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Rode in a local race, now want a road bike
So despite being an inhabitant of Tucson, Arizona for many years (in fact I grew up here and lived here on and off, with the odd 10 year hiatus sprinkled in), I have never ridden in the El Tour de Tucson bicycle race. I did not realize it is the largest bicycle race in the country. My friend rides it regularly and offered up one of his older road bikes for me to use. He had some fancy $9K carbon thing, but I rode his '04 Fuji Team SL, which is a scandium framed machine that weighed in at 19 lbs once I swapped my Brooks leather saddle and some DMR V8 flats onto it. My only road bike is an All City Big Block which is a beefy 27.5 lb steel beast.
Pardon my immodesty, but I absolutely KILLED it. I rode the 57 mile route, averaged 14.5 mph and thanks to all the regular mountain biking am hardly winded by the event. It was so much fun too! So the issue is now... I want a road bike. For exactly this purpose, the odd race. Unfortunately, there's a huge selection of machines to pick from, but one thing I zeroed in on was titanium frames. That highlighted Litespeed, Lynskey, Moots, and a few others. I am looking to spend around $4K or less and don't need disc brakes or electronic shifting. I would like to be as light as possible although I will probably continue to rock my Brooks saddle and potentially even ride on flats, still.
Welcome to opinions and thoughts from other mountain bikers.
Pardon my immodesty, but I absolutely KILLED it. I rode the 57 mile route, averaged 14.5 mph and thanks to all the regular mountain biking am hardly winded by the event. It was so much fun too! So the issue is now... I want a road bike. For exactly this purpose, the odd race. Unfortunately, there's a huge selection of machines to pick from, but one thing I zeroed in on was titanium frames. That highlighted Litespeed, Lynskey, Moots, and a few others. I am looking to spend around $4K or less and don't need disc brakes or electronic shifting. I would like to be as light as possible although I will probably continue to rock my Brooks saddle and potentially even ride on flats, still.
Welcome to opinions and thoughts from other mountain bikers.
1 - 20 of 33 Posts
There are also some really nice lightweight gravel bikes, which are in essence road bikes with fewer limitations (primarily on tire width). So you could have one bike and two wheel sets (or one set and change tires), and thus have fewer limitations on where you might ride.
If you go with titanium (or lightweight steel -- which is what I did), consider spending a bit more and get a custom build. I've never regretted it (unlike buying cars, houses, etc).
For what it is worth, I also don't regret disc brakes and Di2 (and a Brooks saddle -- but I don't race).
My kid races with a Trek Emonda, which seems like a good option (albeit plastic with no soul).
If you go with titanium (or lightweight steel -- which is what I did), consider spending a bit more and get a custom build. I've never regretted it (unlike buying cars, houses, etc).
For what it is worth, I also don't regret disc brakes and Di2 (and a Brooks saddle -- but I don't race).
My kid races with a Trek Emonda, which seems like a good option (albeit plastic with no soul).
I’m fortunate to have several hundred miles of greenway (paved path with no motorized vehicle access) that connects every corner of the city. Cycling is a huge focus of the community here and drivers do seem to be more aware, but I agree with the statement regarding caution when sharing the road with them.
While you can’t discount the benefit of disc brakes and electronic shift, the extra cost isn’t worth it to me. I’d rather pay for the quality and featherweight of the frame. The Litespeed Ultimate looks mighty enticing.
While you can’t discount the benefit of disc brakes and electronic shift, the extra cost isn’t worth it to me. I’d rather pay for the quality and featherweight of the frame. The Litespeed Ultimate looks mighty enticing.
$4k for a road bike? All the cool kids are selling their sweet obsolete caliper braked bikes. Bottom feed them until you find one you love. No reason to spend more than about $900: moots or cielo. Enjoy the process and dial the fit. Just make sure it can fit a 25-28mm tire front and back. Worlds your oyster!
Lots of good options. The advantages of disc brakes are less limited tire sizes and unlimited wheel choices. That said, the best used deals now are rim brake carbon bikes. If you look for cyclocross bikes like the Boone or Crux, they can run wider tubeless tires even with rim brakes and are priced pretty low.
Personally, I went to tubeless 32mm gp5000s a couple years ago and Ill never go back to a smaller tire. They are wonderful.
If I had 4k to spend on a road bike, I'd buy a Domane. Subjective and opinionated but they are super comfy, can run any road tire size and still fast. I'll get scolded for saying it but ti is overrated.
Personally, I went to tubeless 32mm gp5000s a couple years ago and Ill never go back to a smaller tire. They are wonderful.
