Road Cycling - How can I soften up my "aluminum" ride??

Hey all,

I'm an avid recreational rider living in Florida. I ride an aluminum Cannondale with a Mavic Ksyrium wheelset. The bike is fast but really rough on the roads down here. Aside from buying a new frame/different wheelset, what would any of you suggest to make my ride more comfortable? After about 2000 miles last year, my back has really begun to kill me! Help!! Thanks in advance...

- Ivan909

If you do not have a carbon fork get one right away. The wheelset that you have with such a rigid frame is not helping soften up your ride. A set of spinergy wheels with PBO carbon spokes will help soften up the ride.

Try raising your 'bars, running bigger tyres, padded shorts, maybe a shorter stem?

Get someone knowledgeable to check your position and see which -if any- of these suggestions might help.

Carbon post, a saddle with Ti rails and a carbon shell, wider tires, gel bar tape.

Maybe you should consider a 'training' wheelset using 36 spokes (conventionally laced) with tubulars. My Cannondale has just such a set, with Vittoria Corsas, and it rides quite nicely.

If your back is killing you, I wonder if it's frame stiffness or if it's your riding position. How much drop to the bars? Maybe a stem with more rise would help.

Otherwise, yeah, wider tires and a carbon fork would be my first two moves.

RichC

My back had been killing me also. It turned out I had my saddle too high in the front. It felt fine, but it was killing my back after about 20 miles.

IVAN It may help your comfort levelsif youdrop the tyre presurea littel too. What pressure areyou running at the moment?

I was going to suggest the same as TimB. Take 5 or 10 psi out of your tires. It's a lot cheaper than a new fork or carbon seatpost.

going to the next wider tire may also help- 700x25 instead of 23, etc. Further, a tire with more threads per inch might be smoother in a given size.

Another issue is your conditioniing. As you become better conditioned you will do a better job of absorbing the shocks of riding. In the meantime, many of the suggestions above, like ti rails, carbon or ti spokes, and higher handlebars will also help,

Buy a Carbon Fiber frame. Go with FONDRIEST>

Thank you everyone. Since I have a Reynolds Ouzo Pro i.e., I don't need a carbon fork, I'm going to play with all the other advice over the next few weeks. Keep you all posted. Happy trails..

Let about 10-15 psi out of your tires. Most novice roadies air up to 120-125 psi. This is unneccessary and imparts no performance gain, but it does make the ride harsher. Inflate your tires to 105-110 and enjoy the ride.

as a point of note, I run 90 psi in the front wheel and 95 in the rear. I timed various runs down a hill of around 2km.
no pedalling (except up the mhill of course.
static start and just free wheel down the hill

tried various pressure seetings in front and back and found that around 90/95 Frt Back worked best. rolled faster and more comfortable.

Try a similar test with your tyres and see what pressure work for you.

TIRES.

Tires have hundreds of times more compliance than any other aspect of your frame/fork/wheels.

Go to 25 or 28c tires. Skinwalls like contis give a good ride. Experiment with pressure. I run 90/100 (front/back) in 25c's, and 80/85 in 28c's.

Dave

Novice roadies run 120-125/unneccessary.Thats crap.Less psi slows me down but it will soften the ride.

Light rider on stiff frame: reduce tire pressure.

Heavy rider on stiff frame: wider tires.

Heavy rider who reduces tire pressure: risk of pinch flats.

RichC

Originally posted by shokhead
Thats crap.Less psi slows me down but it will soften the ride.

The SR71 is a comfort bike and comes with a suspension seatpost, correct?

Yea but they dont do anything on the road.Its a street bike with straight bars.

so it's a comfort bike then.....

Nope.

comfort bike.....

Originally posted by TimB
comfort bike.....

More or less yes. It is a comfort/city/road bike.

Felt calls it a speed bike,7005 double butted aluminum frame,xero xr-3 wheelsets with 700x23 tires,carbon fork,ultegra rear derailleur,105 crank and BB,shimano front derailleur and cassette and levers.I guess the non road bike part would be the bars,shifters,brakes,seatpost.Is there a problem because it not a REAL road bike?It might not be but it works pretty good at only 22 pounds.Oh i forgot to ask,did you want to buy it?I also have a 2000 cannondale silkpath hybrid for sale to.

Ok so it's a ............SpEEEEEEEED bike, (insert marketing mumbo jumbo here) so it has more Mass to damp vibration, flat wide bars which also provide more deflection to absorb road shock and is set up with comfort in mind with wider tyres (?).

In fact a lot of novice riders do run way to high tyre pressures and for us poor road race bike riders with our stiff narrow bars and 17Lbs of bike, we've no extra material to damp vibration so i guess we're stuck with paying with tyre pressure.

Lower is faster and more comfy...

I got another bike this weekend and i'll be useing max psi as i like to run that way.You must be aREAL ROADIE,gee.Do you pedal real fast to?LOL

The fastest, easiest, cheapest thing you can do to soften the ride is install wider tires. Rivendell (http://www.rivendellbicycles.com) RolyPoly 700x27 are the roundest clinchers you can buy and are also the widest you can run with short reach brakes.

I'll second that.

I'm thinking, maybe I should pump my Vittorias up to the full 170 psi they are rated for just to remind myself how young idiots do it.
sigh
I ran across some young roadie at a club ride on Sunday who was complaining about how hard his bike rode. He had his tires all pumped up to 140 psi. Maybe that was part of the problem, do ya think?

Hi,
I just got some new bar tape, adds a bit of comfort. I double wrapped my bar.

http://www.gripstore.com/lazervdt_detail.asp?product_id=SL-LT

Specialized makes a product called Bar Phat It is basically a set of gel pads that fit in between the bar and the bar tape. It is common on there road/comfort bikes and will take out a great deal of vibration and palm pressure.