xjken99

A couple of years ago I purchased a Gary Fisher Zembrano hybrid to get back riding after close to decade off. It has served me well but, I keep reading that road bikes are faster and easier to ride (better gearing for hills).

I would like some first hand accounts from those of you that may have started on a hybrid but, now ride roadies. Most if not all my riding takes place on local bike trails and around my neighborhood and even with a roadie I would probably continue to do the same. When I ride at my favorite trail there are sometimes other riders on road bikes that seem to be putting out a lot less effort but, are getting a lot more speed. How much if any of this is because of the bike? I am 58 and over weight but, I am generally in good health with good stamina. I am not looking to ride centuries but, I guess I want more than just the casual spin around the park. Should I consider a roadie or just work harder with the hybrid to get in better shape? Will that give me the speed I am looking for? Can you get a decent road bike for under a grand for my type of riding?

bassjones

In your area, I would suggest a triple chain ring for lower gearing for hills. Yes, you can get a pretty good road bike for under $1000, particularly if you buy used. What is your weight? If you're over 200 lbs, you will probably need to upgrade your wheelset to at least 32 spoke and possibly 36, depending, so factor that into your budget. You can get a reasonably priced wheelset that will be very strong for around $300-$400, so that would leave you $600-$700 for a bike, which means probably going used. There are lots of used bikes with quality components in that price range though. You should be able to get Shimano 105 in that price range used.

gunner65

depends on the brand and model some are very agressive and almost a roadie with the exception of flat bar and different shifters. Others are more of a comfort style with relaxed geometry and more upright postion. I went with a "true" road bike for weekend rides and I commute and pal around with my kids on a mountain bike. You will notice that a road bike with its lighter weight and different gearing matched with <25mm tires tends to move a little more quickly with a little less effort over say a 2" knobby mountain tire attached to a 30lb offroad bike.

steve0257

Unless you're already riding 12 -13 mph switching from a hybrid to a road bike probably won't do much for your speed. If you do get a road bike I would recommend one with room for wider tires. the ride will be a little smoother and gentler than on the wider tires.

For what it's worth, when I started riding again I got a hybrid. A year later I bought a road bike. And a year after that I went back to riding a hybrid. I ride the same speed on both the road bike and hybrid, and find the hybrid more comfortable.

cyclist2000

My hybrid is a lot different from yours. the one that I own is more like a flat bar road bike. Mine has a road triple crank (52, 42, 30), 700c wheels and a road rear cog. You can see my bikes on the link in my signature.

The difference in your bike and a road bike is that the road bike will feel faster and handle better. The gearing and wheel size difference will make it faster but you may find hills harder to climb without the lower gearing.

What kind of trails do you ride? Paved? Crushed gravel? dirt? if its paved then a road bike is fine but for crushed gravel or dirt, I would not recommend a performance road bike, but would suggest a cross bike since the wheels will accommodate wider tires, also touring bikes since these will take larger tires and they typically have 36 spoke wheels and will take a load, but a lot of these have a mountain crankset and will feel slower (not what you wanted).

The difference I feel in my bikes is that there is only the one had position on the flat bar bike and I am more comfortable with the multiple hand positions of a drop bar, I find the flat bar very uncomfortable for long rides.

breadbin

hiya i have a brodie romax which is technically a cyclo cross bike but i put flat handlebars on it and love it now. I did have drop bars and, not being funny but i couldnt' use the drops cos my belly was in the way used to get wrist pain and neck pain too and always found i was moving my hands around. i put flat bars on it and after a couple of rides no more pain. it just feels so much more comfortable to me but its llike everything else out there its up to you which you prefer. i used to cycle road bikes all my life and loved them, loved the drops but with the extra weight i find it more difficult

bradtx

xjken99, Is there a big difference between a road (racing) bike and a hybrid? Yes. With your rims you might be able to put lighter 28C tires on the bike, which will give it a livelier feel at some cost to plushness. If you want to explore road bikes and perhaps putting in more miles per ride, pick up a used one in your size.

Brad

motobecane69

Here is my take.
you have hybrids which should really be broken up into 2 categories "comfort" bikes and Flat bar road bikes.

