"Road" bikes

Since when has the term "road bike" come to be reserved _exclusively_
for racing machines? My tourer is a road bike, I would never take it on
a trail.

Most recumbents are also made for road use, why aren't they called road
bikes?

The sport bike isn't an ATB either, it's also made exclusively for the
road. Shouldn't the term include them too?

Same goes for "comfort" bikes and commuter (or "city") bikes. Why do
they get left out?

Why can't they just call a racing bike a racing bike? Isn't it bad
enough that they selfishly get all the top of the line quality
componentry and equipment while the rest of us get treated like second
class citizens by the industry? Do they have to dominate the
nomenclature as well?

This ends my gripe for the day :-3)

- -

"May you have the wind at your back.
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

Chris Zacho The Wheelman wrote:
Since when has the term "road bike" come to be reserved _exclusively_
for racing machines? My tourer is a road bike, I would never take it on
a trail.

Most recumbents are also made for road use, why aren't they called road
bikes?

The sport bike isn't an ATB either, it's also made exclusively for the
road. Shouldn't the term include them too?

Same goes for "comfort" bikes and commuter (or "city") bikes. Why do
they get left out?

Why can't they just call a racing bike a racing bike? Isn't it bad
enough that they selfishly get all the top of the line quality
componentry and equipment while the rest of us get treated like second
class citizens by the industry? Do they have to dominate the
nomenclature as well?

This ends my gripe for the day :-3)

I'm with you Chris, this another example of the pernicious effects of
the industry's excessive emphasis on racing equipment. Here's my
understanding of how this usage came to be:

All drop bar bikes used to be called "racing" bikes by the general public.

As the style became more widespread in the early '70s, distinctions of
touring bike, racing bike and sport tourer were pretty well accepted.

There's always a tendency toward specialization, and "racing bikes"
wound up getting bifurcated into "criterium bikes" and "road racing"
bikes. The crit bikes were generally shorter and featured more upright
frame angles, higher bottom brackets. Road racing bikes were designed
with a bit (but not much!) more concern for comfort and stability, with
the expectation that they'd be ridden farther at a stretch.

Then, "road racing" got truncated to "road." by folks who weren't aware
of any other type of bike in any serious way.

The term "racing bike" can no longer be used in the old sense, now that
there is mountain bike racing; arguably this even became obsolete with
the advent of BMX in the '70s.

Sheldon Christopher Brown
+-----------------------------------------------+
| I saw a man pursuing the horizon; |
| Round and round they sped. |
| I was disturbed at this; |
| I accosted the man. |
| |
| "It is futile," I said, |
| "You can never--" |
| |
| "You lie," he cried, |
| And ran on. |
| --Stephen Crane |
+-----------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

In article ,
Sheldon Brown wrote:

Chris Zacho The Wheelman wrote:
Since when has the term "road bike" come to be reserved _exclusively_
for racing machines? My tourer is a road bike, I would never take it on
a trail.

Most recumbents are also made for road use, why aren't they called road
bikes?

The sport bike isn't an ATB either, it's also made exclusively for the
road. Shouldn't the term include them too?

Same goes for "comfort" bikes and commuter (or "city") bikes. Why do
they get left out?

Why can't they just call a racing bike a racing bike? Isn't it bad
enough that they selfishly get all the top of the line quality
componentry and equipment while the rest of us get treated like second
class citizens by the industry? Do they have to dominate the
nomenclature as well?

This ends my gripe for the day :-3)

I'm with you Chris, this another example of the pernicious effects of
the industry's excessive emphasis on racing equipment. Here's my
understanding of how this usage came to be:

All drop bar bikes used to be called "racing" bikes by the general public.

As the style became more widespread in the early '70s, distinctions of
touring bike, racing bike and sport tourer were pretty well accepted.

There's always a tendency toward specialization, and "racing bikes"
wound up getting bifurcated into "criterium bikes" and "road racing"
bikes. The crit bikes were generally shorter and featured more upright
frame angles, higher bottom brackets. Road racing bikes were designed
with a bit (but not much!) more concern for comfort and stability, with
the expectation that they'd be ridden farther at a stretch.

Then, "road racing" got truncated to "road." by folks who weren't aware
of any other type of bike in any serious way.

I always assumed that "road bike" came about as a term after two things
happened:

-6v freewheels made the generic term "ten-speed" inaccurate (though
Campy and now Shimano seem to have been infused with nostalgia lately)

-the appearance of "mountain bikes" made it useful to distinguish
between the two kinds of serious bicycles.

