General Cycling Discussion - Bike help

Hi all, i am looking for a new bicycle and was looking for some advice. I ride 95% road 5% dirt trails, and am currently using an 80's road bike. I was looking into single speed bikes, becuase i dont use my gears too much, but is it worth the change-over?

Does anyone have a road hybrid? What are your pros cons for it?

Is it worth to go up to an 180 mm crank? For my height and fitting it seems i should. Does anyone have experiecnce with those?

Just throwing this out there, has anyone tried airless tires? The full rubber ones? Any reviews?

Thank you

Is the gearing causing you problems? However, there is nothing wrong with just getting a new bike because you want one. (As long as you can afford it, that is!)

I guess my utility bike is more of a mountain hybrid these days. It's an '88 non-suspended Trek that I've put roadish tires onto. My main bike is a Road bike. I'm afraid I really don't know about the gearing question, as I shift pretty frequently as conditions change.

Hi all, i am looking for a new bicycle and was looking for some advice. I ride 95% road 5% dirt trails, and am currently using an 80's road bike. I was looking into single speed bikes, becuase i dont use my gears too much, but is it worth the change-over?

The best way to decide on SS is to pick one gear combination and only use THAT combo for, say a whole month. I thought I sold myself on SS after a week of riding in one combination (I picked a gear combo that had the same overall ratio as a particular SS bike I found on Craigslist, which I then bought), but I didn't ride over enough of my usual territory and eventually regretted buying the SS bike. But if it works for you, then go for it.


Does anyone have a road hybrid? What are your pros cons for it?

You mean with skinny tires and flat handlebars? I had one of those, too; well, kind of, because although it had skinny tires and could cruise pretty quickly, it (a Cannondale Bad Boy) was based on a mountain bike frame. Worked great, was a lot of fun, but when I started putting in bigger distances, I wished for drop bars and a quicker-handling frame. That's when I got a road bike, and soon sold the Bad Boy.


Is it worth to go up to an 180 mm crank? For my height and fitting it seems i should. Does anyone have experiecnce with those?

I don't think I've ridden anything longer than 175. There are some guys around the forums that have, though. The one tangible drawback I can think of would be a limited selection of 180mm cranks.


Just throwing this out there, has anyone tried airless tires? The full rubber ones? Any reviews?

Solid rubber or foam rubber? Oh God, no. ;) I think our city's rent-a-bikes might use airless tires because they handle like pigs, but I'm not sure. There are tubeless tires now, though, that fit directly on the wheel rim (just like a car tire) and don't use an inner tube. They make them for mountain bikes and road bikes, but I don't know about other styles of tire.


Thank you

Remember, my advice is free, and you get what you pay for. ;) :p

thank you, so what are your biggesrt drawbacks on SS besides uphill and top speed?

thank you, so what are your biggesrt drawbacks on SS besides uphill and top speed?

That was really about it, just climbing and speed. The limit on top speed isn't that bad, though -- I was still good for 18-20 mph or so before the pedal cadence got too fast for me. It was those climbs that got annoying, even just going up Capitol Hill. It's only a block, and I could do it, but each time I got up I wish I could have dropped maybe two gears, at least.

I'll tell ya, though, if I lived where it was flatter, I'd almost certainly have a singlespeed for poking around town. Less to clean, less to adjust, and it reminded me of my first bike when I was a kid.

Oh -- regarding 180 mm cranks, one member around here who has "been there, done that" with a whole bunch of crank sizes is carpediemracing. Do a search for posts by him (he's usually in the Road subforum) and see what he's written before.

What is a road hybrid? I have a 10 year old cannondale road warrior, this bike has 700c wheels, road triple crank, flat bar and headshok.

Pros: flat bars, I like the wide hand position of the flat bars for some trail riding

Cons: flat bars, they don't have enough hand positions to be comfortable for long rides.

I probably would have preferred a cross bike.

IMO you should checkout the following bikes. One of which, just may fill your prescription.

1) Surly LHT

2) Surly Ogre

3) Salsa Vaya

Good Luck! :thumb:

- Slim :)

PS.

* Alternatively, you might want to checkout the SOMA frames and build your own bike to your own customized specifications. I personally like the Double-Cross CX, the Saga touring, and the San Marcos, road bike frames.

Pros: flat bars, ...
[snip]
Cons: flat bars,

:lol: Funny, I thought the same thing about flat bars after a while... ;)

Some eighties road bikes are better than most mass produced new bikes.

Fit is the most important thing; if your present bike fits, keep it

Some eighties road bikes are better than most mass produced new bikes.

Fit is the most important thing; if your present bike fits, keep it

Good point. And besides, most of the hipster-owned singlespeeds around here are old road bikes anyway. ;)