Comfort bikes are the bikes you see with flat bars, very upright handlebars typically above the level of the seat, often times with a front suspension as well as a suspension seat post however they have road tires on them, not knobbies. Bikes like this will keep you upright, allow you to go over bumps with a relative degree of comfort, but will not let you go particularly fast. In looking up your bike, it appears that this is what you have.

Then you have flat bar road bikes which you can think of pretty much as a road bike where someone has swapped the drop bars for a flat bar. They are usually fairly entry level, though at the highest levels some manufacturers such as the Giant Rapid come with lower spoke count wheels, carbon fork, seat posts etc. They generally come stock with a 28c tire but may come with slightly larger or smaller. These are great options for commuting as they put you in a more upright position than a road bike so turning your body around for visibility is great.

In my experience, a flat bar road bike is nearly every bit as fast as a drop bar bike. Over the long haul if you put yourself into an aero position on a drop bar bike, you can definately shave some time vs. the flat bar. Both bikes are much quicker than a comfort bike which is a LOT heavier and less efficient due to the suspension parts that are usually attached.

As the previous poster said, if you are a heavier rider with a large belly, the drops may not be of much use to you, you won't be able to get in position. Within the realm of drop bar bikes there are distinct varients. A racing bike has a large saddle to handle bar drop, this is the type of bike you will have problems with your belly getting in the way on, while a touring bike is a lot more even. IT will keep you upright for comfort but should you be riding into a stiff headwind, you can go to the drops and power through it.

At the end of the day I think most people will tell you not to have illusions of a "road bike" making you significantly faster but sometimes just the zippier handling and the added responsiveness of being on narrow tires can make you FEEL faster and can provide a higher fun factor. IF that makes you want to get out and ride the bike more, than by all means consider it.

I have 2 bikes currently that are polar opposites. A 60cm road "race bike" with close to a 5 inch saddle to bar drop and a wheelbase of 100.5 cm riding on 25c tires at 125psi My commuter is also a 60cm frame but the saddle to bar drop is maybe about an inch and the wheelbase is 109cm it's got 35c tires on it at 85psi and it rides so comfortable over the bumpy roads. If i'm just cruising, both bikes can pretty much do the same speed and the commuter can handle bad roads. but if i were in the mood to stand up and sprint, the road bike has a clear advantage.

Wogster

It depends, hybrid in bicycles is a huge category. Essentially you have mountain bikes at one end of the scale, road bikes at the other end, and the vast gulf between those two is given the label, hybrid. There are lots of misconceptions about things and you seem to have heard a few....

The majority of bicycle performance, is the engine, if the engine (read rider) is old, slow and not operating efficiently, then performance will be poor, no matter what is below the saddle. Bicycle marketers like to blame the bicycle, because then they can sell you another one, in reality, a rider like Alberto Contador could probably ride rings around most of us on a 40lb Huffy, with us on the latest -3lb unobtainum bike, and that's all because of engine performance.

Here is what you need to do, take your current bike, buy a bike computer with cadence, if the cadence is below 80, then do some interval training (intentionally turn the pedals faster then normal for short periods of time, if you normally turn the pedals at 65, then try 1 minute at 75, then back to 65 for 2 minutes, then back to 75 for a minute (repeat the cycle 5 times), it doesn't take long before you see that your average cadence has increased, when it does, the interval RPM increases as well, you keep doing this, until your average is somewhere in the 80's. You use your gears to keep it there, if you slow down, rather then slowing down your pedalling speed (say on a hill), you down shift, rather then increasing your pedalling speed you up shift. You only consider changing equipment, for performance when you start running out of gears. In other words if you find yourself unable to increase your speed without increasing your pedalling speed, because your in your highest gear, then look at other bikes. If your doing light trails, then your hybrid may be the best bike for it, a skinny tire road bike on unpaved roads, isn't ideal.

gunner65

Well I know for a fact and a few thousand miles that on my mountain bike I average 10-12mph on my commute and on my road bike 16-19mph same trip. I looked up the specs on the Gary Fisher Zembrano and you will probably not notice much difference switching to a true road bike until you have gotten in better shape I do like Wogs idea of training with cadence. Cadence was the biggest improvement I made in my cycling. Cateye double wireless is a really good wireless cycle computer that has cadence and doesnt cost too much comparably.

motobecane69

really? I totally disagree, that fisher bike he has is essentially a mountain bike with road tires on it. faster than a mtb with knobbies, but still slower than a road bike

chipcom 

Road bikes are not "faster" - they are designed with the potential to be faster - less weight, higher top-end gearing, more aero, wheels/tires with less rolling resistance - if the engine (you) is up to pushing it faster. Normally, a true road bike is NOT better geared for hills.