If I had 4k to spend on a road bike, I'd buy a Domane. Subjective and opinionated but they are super comfy, can run any road tire size and still fast. I'll get scolded for saying it but ti is overrated.
In my mind real road bikes are about being as uncomfortable as you can handle while going fast. It's all about aero these days, so like Pipeliner said I'd go with carbon over Ti.
Depending on your surfaces there 28s might be fine. Apparently they're the sweet spot of comfort/aerodynamics/weight.
Depending on your surfaces there 28s might be fine. Apparently they're the sweet spot of comfort/aerodynamics/weight.
I rode on 23mm tires that I initially set to 100 psi front/rear. The Fuji I rode for the race was pretty comfortable for me after swapping bars, pedals, and saddle. I'm 200+ lbs and definitely not getting any lighter. For racing I don't think I'd want to run something as fat as 28mm if I could avoid it. After looking at pricing for a myriad of bikes, I see that there's some high performance aluminum options that are significantly cheaper, but still extremely lightweight. For such a purpose built machine that is quite honestly, rarely used, I wonder whether it's really worth the coin to spring for titanium. Carbon is definitely out for me.
I found these 2 road racer options which are more reasonable in cost, particularly the Fuji, but it lacks internal cable routing.
I found these 2 road racer options which are more reasonable in cost, particularly the Fuji, but it lacks internal cable routing.
Crazy thing I saw in Tucson was elderly retired snow birds with 5-digit carbon road bikes staying in half-length trailers in old folk trailer parks. Oh, and did I mention that they are way fast?
Either do it, or don't do it. Go full roadie, especially the pedals and embrace it. Think of it as a secret identity, like batman.
Aluminum is fine, carbon will hold up fine if that is what you are worried about, Titanium is fine if you really really value the feel of titanium. I would stick to the disk brakes unless you ride on the drops all the time when at speed, there is a reason why disk brakes are the new rage. They work so much better from the hoods than calipers when you've got weight at speed.
Now here is the painful part. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But 135lb retired trailer park snowbirds with decades of road riding experience that rides a few hundred miles every week will still drop you. And that's OK.
Either do it, or don't do it. Go full roadie, especially the pedals and embrace it. Think of it as a secret identity, like batman.
Aluminum is fine, carbon will hold up fine if that is what you are worried about, Titanium is fine if you really really value the feel of titanium. I would stick to the disk brakes unless you ride on the drops all the time when at speed, there is a reason why disk brakes are the new rage. They work so much better from the hoods than calipers when you've got weight at speed.
Now here is the painful part. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But 135lb retired trailer park snowbirds with decades of road riding experience that rides a few hundred miles every week will still drop you. And that's OK.
For racing I don't think I'd want to run something as fat as 28mm if I could avoid it.
.....Carbon is definitely out for me.
To both of those questions I'd have to ask why? Especially the first one.
28c tires are fast and comfy, zero downsides even for competitive racing.
Carbon is a great frame material for road bikes and aside from cost it also has zero downsides. Aluminum is great too and cheaper for sure. I wouldn't spring for ti unless you have a sentimental attachment to it and don't really care about the cost.
If you are looking for a comfortable steel road bike Soma Fog Cutter is worth a look. Could put some nice 700x35mm tires to ride in comfort & speed.
RE tire width, the 23mm tires will still have less rolling resistance than the others, no? My All City Big Block weighs in at around 25 lbs (on 28mm tires) and was a fine steed until I threw a leg over the svelte Fuji Team SL.
So it looks like those 135 lb snowbirds you mention must be racing the 100+ mile class. Myself, not having ridden a sub-20 lb road bike since 1993, but putting in a minimum of 100 miles/week combination road (commuting to work) and mountain, managed to nail 101/1413 in the '21 El Tour's 57 mile road class. With a finishing position like that, I'm motivated to see how I will fare on a newer bike and with a different attitude towards the ride. I wasn't even pushing it, with an average heart rate of 139 bpm and cadence of 58 RPM, I was accompanying a friend of mine who was riding it for charitable reasons and enjoying the wonderful weather.
Honestly, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Having thousands of riders accompany you through highways and roads that are normally unsafe for cyclists was one aspect of the cool factor, but the drafting aspect of racing was incredibly fun. Having the physical conditioning to have plenty of reserve energy, endurance, and power also made it incredibly fun. I would say that anyone who is an avid mountain biker and has an opportunity to ride in a road race (on a sub-20 lb road bike) would have a similar experience. It was awesome!
