Hi, me and a friend went out on a ride guided by some members of Ribble Valley Cycling Club last Sunday round the local villages (I live in Preston), which was great fun, and they were a very nice bunch!!! ... We went on our mountain bikes, which did the job ok, but seeing all the lovely shiny road bikes, I have developped a sudden urge to join the dark side and get myself a road bike, with view to potentially joining a club and joining into their rides...
This is all very much preliminary research at the moment, need to find the money first, but there is a couple of basics where I could really do with some help...
I'm quite tall for a woman, just under 6ft, and have struggled on mountain bikes in the past to find one that fit me and wasn't too long in the reach (the wsd bikes tend to be too small for me). Suspect the same thing might happen on a road bike. How are they sized, is there some rough guide I can use along the lines of with the elbow against the saddle your fingers should reach the handlebars or something like that? Would I be better off with a sloping top tube to get a shorter reach? Also, I think I need something with a fairly relaxed geometry, bum in the air flat out racing position is not going to agree with me...
What kind of money do I need to spend to get a decent beginners bike worth upgrading? I'd rather have a good frame and more basic components than vice versa.... I think I want a triple, but would a compact chainset do the same job?
Could anybody suggest any potential bike candidates for me to look at? I'm a bit worried about getting it all wrong when testing bikes as the position will be so different to my current bike (never ridden anything with drop bars ), plus I suspect the bike will feel a lot twitchier than my current little tank, so I'm not sure if I will actually be able to tell in a test ride if the bike is right for me...
I recently started out on a roadbike and I'm very glad that it took me nearly 4 months to decide on the correct size bike for me. I'm very fortunate that my boyfriend knows a lot about bikes and helped me with al my homework. The most important thing is to get yourself measured and then look at various geometries. It is a mine field out there trying to find the correct bike and I also found that not all bike shops have a specialist in store.
We also found some internet sites that helped with the sizing. Try
In the end I bought a Specialised Vita Sport which is a woman specific design bike. I'm very happy with the bike but noe wished I did go for the drop down handle bars as get numbness in my hands. This might still indicate that I still need to play around with heights and so on. The size of bike I went for will allow me to play around with the measurements. So try to get something that will give you the same freedom to play around with until you know what you like.
I really enjoy my bike but already know what I would do different on my next purchase. Yes I need to save first too.
As you live in Preston its probably worth popping into Ribble Cycles. I bought my road bike from them and like you I had no idea of sizing, though I have the opposite problem to you in that I am pretty small (5ft 4) and ended up on pretty much their smallest frame. they have a fitting jig which they will put you on and adjust for top tube length and so on. I found them pretty helpful to be honest. There will still be an amount of trial and error after you get the bike for exact configuration as knowing what you really need fitwise on a bike tends to come with riding time, but on mine the only thing I have totally changed is the handlebars, the original ones were too narrow, everything else still seems pretty spot on. I don't think they actually have test bikes as such, most of their bikes are built to order for customers.
Ribble bikes are good value for money and you can spec what you want on it, or they have bike deals on too sometimes that are worth looking at. I picked their basic 7500 framed bike which was about 500 pounds, upgraded the chainset to a triple 105 and changed the stock saddle to the same as I had on my other bikes and a few other tweaks, all this was easy to do and they never tried to upsell me to Dura Ace or anything daft like that.
There is also Paul Hewitts in Leyland, I'm sure he does a fitting service and has brand name bikes, be warned though his shop is pure roadie/tri bike porn, even more so than Ribble. I'm not much of a fan of off the peg bikes, I'd rather spec the components for myself but the big brands like Trek and Specialized will be worth a look.
As Trio says, ask around at the club in the first instance.
This has all been said but thought I'd just add my wee word of warning !
Watch how sucked in you get to the dark side lol !
I bought a second hand road bike in october, as a way of putting some miles in over the winter. March saw me shelling out £1000 on a new Trek WSD which I adore. If you like speed and power there is nothing better than a good road bike on a smooth surface !
I think you have to spend between about £750 to £1000 to get a good bike that will not need upgrading within a short period.
And don't worry re the drop down bars, they are really comfortable and easy to get used to.
Have fun on the dark side
Lynne
PS I still wear my baggies though ! No skin tight lycra for me !
Hewitt's in Leyland are also supposed to be good. He has a jiggy thing as well. He builds our DH/MTB wheels and is supposed to be the 'God' of wheel building.
Have a chat with some of the guys in the club, they will be more than happy to help I'm sure they might even let you try some of thier bikes out for size.
As for what and how much, I'd suggest work out your budget and go for the best frame you can get as wheels and kit can be upgraded later and you'll end up with a beter bike and a spare set of wheels! given that you have had problems with fit before definately go for a custom build if you can, don't go for and upgarded of the peg bike as you'll end up paying over the odds. Both the shops above are very good and wil help you get the best for you, if you want to get an idea of what you could get and the cost Ribble cycles website has a bike builder facility where you can select the various elements and get a price and I'm sur ein the shop they would be even more flexible.
Hewitts defo are the God's of wheel building, he fixed the wheel I totalled in Spain very quickly. I was ordered to go there by OH, it does help they are less than five minutes away from me though. They are very friendly and helpful but that doesn't change the fact it is a pure roadie porn shop! If you are at all susceptible then lock up your credit card. I'm not much of a roadie but even I was drooling over some of the stuff they had there.
There's a Leisure Lakes in Preston as well which gets mixed reviews on the customer service front but has lots of bikes in stock. Lancaster has a smaller branch too and if you fancy a trip a bit further North there's Evans in Kendal which again has a good range of stock.
Ask around the club, you're sure to get loads of helpful advice. Ignore anyone who starts banging on about how Campagnolo is "the one" or Shimano are "the best", that's a roadie debate that can go on til the cows come home and it's simply what gear shifting feels most comfortable for you. Same with frames - sloping top tube doesn't give a shorter reach, it does the same as on an MTB, smaller stiffer frame, more standover, easier to size up.
Compact chainset vs triple is another debate that goes on forever but both systems actually have the same range of gears (believe it or not).
Have a look round as many shops as possible, see if you can try out friends or clubmates bikes and work out what feels best. Road bike sizing is MUCH more important than MTB - on a road bike you tend to be in a similar position for a long time so you notice any slight positional inconsistencies far more than on MTB where you're up and down off the saddle and moving your weight around more.
It took me 6 months to get a road bike - the fit is much more important as you're in the same position for a long time. Most imp. thing is getting the right length of top tube too long and you'll get awful neck/shoulder pain
Decide what type of riding you want to do too- more cumfy and upright position of a long distance sportive bike? or more agressive racing position? do you want a bike that takes full mudguards? (imp. if you want to rode all year and with clubs) triple chain set? - v good esp if youre a new rider and live in a hilly place and v useful in the wind..
get advice and try lots of bikes, get fitted in the shop its confusing cos diff companies measure bikes in different ways; inches, cms or sml, med lrg and even which measurement denotes the size drops do feel wierd to start with but you'll get used to it and u can swap the bars on the bike for flats or a narrower ladies' drop bar if u need it- take your time and explore all the options and adapt the bike to suit u if necessary be persistent it's worth it -you're going to spend a long time in the saddle!
), plus I suspect the bike will feel a lot twitchier than my current little tank, so I'm not sure if I will actually be able to tell in a test ride if the bike is right for me...
