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Bike For Distance

Old 05-15-23, 04:59 AM
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spinconn
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Bike For Distance

For those who have both racing bikes and endurance/gravel bikes with more relaxed geometry, I would like to ask, at what distances do you prefer one over the other?
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Old 05-15-23, 06:16 AM
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i am not a pro racer, & don't intend to be one ever. Doing an all out pedal mash on some sketchy surface conditions, 20 miles seemed to be where I would cap out on a road bicycle. With a more relaxed setup, I probably could go a bit farther, but at the cost of speed & time.
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Old 05-15-23, 06:31 AM
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I'm 59, and would ride my touring bike for 75-100 miles, and a training/race road bike for anything less than 75.
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Old 05-15-23, 06:44 AM
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I'm too young to have a more ''relax'' road bike, but I am sure my back will appreciate it at some point in my life when it will tell me to stop slamming my stem to the ground and riding a 6'' saddle to bar drop.

My 2nd road bike does have less saddle to bar drop though - I use it as a commuter.
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Old 05-15-23, 06:50 AM
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I have a limited mileage range. Never under 30 or over 100, and rarely over 75. I find that I prefer the tire width and downhill stability of my "gravel" bike for any distance when riding solo. On the other hand, it's never been an issue giving those up when trying to hang with a group. You should be able to get a comfortable mileage neutral fit with either type.
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Old 05-15-23, 07:21 AM
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Originally Posted by spinconn
For those who have both racing bikes and endurance/gravel bikes with more relaxed geometry, I would like to ask, at what distances do you prefer one over the other?
I prefer my gravel bike when I will do mixed surface rides.
I prefer my road bikes when I will ride paved roads.

This is true for 1mi, 10mi, or 100mi.

There is one road bike that I really wont ride for more than 30mi. I have it because I like the history of it and use it for my Zwift trainer sessions in the winter. But outside, it isnt too comfortable as I near 2 hours of straight riding. All my others are set up so I am comfortable for long distances. I view them as also set up for hard riding with my body type and ability- there is 4.5-5" of bar drop on my 3 main road bikes.
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Old 05-15-23, 08:03 AM
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I've had both, and I've have not participated in a race in forever, but as I gotten older, I find I have a much more comfortable ride on my more relax geometry bikes, so I got rid of my race geometry bikes. I was good for about 50\60 toward the end where I did not suffer the effects for a day or two. I can ride 70 or more on my Domane and Emonda, which is more relaxed, and not have any after effects.
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Old 05-15-23, 09:01 AM
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I only have the one good bike, a CF race bike. I rode it however far. Distance didn't really matter, though 400k was the max day ride for me. I hate riding at night. I wouldn't have done as well on a more relaxed geometry bike. Like I said, I hate riding at night. When I ride, I like to move the bike up the road.
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Old 05-15-23, 10:35 AM
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It's not really which fit type is better for long rides. It's more about which type of fit you prefer for long rides. I fit very well on a race fit bike and am more comfortable on it than I was on the previous bikes that gave me a more relaxed fit. So a lot of things unique to you as an individual will come into the decision too.

It will also make a big difference as to what type of road cycling you are doing. I only ride a unloaded bike on the roads at a fairly fast pace. However if you are going to be riding a bike loaded up with the stuff you need to do a ride of several days or weeks and grinding at a slower pace, then the fit might need to be different for you.

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Old 05-15-23, 10:54 AM
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It's more of "what kind of mood am I in today?.... "
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Old 05-15-23, 11:32 AM
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When I see "geometry", I tend to think more of frame angles and trail. The OP sounds more like a question of fit, like handlebar height and saddle position.

I make the distinction because my preferred long-distance bike is definitely not "relaxed geometry" -- it has 73° angles with low trail -- but the handlebars are up around the same level as the saddle for a bit more upright of a position than one would choose for racing.
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Old 05-15-23, 07:31 PM
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I think it is all in bike fit and tyre/wheel choice when it comes to comfort over long distance rides, not some geometry category.

For example, I am far more comfortable on long rides on my aggressive race bike than my friend on his endurance bike. This is because I went out of my way to find a great bike fitter to inform frame choice and swapped parts to dial in the dimensions to suit my limb proportions perfectly, instead of relying on a rushed post-sale bike fit in a shop. And I put on a modern wheel set with a wide internal and external width so the same 28mm tyres sit better and measure wider.