To me a drop-barred bike is more comfortable, but that is not the case for a LOT of other riders, who prefer a more upright and spread out riding position. You gotta figure out for yourself which riding positions are the most comfortable for you.

IMO, you don't need a true road bike (aka road racing bike) for the kind of riding you want to do, but if you prefer drop bars, you might very well be happy with an xcross or touring bike.

RichardGlover

Some people use the term 'hybrid' to only refer to hardtail MTB frames with suspension forks (usually with a lockout), slick road tires, and (usually) a suspension seat post. But the reality is that the category contains a wide array of bikes that don't neatly fit into the better-defined Road, MTB, or BMX categories.

I ride a commuter hybrid. Basically, it's a steel road bike frame, with flat bars, a wide range of gearing (48/38/28 and 11-28), and 32cx700 puncture-resistant (aka heavy) tires. I've taken the rear rack off, put a handlebar bag on, swapped out to trekker bars (a type of flat bar with more hand positions), and ride it like that everywhere I go.


Like 'hybrids', road bikes have vast differences within the category. However, most road bikes are geared to handle high speeds, and don't have much in the lower gears. If you're riding hills, weigh more than 200lbs, and aren't in top shape, then you'll probably want gear ratios that aren't available in most 'road bikes'. That means you'll have to shop around some, and know what ratios you want (see: https://sheldonbrown.com/gears/ for a tool to compare different ratios).

If I have to choose, I'd rather have lower gears than higher. I'd rather be able to ride (slowly) up a hill with a low-low gear, then have to deal with the fact that I can 'only' go, 40mph on the way down, rather than have to get off and push my damned bike up the same hill, just so I can go 45mph down it. Opinions vary on this, and what is 'low enough' will change from person to person.

Now... compare the above to a typical 'road' bike.

My shedding, oh, 10-20 lbs, I'll go a tad faster. Mind you, salesmen will point out that I'd be dropping 25% of the weight of my bike by moving to a 30lb bike - 50% if I move to the $2000 ultralight 20lb bikes they love selling. I look at the whole package. I weigh ~200lbs. My bike weighs 40lbs. If I cut my bike weight in HALF, it takes the total to 220 instead of 240, about an 8% weight savings, and a whole lot less than the 50% the salesman is pushing. The weight loss will mean I'll go faster, but probably not more than 8% faster. If my weight was 150, and I went from a 40lb to a 20lb bike, the difference would be more substantial - 10% overall weight loss - but still not, in itself, a gigantic leap.

The benefit of a road bike isn't so much the weight as other factors that are harder to quantify. Frame geometry and materials create differing levels of stiffness and responsiveness when you want to accelerate. Much of this is a trade-off: more responsive frames usually ride a bit rougher. There are compensating factors here - different materials used in the fork from the frame, for example.

Most road bikes have drop bars. That's fine if you like that position, and if you ride more than 15mph or so, the decreased wind resistance will start really making an impact - maybe 10% increased speed (or decreased effort) in the drops instead of upright (I think ~20% is the amount you get by eliminating wind while drafting another rider, so I don't think you'll get more than 10% in drops vs. upright). But you won't get that unless you're using the drop position.

When you add everything up, sure, a road bike is going to be faster - ~8% overall weight savings, 5-10% wind savings if you ride in the drops instead of upright; faster acceleration, more responsive turning... It can add up to a very different riding experience. But... Every factor is very situational. If you don't ride in the drops, or you don't ride fast where wind is an issue, then the drop bars don't do anything for you. If you don't care about 'responsiveness' in turns or acceleration, or you value comfort more, then the stiffer frame doesn't buy you anything but more aches in your contact points.

