSO look at where you intend to ride.
No matter what people say about big tires and comfort, When you have 100+ PSI in small tires the bike will roll really fast if the pavement is smooth. If you have good roads that are well surfaced then you can bump the pressure way up and you w;il go noticeably faster. So listen to advice on tires but ALSO look at where you intend to ride.
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03-24-20, 09:03 AM
#28
Senior Member
Why are people saying to buy a bike with 32mm tires when the OP already has a really nice hybrid bike that could be used for gravel roads and such. He said he wants a "road bike" and we assume he keeps the hybrid.
A good road bike is a special-purpose machine for going fast on paved roads. Some people who have only one bike might want to compromise but if you can have 2 or 3 bikes there is no need to. The handeing, rolling resistance and gearing on a road bike is not the same as what you would want for riding on a back-country semi-paved road. Road bike go fast. Even me, who is slow will easly get up over 25 mph on down grades. Handeling and "aero" begines to matters at 20 mph.
Hopefully after you have a proper road bike you get hooked and start doing 4 hour then later all day rides and cover some miles. You will find that you go way-faster with your upper body ducked to the wind but you may or may not be able to put up with an agressive aerodynamic riding position. I would figure that out FIRST before buying a road bike. RENT a race bike for the day. Make a mini-vacation out of it some place where you can ride 50 or so more miles over varied roads. Then you will know if you can stand riding one. ALL bike feel good durring a 5 minute tet ride. See what your neck and shoulders say after 4 or 5 hours. You just might like it, or not.
No matter what people say about big tires and comfort, When you have 100+ PSI in small tires the bike will roll really fast if the pavement is smooth. If you have good roads that are well surfaced then you can bump the pressure way up and you wil go noticably faster. So listen to advice on tires but ALSO look at where you itend to ride.
Look at used bikes. It is much harder but even a nice high-end used race bike sell for half the new price or less. If you like your Cannondale, then look for a used CADD10 or CAAD12
A good road bike is a special-purpose machine for going fast on paved roads. Some people who have only one bike might want to compromise but if you can have 2 or 3 bikes there is no need to. The handeing, rolling resistance and gearing on a road bike is not the same as what you would want for riding on a back-country semi-paved road. Road bike go fast. Even me, who is slow will easly get up over 25 mph on down grades. Handeling and "aero" begines to matters at 20 mph.
Hopefully after you have a proper road bike you get hooked and start doing 4 hour then later all day rides and cover some miles. You will find that you go way-faster with your upper body ducked to the wind but you may or may not be able to put up with an agressive aerodynamic riding position. I would figure that out FIRST before buying a road bike. RENT a race bike for the day. Make a mini-vacation out of it some place where you can ride 50 or so more miles over varied roads. Then you will know if you can stand riding one. ALL bike feel good durring a 5 minute tet ride. See what your neck and shoulders say after 4 or 5 hours. You just might like it, or not.
No matter what people say about big tires and comfort, When you have 100+ PSI in small tires the bike will roll really fast if the pavement is smooth. If you have good roads that are well surfaced then you can bump the pressure way up and you wil go noticably faster. So listen to advice on tires but ALSO look at where you itend to ride.
Look at used bikes. It is much harder but even a nice high-end used race bike sell for half the new price or less. If you like your Cannondale, then look for a used CADD10 or CAAD12
I can tell you that I have firsthand experience, as my Lynskey is listed as supporting 28mm tires, but wasn't able to properly clear the Continental UltraSport 28mm tires that it shipped with. The 2mm of clearance at the chainstays was fine when the bike was standing still, but in harder efforts, the frame flexed enough that the tire rubbed on the chainstay, robbing power. I switched out to a 25mm Gran Prix, and immediately saved 10 minutes on a 50mi ride.
So no, people don't need to run 32mm tires to brush up against the limits of a 32mm frame.
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03-24-20, 09:05 AM
#29
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I don’t want to start yet another tire size war. But 2 things stick out for me from OP’s request: 1) he’s not racing, which implies to me that comfort and fun are more important than outright performance and 2) he wants something worth upgrading in the future, which implies he wants something at least somewhat futureproof.
This makes the decision a bit easier: get something with disc brakes, and at least 30mm stated tire clearance. I would recommend more. 28mm stated clearance is dead on arrival.
The Contend AR, as someone suggested, seems great.
I’ve heard good things about the Canyon Endurace, but you’ll have to stretch even for their aluminum frames: https://www.canyon.com/en-us/road-bi...=BK&quantity=1
https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribbl...e-shimano-105/
^The ribble R872 and the canyon are both on the endurance-racing side of geometry, which is to say that they will suit a strong, aggressive rider without breaking your back.
