First road bike: braking?

I'm in the market for my first road bike. I currently use a '94 Trek
970 mountain bike with slicks for commuting (3 miles) that I've
upgraded several times over the years (notably XT V brakes, Rockshox
FSX carbon fork, and a few other things) but I've been doing some
slightly longer rides and have found it uncomfortable, particularly my
hands get numb after a while.

So, I've been test driving a few road bikes. While they have all
seemed to be more comfortable and seem more efficient, the brakes have
invariably seemed to be far less powerful than I'm used to. Is this
universal for road bikes? Is there any way to make them stop faster?

-alan


--
Alan Hoyle - - http://www.alanhoyle.com/
"I don't want the world, I just want your half." -TMBG
Get Horizontal, Play Ultimate.

While they have all
seemed to be more comfortable and seem more efficient, the brakes have
invariably seemed to be far less powerful than I'm used to. Is this
universal for road bikes? Is there any way to make them stop faster?


My Ultegra brakes seem to stop me pretty quick.

Never rode a recent road bike, I never liked road bikes.
I did several 30 miles road rides on my MTB. For the hand problems, good
gloves and bar ends do the trick for me. With the bar ends I can changes the
position of my hands to prevent them from getting numb.
As for the brakes, the V-brakes are very powerfull in the woods even on very
steep hills. But above certain speed 25 mph (going down a hill on pavement)
they don't break as well as I would like them to. For my next MTB I'll go
with disc brakes.

"Alan Hoyle" wrote in message
...
I'm in the market for my first road bike. I currently use a '94 Trek
970 mountain bike with slicks for commuting (3 miles) that I've
upgraded several times over the years (notably XT V brakes, Rockshox
FSX carbon fork, and a few other things) but I've been doing some
slightly longer rides and have found it uncomfortable, particularly my
hands get numb after a while.

So, I've been test driving a few road bikes. While they have all
seemed to be more comfortable and seem more efficient, the brakes have
invariably seemed to be far less powerful than I'm used to. Is this
universal for road bikes? Is there any way to make them stop faster?

-alan


--
Alan Hoyle - - http://www.alanhoyle.com/
"I don't want the world, I just want your half." -TMBG
Get Horizontal, Play Ultimate.

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 10:14:02 +0000, Paul Bielec wrote:

Never rode a recent road bike, I never liked road bikes. I did several 30
miles road rides on my MTB.

But that is about the limit for most people on a mountain bike.

But
above certain speed 25 mph (going down a hill on pavement) they don't
break as well as I would like them to. For my next MTB I'll go with disc
brakes.

So, your mountain bike doesn't brake well going downhill on roads, and
your solution is to get another mountain bike? For riding on roads I'd
have to recommend, let's see, oh yeah, a road bike.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Enron's slogan: Respect, Communication, Integrity, and
_`\(,_ | Excellence.
(_)/ (_) |

So, your mountain bike doesn't brake well going downhill on roads, and
your solution is to get another mountain bike? For riding on roads I'd
have to recommend, let's see, oh yeah, a road bike.
I'm talking on going down a very steep hill on a small pavement stretch
nearly at the end of a XC trail. Right at the bottom of the hill, the trail
goes back to the woods while the road continues staight. I'm not convinced
that a road bike would brake any better at around 30 mph still on the slope.
Anyway, I find road bikes boring. I prefer the woods to the bike path.

"Paul Bielec" wrote in message ...

Anyway, I find road bikes boring. I prefer the woods to the bike path.

The highways are anything but boring. Make a few left turns.

-Luigi

Anyway, I find road bikes boring. I prefer the woods to the bike path.


Bike paths are usually boring . But so is riding at walking speed over rough
terrain. The real thrill is riding in a pack at 25 mph or so. That's a real
rush.

Alan Hoyle wrote in -
berlin.de:

I'm in the market for my first road bike. I currently use a '94 Trek
970 mountain bike with slicks for commuting (3 miles) that I've
upgraded several times over the years (notably XT V brakes, Rockshox
FSX carbon fork, and a few other things) but I've been doing some
slightly longer rides and have found it uncomfortable, particularly my
hands get numb after a while.

So, I've been test driving a few road bikes. While they have all
seemed to be more comfortable and seem more efficient, the brakes have
invariably seemed to be far less powerful than I'm used to. Is this
universal for road bikes? Is there any way to make them stop faster?

-alan




2 words. BAR ENDS. Cheap, better than road bars.

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 12:26:47 +0000, Mr. E. Mann wrote:

rides and have found it uncomfortable, particularly my hands get numb
after a while.

Primarily because mountain bars do not allow the several hand positions
that road bars do.

So, I've been test driving a few road bikes. While they have all seemed
to be more comfortable and seem more efficient, the brakes have
invariably seemed to be far less powerful than I'm used to. Is this
universal for road bikes? Is there any way to make them stop faster?

Less powerful than your V-brakes? Possibly. But they have plenty of
power to stop you. I typically ride with my hands on the hoods a lot --
as do most road riders -- and can stop using only two fingers of each hand
on the levers, without going down to the drops. This includes hard stops,
except that the back brakes is not used for those, so it's just two
fingers of my left hand.

I think you will find that you have enough strength in your hands to send
yourself over the bars of a road bike. That is more braking strength than
you need.

2 words. BAR ENDS. Cheap, better than road bars.

No, not better. Road bars offer more positions for your hands, and allow
you to get your body out of the wind while still having control over the
brakes and gears. Bar ends don't do that. To have control of the brakes
and shifters on a mountain bike, you need your hands on the grips.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | I don't believe you, you've got the whole damn thing all wrong.
_`\(,_ | He's not the kind you have to wind-up on Sundays. --Ian
(_)/ (_) | Anderson

David L. Johnson:

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 12:26:47 +0000, Mr. E. Mann wrote:

rides and have found it uncomfortable, particularly my hands get numb
after a while.

Primarily because mountain bars do not allow the several hand positions
that road bars do.


These come at costs, though, and become uncomfortable over time. See
below.

2 words. BAR ENDS. Cheap, better than road bars.

No, not better. Road bars offer more positions for your hands, and allow
you to get your body out of the wind while still having control over the
brakes and gears. Bar ends don't do that. To have control of the brakes
and shifters on a mountain bike, you need your hands on the grips.

Not true about drop bars. The only time your hands are in position for
easy operation of the brakes is when they are in the hoods, except when
the brakes have extensions which allow operation on the top of the bars.
Even at the hoods the grip you can have on the brake levers don't
allow as good leverage as you can have in a straight bar. It's a pretty
awkward setup, in the ergonomic sense, which takes getting used to.

The hand positions on drop bars come at the cost of changing your body
angle as well. The result is that riding on the lowest part can only be
done over short periods since it changes the weight taken up by your
hands, and your neck gets more strained looking at the road by the upper
body being positioned lower down.