There's a growing trend to move to wider, smooth tires. They do a lot to smooth out the bumps in the road, and grant a lot of forgiveness to stiff frames without losing the benefit of the frame. Unfortunately, most road bike frames and forks aren't designed to be able to handle wider tires. And so we see a rise in the popularity of CX bikes used for everything (sometimes, even Cyclocross), because they're a roadish bike that takes a wider tire. They have their limitations, but they make a good 'If-I-can-only-own-one-bike' solution.

chipcom 

Even on the hoods, which is the position most non-racers are in 90% of the time, you are a bit more aero than if using flat bars or swept bars. On the hoods your elbows are tucked closer to your body, rather than flapping around like wings.

Seattle Forrest

Road bikes are faster, or will go slowly with less effort, but you've got the hills part backwards. They tend to have gearing that lets you race down the hills, and across the flat, but all things have trade-offs, and climbing is what you sacrifice here.

Pick me! Pick me!

Are you talking about dirt trails?

Surprisingly little. Some of it is the bike, but a lot of it is the rider, just like it's the engine and not the frame that makes a car faster. My very nice carbon road bike is a bit faster than my heavy aluminum bike, but most of the speed difference comes down to the expensive one being able to accelerate faster; once I get up to my top speed, the difference is slight.

jethro56 

RichardGlover: Excellent Post!

CraigB

Yes, you can.

Nothing more I can add to the other Qs and As. Looks like everyone else has it covered pretty well.

exile

There are a number of factors as to why one rider may be faster than the other. They may be younger, in better shape, riding a bike set up for them correctly, lighter weight, stronger, etc...

In general a road bike will be faster than a hybrid. However this depends on a number of factors as well. Better aero positioning of the rider, lighter, better gearing, tires more suitable for that type of riding, geometry, type of road bike and type of hybrid, etc...

The X-factor is how both the rider and bike mesh for the task you have in mind.

sjvcycler

https://www.kurtkinetic.com/

xjken99

Thanks everyone a lot of good stuff here. As much as I hate to admit it the engine is probably the biggest problem with the bike I have. 95% of all my riding is done on paved multi purpose paths with the ocassional pass on a hard dirt or crushed gravel trail. The suggestion of a computer to work on my cadence is something I am going to consider. The tip on losing pounds off my frame also makes a lot of sense. I think in the next week I will go to some of the local bike shops and ride a few road bikes (both flat and drop bars) to see for myself.

Here's a pic and specs of my Fisher, it has a suspension seat post and front forks so I guess it's more of a comfort hybrid.

https://atlantacycling.com/product/09...rano-25414.htm

chipcom 

You forgot to mention color. The wrong color can knock as much as 2mph from your average speed.

poperszky

I graduated from a specialized expedition (comfort hybrid like yours) to a Giant Defy 1 (endurance road). I am looking to ride centuries, and I had pretty well maxed out on my specialized. There was an immediate speed advantage, but it is a totally different ride experience, not as comfortable at first but it actually more comfortable over longer time periods spent on the bike. I still have my expedition, I use it for when I want to go slow with my wife and daughter.

bassjones

There is also a big X factor in that a new bicycle makes you WANT to ride harder, ride faster, ride more often for longer distance... Sometimes, that expense is worth it for that reason alone. It has been for me. I wasn't satisfied with my recumbent, but the new CAAD9 makes me want to get out and ride. It's fun having the nicest bike in the neighborhood and there's no better way to show it off than riding it.

Seattle Forrest

For what it's worth, I probably spend 60 or 70 % of my time in the drops ( and I don't race ). But most people I see on drop bar bikes tend to be on the hoods when we cross paths...

Drew Eckhardt 

No. It's a continuum as you get lower and narrower.

Gibertini and Grassi measured SDA in meters ^ 2 for biker B on tops, brake hoods, drops, and aero bar was .318, .304, .288, and .235.

Most road bike riding is done on the brake hoods which give you a comfortable neutral wrist position from which you can brake without moving your hands. Modern integrated brake/shift levers also allow you to shift from the position.

Flat-bar "bar ends" try to approximate this but don't have brakes attached so they're unsafe for riding in traffic or a group.

After I herniated L4-L5 and couldn't handle bending I spent some time on a "comfort" bike and found the experience unpleasant. The hand position was not comfortable, the seat was rarely at the right height, and the gears were too far apart to comfortably ride hard (that one could be fixed).

Nearly all your shock absorption comes from tires, saddle, and any flex in the handle bar. Frame stiffness doesn't do anything negative for comfort.