03-27-20, 11:56 AM
#30
Senior Member
I can tell you that I have firsthand experience, as my Lynskey is listed as supporting 28mm tires, but wasn't able to properly clear the Continental UltraSport 28mm tires that it shipped with. The 2mm of clearance at the chainstays was fine when the bike was standing still, but in harder efforts, the frame flexed enough that the tire rubbed on the chainstay, robbing power. I switched out to a 25mm Gran Prix, and immediately saved 10 minutes on a 50mi ride.
So no, people don't need to run 32mm tires to brush up against the limits of a 32mm frame.
I'm happy to see bike manufacturers responding to the trend towards wider tire support. I so badly wanted to run GP4K 28s on my old Trek, and actually did run them for a time, but the 1mm or so of clearance in the fork just wasn't cutting it, so I had to back down to 25s in the front. I disliked being limited there, hence the swap to the gravel fork when I ordered the Lynskey.
03-27-20, 12:21 PM
#31
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+1
Bikesdirect has some great values. I like this one https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...e-xx.htm#specs
Bikesdirect has some great values. I like this one https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...e-xx.htm#specs
03-27-20, 12:26 PM
#32
Senior Member
That's a huge bummer. Don't know what model Lynskey you got, but I know they've been trending with at least some of their models towards wider and wider tire support. My 2018 R260 has plenty of room in the chainstays for very wide tires, and I had them swap the traditional road fork they were going to use on it for their gravel fork, with the result that my bike has so much clearance fore and aft with my 32mm tires that I'm considering ordering some 35mm tires to try out, and could go to 38 or possibly larger if I felt the desire to.
Truth. The Conti GP4K tires I've used a lot in the past were notorious for this, with my 25mm versions always measuring out at like 28+ in real life, and the 28s measuring over 30.
I'm happy to see bike manufacturers responding to the trend towards wider tire support. I so badly wanted to run GP4K 28s on my old Trek, and actually did run them for a time, but the 1mm or so of clearance in the fork just wasn't cutting it, so I had to back down to 25s in the front. I disliked being limited there, hence the swap to the gravel fork when I ordered the Lynskey.
Truth. The Conti GP4K tires I've used a lot in the past were notorious for this, with my 25mm versions always measuring out at like 28+ in real life, and the 28s measuring over 30.
I'm happy to see bike manufacturers responding to the trend towards wider tire support. I so badly wanted to run GP4K 28s on my old Trek, and actually did run them for a time, but the 1mm or so of clearance in the fork just wasn't cutting it, so I had to back down to 25s in the front. I disliked being limited there, hence the swap to the gravel fork when I ordered the Lynskey.
Was considering going in on one of their clearance R270 (rim brake) framesets when they still had a few in stock in my size, but the listed 25mm of clearance probably means that I'd be going back to 23mm tires.
03-27-20, 01:13 PM
#33
Senior Member
Interesting. I'm on a 2019 Lynskey R270 disc. The attached picture is with a GP4k 25mm, with the Vision Team 30 wheels (original equipment). With the UltraSport 28mm tires, the gap was quite a bit smaller.
Was considering going in on one of their clearance R270 (rim brake) framesets when they still had a few in stock in my size, but the listed 25mm of clearance probably means that I'd be going back to 23mm tires.
Was considering going in on one of their clearance R270 (rim brake) framesets when they still had a few in stock in my size, but the listed 25mm of clearance probably means that I'd be going back to 23mm tires.
Here's the space around the seat stays:
And here's the ginormous space due to them using their gravel fork on my bike instead of the default road fork:
I wanted durability and flexibility on this bike, and got it in spades, with no regrets. Pure roadies might be appalled at that fork, but I'm happy as a clam with it. I'm a clydesdale, so though I'm also a roadie, I'm on the unconventional side, and this bike is optimized for me, not some 150-lb beanpole.
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03-27-20, 01:22 PM
#34
Senior Member
Ok this is quite shocking to me, since the R270 was just supposed to be an incremental improvement over the R260 that I got. My chainstays look totally different though. Check this out. This is with my 32mm Compass tires mounted. There's tons of space there.
Here's the space around the seat stays:
And here's the ginormous space due to them using their gravel fork on my bike instead of the default road fork:
I wanted durability and flexibility on this bike, and got it in spades, with no regrets. Pure roadies might be appalled at that fork, but I'm happy as a clam with it. I'm a clydesdale, so though I'm also a roadie, I'm on the unconventional side, and this bike is optimized for me, not some 150-lb beanpole.
Here's the space around the seat stays:
And here's the ginormous space due to them using their gravel fork on my bike instead of the default road fork:
I wanted durability and flexibility on this bike, and got it in spades, with no regrets. Pure roadies might be appalled at that fork, but I'm happy as a clam with it. I'm a clydesdale, so though I'm also a roadie, I'm on the unconventional side, and this bike is optimized for me, not some 150-lb beanpole.
