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Road bike for a 60+ years bike rider
Hello All
I am a 60+ years old bike rider who has been riding a mountain bike for the last 6 years and I am quite happy with the bike. My problem is that my mate who I ride with has now gone from a cheap heavy mountain bike to a road bike. Guess what? I can no longer keep up with him. He takes off like "it is so easy". I need to go to a road bike so that I can keep up with him. I have never ridden a road bike before except as a test run. I was not impressed with the stability etc of it. I have been looking at Trek Pilot 1.0, 1.2 flat bar, 2.1 bikes. From what I have read these bikes might suite me better than a full road bike. I haven't had a test run at this stage and I don't think that the local Trek LBS would especially get one in for me to try it out. I would appreciate any comments from anyone who has had similar problems. Joseph |
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#2
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Road bike for a 60+ years bike rider
Joseph wrote:
I need to go to a road bike so that I can keep up with him. If you have knobbies, replace them with something with a centre ridge line of rubber and shallow tread. You can find these in economical tyres if you hunt around, Also, you could go to a thinner tyre, down to 1.25" stuff. If neccessary, you might like to consider a new wheel set with narrower rims to take these. OTOH, a new second bike for the road will not go astray, but I'm brand agnostic as I assemble my own bits. |
#3
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Road bike for a 60+ years bike rider
Joseph wrote: Hello All I am a 60+ years old bike rider who has been riding a mountain bike for the last 6 years and I am quite happy with the bike. My problem is that my mate who I ride with has now gone from a cheap heavy mountain bike to a road bike. Guess what? I can no longer keep up with him. He takes off like "it is so easy". I need to go to a road bike so that I can keep up with him. I have never ridden a road bike before except as a test run. I was not impressed with the stability etc of it. I have been looking at Trek Pilot 1.0, 1.2 flat bar, 2.1 bikes. From what I have read these bikes might suite me better than a full road bike. I haven't had a test run at this stage and I don't think that the local Trek LBS would especially get one in for me to try it out. Probably the most important part of this is not the bike itself, but how you're set up on it. Make sure the LBS has someone who's good with bike fit, and/or go see a coach or a fit specialist. |
#4
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Road bike for a 60+ years bike rider
"Terryc" wrote in message ... Joseph wrote: I need to go to a road bike so that I can keep up with him. If you have knobbies, replace them with something with a centre ridge line of rubber and shallow tread. You can find these in economical tyres if you hunt around, Also, you could go to a thinner tyre, down to 1.25" stuff. If neccessary, you might like to consider a new wheel set with narrower rims to take these. OTOH, a new second bike for the road will not go astray, but I'm brand agnostic as I assemble my own bits. I've found that with tyres that have the centre ridge, the things roll vastly better once you've worn it off and taken it back to being a basic slick. I've read a few articles with everything from record attempt HPVs through to conventional bikes that have had the same experience. If you absolutely must have tread because you're riding over sift dirt or something on a regular basis, get something that just has the side lugs but honestly, you're better off with just regular slicks for road riding. Also, with regards to the feel of a road bike, see if you can't borrow one for a while rather than just a short ride. They do feel quite odd if all you've ridden is a MTB with wide flat bars. You don't have the leverage that you're used to and you don't need to move your hands anywhere near as far to generate the same steering angle. This combined with the steeper geometry of the bike can make it appear to be quite twitchy. Once you've been on it a while though, I can pretty much guarantee it'll feel perfectly natural and stable. |
#5
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Road bike for a 60+ years bike rider
"Joseph" wrote in message u... Hello All I am a 60+ years old bike rider who has been riding a mountain bike for the last 6 years and I am quite happy with the bike. My problem is that my mate who I ride with has now gone from a cheap heavy mountain bike to a road bike. Guess what? I can no longer keep up with him. He takes off like "it is so easy". I need to go to a road bike so that I can keep up with him. I have never ridden a road bike before except as a test run. I was not impressed with the stability etc of it. I have been looking at Trek Pilot 1.0, 1.2 flat bar, 2.1 bikes. From what I have read these bikes might suite me better than a full road bike. I haven't had a test run at this stage and I don't think that the local Trek LBS would especially get one in for me to try it out. I would appreciate any comments from anyone who has had similar problems. Joseph Maybe a Trek 520 Tourer or similar would suit you, they are comfortable to ride, can run on 28 or 32 mm tyres, can have flat or dropped bars, have a triple chainring and are pretty fast downhill in top gear with a 52/11, although my chain skips something terrible in top- even the LBS couldnt get it to work. fb - not quite 60. |
#6
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Road bike for a 60+ years bike rider
Joseph wrote:
Hello All I am a 60+ years old bike rider who has been riding a mountain bike for the last 6 years and I am quite happy with the bike. My problem is that my mate who I ride with has now gone from a cheap heavy mountain bike to a road bike. Guess what? I can no longer keep up with him. He takes off like "it is so easy". I need to go to a road bike so that I can keep up with him. I have never ridden a road bike before except as a test run. I was not impressed with the stability etc of it. I have been looking at Trek Pilot 1.0, 1.2 flat bar, 2.1 bikes. From what I have read these bikes might suite me better than a full road bike. I haven't had a test run at this stage and I don't think that the local Trek LBS would especially get one in for me to try it out. I would appreciate any comments from anyone who has had similar problems. Joseph I'm 58, and got back into bike riding some 6 months or so ago after a long layoff - I started off with a new hybrid, which is really comfortable, but I found it frustratingly slow. I looked around the bike shops & was not prepared to buy a new road bike for the silly money a nice one cost, so I ended up with a second hand Avanti Corsa Pro, that I'm really pleased with - it's light, relatively up to date, has a good bling factor, and now I can keep up with the other roadies I ride with. Look around for second hand bargains, I'd say. And, at our age, fit is even more important than ever. -- Karen And thanks to Tam at aus.bicycle for the cool new nick "Sometimes I think I have a Guardian Idiot - a little invisible spirit just behind my shoulder, looking out for me ... only he's an imbecile" - Jake Stonebender |
#7
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Road bike for a 60+ years bike rider
Thank you all for the advice you have given me on moving to a faster bike.