The term "racing bike" can no longer be used in the old sense, now that
there is mountain bike racing; arguably this even became obsolete with
the advent of BMX in the '70s.

Given that a great number of "racing" road bikes never get raced, I'd
say that another moniker is personally reasonable. For most users,
they're a fun piece of fitness equipment, basically a cardio-oriented
substitute for golf clubs.

As for tourers, I'd say there's plenty of equipment out there, from 80s
road bikes with Suntour BL (yeah!) to Rivendells, and everything in
between. It's a small market compared to selling bikes that make you
Look Like Lance (or Iban, or Alessandro...), but I don't notice any
great market deficits.

There are even a couple of fairly mass-market touring frames made, so
you should have no complaints about pricing, either.

--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

I just want to add you should be willing to take your touring bike on
trails. I do not mean rock gardens or anything like that but you would be
surprised if well made how far off of pavement a good touring, or even good
road racer type, bike can go. Much to the chagrin of some of my riding
parnters, I got no issues taking my road racing bike or what ever you should
call it onto gravel, packed dirt and so on. Yea I run big heavy tires&
wheels by today's standards, 25c conti gator skins and 28 spoke rims with
crossed spokes, and have to true the wheels once in a while but am happy
with the results.

On Thu, 01 Apr 2004 23:13:53 -0500, Sheldon Brown
wrote:

Sheldon Christopher Brown

Looks as though I wasted a posting. See "Silly Q: MTB front hub on
road bike" thread. :-|


jeverett3ATearthlinkDOTnet http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3

Chris Zacho The Wheelman wrote:

Since when has the term "road bike" come to be reserved _exclusively_
for racing machines? My tourer is a road bike, I would never take it on
a trail.

Most recumbents are also made for road use, why aren't they called road
bikes?

The sport bike isn't an ATB either, it's also made exclusively for the
road. Shouldn't the term include them too?

Same goes for "comfort" bikes and commuter (or "city") bikes. Why do
they get left out?

Why can't they just call a racing bike a racing bike? Isn't it bad
enough that they selfishly get all the top of the line quality
componentry and equipment while the rest of us get treated like second
class citizens by the industry? Do they have to dominate the
nomenclature as well?

I believe it's because most aren't ever used for racing, plus the term
"racing bike" has unfortunate 70s connotations, as Sheldon alludes to.
I still call mine a racing bike though, being I'm a child of the 70s (I
used to ride a Raleigh Chopper. but that's another story...)

Sheldon wrote:

All drop bar bikes used to be called "racing" bikes
by the general public.

So true. I was interviewed in 1980 about my cycling travels by a
newspaper reporter who subsequently described my old touring bike, with
racks and panniers fore and aft, randonneur bar, and oversize sprung
saddle as a "12-speed racing bike" in his article. It took *years* to
live that down!

"Ryan Cousineau" wrote in message
...
*SNIP*
Given that a great number of "racing" road bikes never get raced, I'd
say that another moniker is personally reasonable. For most users,
they're a fun piece of fitness equipment, basically a cardio-oriented
substitute for golf clubs.
*SNIP*
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

You are right...there are lot's of racing bikes out there that don't race. I
own one and I ride competitivly in a recreational sense (does that make any
sense?). Anyhow as to the moniker...how about lifting something from the
cafe racer motorcycle crowd? Muscle powered crotch rockets !? That woulld
delineate the style of bike from touring, recumbent, commuter, and MTB
racing. As to a cardio substitute for golf clubs...aren't golf and cardio
some sort of oxymoron like army intelligence? Just a thought. mto

From: (Raymo853)

I just want to add you should be willing to
take your touring bike on trails. I do not
mean rock gardens or anything like that
but you would be surprised if well made
how far off of pavement a good touring,
or even good road racer type, bike can
go. Much to the chagrin of some of my
riding partners, I got no issues taking my
road racing bike or what ever you should
call it onto gravel, packed dirt and so on.
Yea I run big heavy tires& wheels by
today's standards, 25c conti gator skins
and 28 spoke rims with crossed spokes,
and have to true the wheels once in a
while but am happy with the results.

Oh, I tackle gravel and dirt roads all the time. Well, not ALL the time,
but you know what i mean. I don't shirk from a little dirt.

By "trails" I mean REAL ATB type stuff, four inch high roots, big rocks,
things that really require fat tires and (preferably) suspension of some
kind.

- -

"May you have the wind at your back.
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner