Originally Posted by atomship47
this may be a really dumb question...so forgive my naivete'
i notice that many of the bikes used for touring, etc. have little suspension, saddle padding, carbon or other ride/vibration dampening features. doesn't that make them less comfortable for long rides?
i guess that just goes to show how important "fit" is.
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that makes sense. i sort of have experienced that with the gel saddles (and gel gloves - too much padding in the palm area puts pressure on the carpal tunnel).
so how do you know if a particular bike is going to be comfortable on a century if you've never tried it? also, how does relaxed vs. aggressive geometry enter into the picture? some of the bikes pictured appear to be set up for more aggressive riding.
In answer to your first question, from my experience, the lack of suspension and saddle padding makes the bicycles MORE comfortable. Suspension has you bouncing all over the place so some of your energy is spent in going up and down rather than forward (when I ride my Mongoose on centuries, I keep the suspension locked tight so there is no bounce), and saddle padding causes extra friction and discomfort.
I have ridden the same bicycle (my steel Marinoni) with carbon seatpost, carbon forks, and carbon cranks on exactly the same terrain as I rode it without all that stuff, and there was no difference in comfort or vibration dampening. I don't have any carbon on my bicycle anymore, and I prefer it that way ... especially since I often travel to do my rides. (I have "issues" with the durability of carbon after my seatpost shattered).
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And in answer to your second question ... we HAVE tried our bicycles before we ride centuries on them. That's what training rides are for. In most cases, we don't just hop on a bicycle and ride a century ... we've been using the bicycle for commuting, for touring, for racing, for riding around ... and we've become familiar with the bicycle. In my collection, there is only one bicycle I didn't have a chance to ride before I rode a century, and that was the tandem. However in that case, I had already done several centuries, and had been riding for several years, and so I had a pretty good idea how to set up the back to make it work for me.
The thing is, you can ride a century on anything you want ... just as long as you've got some idea of how to set the bicycle up so that it fits.