At the moment I am thinking of either a Trek Pilot or a Trek fitness or a Trek road bike. Joseph "Duracell Bunny" wrote in message ... Joseph wrote: Hello All I am a 60+ years old bike rider who has been riding a mountain bike for the last 6 years and I am quite happy with the bike. My problem is that my mate who I ride with has now gone from a cheap heavy mountain bike to a road bike. Guess what? I can no longer keep up with him. He takes off like "it is so easy". I need to go to a road bike so that I can keep up with him. I have never ridden a road bike before except as a test run. I was not impressed with the stability etc of it. I have been looking at Trek Pilot 1.0, 1.2 flat bar, 2.1 bikes. From what I have read these bikes might suite me better than a full road bike. I haven't had a test run at this stage and I don't think that the local Trek LBS would especially get one in for me to try it out. I would appreciate any comments from anyone who has had similar problems. Joseph I'm 58, and got back into bike riding some 6 months or so ago after a long layoff - I started off with a new hybrid, which is really comfortable, but I found it frustratingly slow. I looked around the bike shops & was not prepared to buy a new road bike for the silly money a nice one cost, so I ended up with a second hand Avanti Corsa Pro, that I'm really pleased with - it's light, relatively up to date, has a good bling factor, and now I can keep up with the other roadies I ride with. Look around for second hand bargains, I'd say. And, at our age, fit is even more important than ever. -- Karen And thanks to Tam at aus.bicycle for the cool new nick "Sometimes I think I have a Guardian Idiot - a little invisible spirit just behind my shoulder, looking out for me ... only he's an imbecile" - Jake Stonebender |
#8
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Road bike for a 60+ years bike rider
Duracell Bunny wrote:
Joseph wrote: Hello All I am a 60+ years old bike rider who has been riding a mountain bike for the last 6 years and I am quite happy with the bike. My problem is that my mate who I ride with has now gone from a cheap heavy mountain bike to a road bike. Guess what? I can no longer keep up with him. He takes off like "it is so easy". I need to go to a road bike so that I can keep up with him. I have never ridden a road bike before except as a test run. I was not impressed with the stability etc of it. I have been looking at Trek Pilot 1.0, 1.2 flat bar, 2.1 bikes. From what I have read these bikes might suite me better than a full road bike. I haven't had a test run at this stage and I don't think that the local Trek LBS would especially get one in for me to try it out. I would appreciate any comments from anyone who has had similar problems. Joseph I'm 58, and got back into bike riding some 6 months or so ago after a long layoff - I started off with a new hybrid, which is really comfortable, but I found it frustratingly slow. I looked around the bike shops & was not prepared to buy a new road bike for the silly money a nice one cost, so I ended up with a second hand Avanti Corsa Pro, that I'm really pleased with - it's light, relatively up to date, has a good bling factor, and now I can keep up with the other roadies I ride with. Look around for second hand bargains, I'd say. And, at our age, fit is even more important than ever. Not actually true. FIt is always THE importent thing. SO how can it be more important? You would be right if it could of course Dave |
#9
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Road bike for a 60+ years bike rider
dave wrote:
Duracell Bunny wrote: Joseph wrote: Look around for second hand bargains, I'd say. And, at our age, fit is even more important than ever. Not actually true. FIt is always THE importent thing. SO how can it be more important? You would be right if it could of course Dave What I mean is, at a younger age you can get away with some discomfort or inefficiency, as you age your body is less tolerant & takes MUCH longer to recover from injury or stress. I'd venture that most (not all) younger cyclists has NEVER had a professional fit (I exclude the readers of this NG, as we're cleverer than anyone else ) But most older cyclists will have, due to aches & pains they wish to avoid getting repeats of, or aggravation of old injuries. -- Karen And thanks to Tam at aus.bicycle for the cool new nick "Sometimes I think I have a Guardian Idiot - a little invisible spirit just behind my shoulder, looking out for me ... only he's an imbecile" - Jake Stonebender |
#10
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Road bike for a 60+ years bike rider
Duracell Bunny wrote:
What I mean is, at a younger age you can get away with some discomfort or inefficiency, as you age your body is less tolerant & takes MUCH longer to recover from injury or stress. I'd venture that most (not all) younger cyclists has NEVER had a professional fit (I exclude the readers of this NG, as we're cleverer than anyone else ) But most older cyclists will have, due to aches & pains they wish to avoid getting repeats of, or aggravation of old injuries. I get the impression you think 60+ is old. :-) Theo Hoping to be as young as my dad when I turn 92. |
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