Mind you, she rides gloriously, and I'm only slightly annoyed that I had to grab her a new tire shortly after discovering this (maybe about a month and a half into ownership). Would've just preferred that she was advertised as having clearance for 25mm tires.
03-27-20, 01:43 PM
#35
Junior Member
So I have a hybrid that I love (C’dale Quick 5) and I am looking at getting my first road bike. Not interested in competing or doing anything crazy. I would love to buy something I could modify and upgrade in the future, but that is a decent base to start with. What should I be looking at?
The Roubaix has a more relaxed geo and just keeps rolling. What size are you?
03-27-20, 02:18 PM
#36
Senior Member
Your chainstays definitely have much more of an "S" bend to them - they flare out further by the BB, only to tuck in for crank-arm clearance. It looks like the R270's stays are much straighter from BB to dropout (or brake mount, as it were). I wonder if there was any reason for the design change (aside from maybe cost savings).
Mind you, she rides gloriously, and I'm only slightly annoyed that I had to grab her a new tire shortly after discovering this (maybe about a month and a half into ownership). Would've just preferred that she was advertised as having clearance for 25mm tires.
03-27-20, 08:27 PM
#37
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Because 32mm is quite awesome on a road bike. I've got them on mine, and it's not meant as a gravel bike at all, though it would be fine I suppose with different tires. There are some really great road tires in that size that feel and handle great, and on normal, non-perfect pavement don't cost any performance worth even thinking about. They are from Compass (now Rene Herse), have a very supple casing, weight just barely more than a normal 28mm, and the road feel with it's dampening due to lower pressure are fantastic. This isn't confirmation bias; at the time I switched to the 32mm tires I had dozens of rides on a certain 32-mile route I did a lot on my 25 and 28mm tires, and further rides with the 32mm tires showed no loss of performance; if anything, I sped up. These were recorded rides reviewed on Strava, with actual performance data attached.
And this is yet one more reason to ride a good quality 32mm tire on the road bike if it will fit. The ride is smoother, less vibration, and for those really long rides like you suggest it actually matters. For one it's less fatiguing.
If one rides on purely pristine virgin asphalt roads then OK, but on normal roads in the real world those narrower tires with the higher pressure will jiggle you, the rider, more. Every joule of energy that it takes to jiggle you and the bike had to come from your legs. It's known as suspension losses. The lower-pressure, wider tire jiggles you and the bike less, so you lose less energy on less-than-perfect road surfaces.
There are several short stretches of road that I ride on often that are obscenely bad, as in massive cracks that gape multiple inches apart, and lots of road surface where the asphalt is cracked and broken but the chunks are still there, so its uber rough. On my 25mm tires I had to slow down noticeably on that road. With the 32mm tires I can ride more or less at full speed, so large is the difference in how the bike (and my butt) react to the rough road surface. Btw, I am a very heavy cyclist (well into the clydesdale category), and I ride my 32mm tires at 90psi rear and 85psi front. Lighter people get away with substantially less than that.
And this is yet one more reason to ride a good quality 32mm tire on the road bike if it will fit. The ride is smoother, less vibration, and for those really long rides like you suggest it actually matters. For one it's less fatiguing.
If one rides on purely pristine virgin asphalt roads then OK, but on normal roads in the real world those narrower tires with the higher pressure will jiggle you, the rider, more. Every joule of energy that it takes to jiggle you and the bike had to come from your legs. It's known as suspension losses. The lower-pressure, wider tire jiggles you and the bike less, so you lose less energy on less-than-perfect road surfaces.
There are several short stretches of road that I ride on often that are obscenely bad, as in massive cracks that gape multiple inches apart, and lots of road surface where the asphalt is cracked and broken but the chunks are still there, so its uber rough. On my 25mm tires I had to slow down noticeably on that road. With the 32mm tires I can ride more or less at full speed, so large is the difference in how the bike (and my butt) react to the rough road surface. Btw, I am a very heavy cyclist (well into the clydesdale category), and I ride my 32mm tires at 90psi rear and 85psi front. Lighter people get away with substantially less than that.
They did quite a lot of research and tire width and PSI seems to depend on speed and the road and the weight of the rider. In the case quoted above, yes even a 40 mm tire might even be best but not if you are smaller and faster and on a better road.
But not many of us can afford to have a whole rack of wheels with all different kinds of tires then have an expert from Silca examine the road and recommend a tire and wheel for us. As it turns out the depth of the aero wheel that is best depends on the wind direction and speed. Obviously disk wheels are bad in the strong crosswid. but there is a wide range to consider. So ideally you own a full set the different aero wheels at different widths and depths. This likey matters at the elite level where races are won by seconds.
OK, my point is that there is no "best" but only the best fit to the situation. Doing this fit in an optimal manner might be the next big thing. Certainly, the people selling wheels and tire would hope so.