Based on this, the thought of adding some endurance bike to complement my race bike for 'longer rides', and then making some day to day decisions which to pick for a certain ride, is nonsense, as long as we are talking about rides that fit within a single day. For anything beyond that, it would really be more about mounting points for on-bike storage.
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Old 05-16-23, 05:20 AM
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As the OP, I guess from the comments that my question was unclear. It is simply based on the presumption that geometry is a huge factor in comfort, even before getting to adjustments to seat, bars etc. I ride a Giant Contend 4 AR, a bike that is called "all around". Despite a lot of years of cycling, I do not happen to be knowledgeable about the technical aspects of cycling. I do know that my current bike is the most comfortable I have ever ridden.

I usually ride 6 days a week, around 20 miles on most days with a few short rides, averaging about 100 miles a week. Like most of you I like to go as fast as I can, though that is much slower than most folks here. I keep reading that upgrading wheels and tires is the single thing you can do to increase speed and handling, so I started pricing new wheelsets. My bike is inexpensive, and I saw it would involve spending a sum that is very large in comparison to the price of the entire bike. This caused me to start looking at a new bike, but one with racing geometry, based entirely on the presumption that geometry would be the critical issue. I am speculating that going to a race bike might lose me the one thing I love most about my current bike, which is its comfort.

I know the first thought will be that I can easily find out by taking test rides, but this is not possible because the few bike shops anywhere near me do not have many race bikes in stock and the few that are in stock are more expensive than I can afford. So, this makes it a gamble of ordering a bike and hoping I like how it rides. My thought was that I could forget about a new bike and just get a better wheelset if it was a situation where I would not enjoy a bike that got uncomfortable for rides between 20 and 30 miles, hence my question in the original post.
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Old 05-16-23, 06:09 AM
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Given that you are only doing very short rides, you haven't begun to explore the distance potential of your bike. It's normal to want to upgrade so treat yourself to some nice tires. When you begin riding significant distances, you'll know it if your bike has any deficiencies (unlikely.) Relax and enjoy your bike!
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Old 05-16-23, 09:38 AM
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Beware of the descriptions the advertisers use in the ads they make for their clients. Substitute whatever brand bicycle you are looking at for "clients" in the previous sentence. They'll claim all sorts of things. Sometimes their descriptions are just all that remain for that particular genre of bike because they are trying to give it a reason for being. Yet those same terms and catchy phrases can apply to the other bikes too but, they didn't use them because they had plenty of other dramatic words and phrases to use for them.

Until you get to riding longer distances and actually experience the way you feel on a particular bike, you just won't know what that bike will feel like to you. And it might not be the same as what I feel on the same bike.
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Old 05-16-23, 12:40 PM
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Originally Posted by spinconn
For those who have both racing bikes and endurance/gravel bikes with more relaxed geometry, I would like to ask, at what distances do you prefer one over the other?
I have never really got the need to have 2 separate bikes, purely for comfort over distance. If the bike is set up properly/optimally, then you should be able to ride it comfortably in all positions - even in a race, if my back/core isnt comfortable, I am not going to do that well. Tops if i want to relax, hoods in my normal, sustainable riding position and drops for when the hamer has been droped. The only exception is my TT bike, where i add about 40mm of spacers for tris, compared to TTs
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Old 05-16-23, 03:42 PM
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All my road bikes have relaxed geometry that allow me to comfortably go at much higher speeds on downhill sections and build up more momentum for the next uphill section. I used to have road bikes that were meant for criterium racing which I never did. My first relaxed geometry bike used a custom bike frame built to my specifications in 1971. In the 1984 I bought the Dave Scott Ironman bike built for triathletes and it had perfect frame geometry. Today I would be buying an "endurance" bike like the Specialized Roubaix or the Trek Domane. Bikes for triathletes have mutated into very expensive time trial bikes not well suited to general use.
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Old 05-16-23, 04:42 PM
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spinconn Just bear in mind that comfortable is fast. Just because a professional cyclist can comfortably ride a bike with a more aggressive frame geometry and/or component setup (e.g., slammed stem) does not mean that we amateurs can necessarily also do so. You can also test whether you can hold a more aggressive riding position by playing with your stem angle and/or spacer, to see if you can potentially fit a frame with a lower stack:reach ratio.
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Old 05-16-23, 04:51 PM
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My bike selection is determined by the surfaces I will be riding on, not my riding position, or the distance of the ride. If my route is all pavement I will be on my road bike (race geometry, slammed stem). If it is a mixed-surface ride, my pick is my gravel bike. If it's all (or almost all) dirt, with significant rough terrain, I will ride my MTB. That said, I sometimes do the same rides on both my gravel bike and MTB.
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