How do I know when it's time for a different bike?

[nicole309]

Well, I am new at this as well, but let me see if I can offer some suggestions. I actually just recently switched from road bike to touring bike. The road bike was just too twitchy and unstable for me and also it didn't fit very well either. A touring bike was much more practical for my needs which include a large variety of activities including commuting, errands, and long ride including a century soon!

Why is climbing better on a road bike? Bike weight? Riding position? Gearing? I think the answer is yes to all of the above. I actually switched to a heavier bike, making hill climbing a bit slower, but I also got the benefit of some lower gears. In the end I ended up faster on the hills and didn't feel nearly as dead at the top.

- How much of a mph increase can I reasonably expect? I think you could expect a lot. You probably won't find a difference on the flats and downhill, but the uphill will be really nice, especially if you can learn to stand on some of the hills. A challenge I am still working on.

- How much of an adjustment is the change in riding position -- hybrid to road? When I first got my road bike the only other bike I had ever riden was a mountain bike. It took some getting used to. Make sure you get a good bike fit. You should not experience any wrist or hand discomfort or numbness. You may get some normal muscle soreness at first. Once you get used to it however, it is great to have all the different hand positions, especially for long rides.

- Those skinny tires look fragile! Do they hold up to bumpy roads well? Are road bikes higher maintenance? Just watch out for glass. I may have just had bad luck, but I felt like every time I would ride on the road with my road bike I would end up with a flat!! In five months I had eight flats and one shredded tire! Since I bought my touring bike which has a little wider tire I have had no problems.

- I'd like to stay under $1000. Any advice on some brands to start my research? I'm 5'8" and not petite by a long shot! My new Jamis Aurora was $850 it is a road/touring bike however. I am 5'10" tall. You can always check on used bikes as well. I got a great deal on my Trek 1000. She might be up for sale soon!

[onimity]

I agree with those that have said that when you start to realize the limitations of your current bike.

I just got a road bike and I love it. My rationale for getting it was that I wasn't able to go much further/faster on my MTB. A 60 mile ride on a MTB takes a lot out of you, especially if you are trying to, say, ride with other people!

I commute a little over 20 miles RT and do that on my MTB as opposed to the road bike. I've commuted a few times on the road bike but find that it is hard to carry all of my stuff (laptop, clothes, food) on the road bike. The aggressive position makes the weight difficult to carry, whereas on my MTB I am more upright and have a good rack bag/panniers. I chose the MTB over a hybrid/touring bike for commuting because one of my favorite routes home is a good singletrack but I think if commuting is one of your goals a road bike might not be the best option for that if you carry a lot.

I'd look for a good used bike or last year's model new (test ride a *lot*, preferably for longer distances if you can.) Know what you are looking for and make sure that you get a good deal. My road bike was last year's model and I got $600 off because of that.

I like the model for upgrading that Jiffers mentions but have heard that you get a much better deal on higher-end components when purchasing them on a bike as opposed to individually since the bike manufacturers buy them in high volumes. That would be easy enough to prove or disprove with some searching online.

I wouldn't say that climbing is better on a road bike, it really depends. On my commute I climb a couple of solid 8-10% grades. I find the climb a lot more difficult on the road bike because I am carrying a lot of weight and I don't have the easy gearing as on the mountain bike. On the mountain bike the hills are pretty painless but it definitely takes a lot less time on the road bike!

My advice would be to take your time, do plenty of reading and research online and then test ride bikes to make sure that you get one that fits you well. I am 5'10" and was told that 5'8" is about the cutoff for women-specific bikes. I always fit the 'standard' frame size better.

Anne

[Torrilin]

Harris cyclry has a page for looking at gearing. I was playing with it using my bike's information yesterday to get a better understanding of how my bike works. I have a K2 Zed 1.0, which means the front chainrings are 24, 34 and 42 teeth. The cassette in back goes from 12 to 32 T. Turns out that several of the gear combinations I use frequently are almost identical *g*.

After all my playing around, I've concluded that if I can build strength and endurance so I'm mostly riding in the toughest gear (42/12), I'll probably have outgrown the gearing on my bike some. I won't have a bigger gear to use for building more strength. So on a new bike I'd want the biggest chainring to be bigger, and to cut down on the number of not very useful gears.

It might be worthwhile for you to play around with your hybrid's gears with their tool. You might find that you have a lot of gears that are really the same, or that you have gears that are really bad for hill climbing. You can even compare the gearing you have to my bike, or to bikes you find online.

I can't really help on the other questions. But if you understand how the gearing you have works, that might help you with buying a road bike.