So it looks like those 135 lb snowbirds you mention must be racing the 100+ mile class. Myself, not having ridden a sub-20 lb road bike since 1993, but putting in a minimum of 100 miles/week combination road (commuting to work) and mountain, managed to nail 101/1413 in the '21 El Tour's 57 mile road class. With a finishing position like that, I'm motivated to see how I will fare on a newer bike and with a different attitude towards the ride. I wasn't even pushing it, with an average heart rate of 139 bpm and cadence of 58 RPM, I was accompanying a friend of mine who was riding it for charitable reasons and enjoying the wonderful weather.
Honestly, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Having thousands of riders accompany you through highways and roads that are normally unsafe for cyclists was one aspect of the cool factor, but the drafting aspect of racing was incredibly fun. Having the physical conditioning to have plenty of reserve energy, endurance, and power also made it incredibly fun. I would say that anyone who is an avid mountain biker and has an opportunity to ride in a road race (on a sub-20 lb road bike) would have a similar experience. It was awesome!
RE tire width, the 23mm tires will still have less rolling resistance than the others, no?
No, not unless the pavement you ride is incredibly smooth (I've been to Tucson and it isn't)
If 23mm was faster pros would still be using them. They don't.
Why not carbon? You said light and carbon is lighter by a long way over Ti. Now if you want semi light that last forever get Ti.
My friend has a Ti Quiring that gets 75 miles a year for the last 10 years!
My friend has a Ti Quiring that gets 75 miles a year for the last 10 years!
If you're set on the Fuji then get it.
2500 is not a bad price for what you get. Don't settle for less if you plan to ride a lot and enjoy it.
2500 is not a bad price for what you get. Don't settle for less if you plan to ride a lot and enjoy it.
Extrapolating, you'll probably win '22 with a lighter bike, but only if it's carbon.managed to nail 101/1413 in the '21 El Tour's 57 mile road class. With a finishing position like that, I'm motivated to see how I will fare on a newer bike and with a different attitude towards the ride. I wasn't even pushing it, with an average heart rate of 139 bpm and cadence of 58 RPM, I was accompanying a friend of mine who was riding it for charitable reasons and enjoying the wonderful weather.
A light gravel bike with discs would give you a bike you could easily have 2 sets of wheels for and swap them over in minutes. I have a set of wheels with gravel tires on and one with slicks. Bolt thru hubs and discs make this the most fun and adaptable bike I've ever owned.
I race road bikes for fun on occasion, but mostly just enjoy riding road bikes a lot. I can head out my door and ride tons of beautiful places, I have to drive to ride my MTB. But I love riding that 170mm coil bike...
-That said, 28mm tires are pretty normal. Some run larger. I currently have 25mm and wouldn't go narrower. I normally run 28mm.
-Frame material doesn't matter. That said, I love my carbon bike for a lot of reasons. It is on the older side now, but I still love it (2015 SuperSix Evo).
-Try and get disc brakes. That is what most bikes are going to. Like buying an MTB with non boost because you don't need boost.
-Gravel and endurance bikes are virtually just as fast as a road race bike. I would consider one of those first.
For some perspective, a friend of mine did the TdT. He finished the 100 miler in less than 4 hours. Yes, OVER 25 MPH average. As far as I am aware, I am still faster than him (looking at the results of our last XC race).
-That said, 28mm tires are pretty normal. Some run larger. I currently have 25mm and wouldn't go narrower. I normally run 28mm.
-Frame material doesn't matter. That said, I love my carbon bike for a lot of reasons. It is on the older side now, but I still love it (2015 SuperSix Evo).
-Try and get disc brakes. That is what most bikes are going to. Like buying an MTB with non boost because you don't need boost.
-Gravel and endurance bikes are virtually just as fast as a road race bike. I would consider one of those first.
For some perspective, a friend of mine did the TdT. He finished the 100 miler in less than 4 hours. Yes, OVER 25 MPH average. As far as I am aware, I am still faster than him (looking at the results of our last XC race).
If you get a gravel bike, keep in mind the 40-46t big ring will have you spinning like an eggbeater during a voltage surge when group riding. Unless you are pokey-turtle a 50t minimum front ring is a very good idea. Downwind and/or downhill is much more enjoyable. Most competitive roadies run a 52/38. I’m older than you and I would go no less than a 50t…and 28mm tire at a minimum. 32‘s are not a handicap and are easy on yer ass.
Yup, during the race I was rocking a 52/39 and I never got out of the big front chainring.
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