velio

I have four bikes and i must scrap one .What i am experimenting is actualy comfort .
Despite the fact that i restored lots of bikes there are still catchy stuff that i don't get.
Recently i bought a Peugeot road bike in very good condition and with good quality parts .What i noticed is that it drives softly and is very comfortable despite thin tires.It handles well obstacles .My new allu bike though ...well i just don't get it . Its heavier despite ALL alluminium parts and frame and it even seems to be more uncomfortable ride despite the thicker city tires . The other dilema comes from an old hungarian 1950's bike that i rode last year in the province .With everything but lite and the steel alloy wheels it rides smooth and cousy..
So why so much difference ? Could it be the tires ? The Peugeot has racing '"sticky " tires with aero wheels . Yet the hungarian bastard has none of this .
I don't want to start another debate of steel and allu ,yet its intriguing me and i am still a beginner . I will ride the french bike ,yet i will also get a soviet bike from a former racer and will compare it to the others .
He said something about a balancing mechanism of some sort ,but i am not sure where it is placed and what it does.

VegasTriker

It has nothing to do with where the bike was made. Part of it has to be frame design, tire width, and tire pressure. Here in the US many of the mass merchandisers (Target, WalMart, Sears, KMart) sell spiffy looking aluminum frame bikes with dual suspension and really crappy components. Try picking one up to place it on a bike rack and you realize the metal should have been made into weight lifting equipment instead. I have a much more modest looking Cannondale SM800 that I bought used for a fraction of what the above bikes cost. No front or rear suspension. The bike weighs 27 pounds. I don't find any standard bike all that comfortable compared to a recumbent but it is perfect for younger people who don't mind sitting on a miniscule seat and bending forward looking at the ground.

velio

This is exactly what i want to know .. What is the frame design that allows for comfortable ride ? My allu bike is very strange to ride ... it feels quite rough . And it is not a BSO ,but rather a mid range bike for city driving .It also feels heavier .
The hungarian bike is also heavy ,yet comfy .
There is also another question that burdens me . The Tires of the peugeot are tubular . They seem to be more easy on the ride than the normal Shwalbe racing tires i have on another bike . This is intriguing . Why would normal tyres be any diferent ?

fietsbob

With a litigious society one way you make something durable is add more material . the material is actually the cheap part ..

Example : mild steel is plenty strong if you use enough of it. Ditto low cost aluminum alloys .

Little Darwin

Frame geometry is sometimes a huge factor, and because of that, it is sometimes related to where and when a bike was built.

Bicycles that were marketed to the masses used to have slacker head and seat tube angles, and other differences to make them comfortable to ride. Sometimes the comfort is given up for efficiency and speed, and unfortunately marketers of the bicycling giants have discovered that in adult cycling today, speed sells... so the choices available today tend to be capable of high speeds...

In the days of old (1970's bike boom) the marketers many times pictured a man and woman riding together in a park, now they picture people riding fast... the focus is different, and so are the bikes.

You can still find signs of people who don't cycle for speed ( The Lake Pepin 3-Speed Tour ), but they are less common than those who crave the hammer-fest...

Garfield Cat

Longer wheelbase. Measure the distance between where the front and rear tires hit the ground. Newer bikes have shorter wheelbase. If you seek comfort, try a touring bike with a Brooks saddle.

velio

So what about the spokes and the wheels ? The allu bike is really much heavier than all of my steel bikes and that creates another issue . I dearly want to make an experiment and take the bike apart to see where the weight comes from .It is even more intriguing because the other bike that i have is dutch and the rims and wheels are as lite as a feather .I am starting to think that the wheels and axiles are to blame for the extra weight and bad road performance . In general the wheel base is long on this bike .
I am confused about the fact that many people say that the frame material plays a role ,because there are as many people who say quite the oposite and even experts in cycling...
I also wonder what tyres could have an impact on how the bike runs, since the tyres that are tubular on my race bike seem to ride much softer and better .Obviously how components are combined makes a whole lot of difference in ride quality .If you miss one component it gets bad .

Homebrew01

Also, your fit (posture) on the bike can make a big difference. So you may have a combination of factors that make one bike more comfortable for you. Someone else riding the same bikes might have different opinions.

Retro Grouch 

I think that as long as you are looking for "the one right answer" you're never going to find it.

The answer is "everything." Everything works together. It's the design and geometry of the frame, the materials that it's made out of, how the frame was manufactured, other components and accessories - everything.

One of my "aha" moments came when I figured out that stronger materials, whether it's tensile strength or strength per pound, don't make for a stronger bike. The reason a frame maker uses stronger materials is so that he can use less of them and make a lighter bike that's equally strong.

velio

I... actually think i found the answer .Well at least partially . I must make a couple more experiments ,but my that made me think ! I am such a perfectionist that i just amaze my self how i was able to notice such a slight diference in motion on this bike !
It turns out that the bearings on the wheels were tightened too much by the manufacturer .Even a known guy would not notice ,because the thicker tyres give more inertia and it seems as if the wheel rotates free ,but when i moved only the axile it turned out that it was tight . Infact it was not small amount .. And then i wonder and wonder why i feel some kind of a problem when i move the bike . It allways seems harder than others of the same type.The tyres are not the thinest ,but they are still city tyres and not thick either .I will compare how the bike moves with other tyres that i have by swaping them wholly .
I will see what other things will pop out . I will strip it to the frame and check everything .I will see from where the weight comes from .
It could be overdesigned allu frame ,since the company that makes them puts hard notion on the reliability of the frames they make and the tubes are a bit oversized .

Btw i also wonder of the raliability of the frames that come with lighter bikes ,but it seems a manufacturer issue .

The only thing that i don't understand is geometry .I have seen very strange bikes in regarding to this ..

Actualy i like speedy and responsive bikes ,yet the allu frames and forks on road bikes of today that are as stiff as hell and that i just don't like too much ,but what i really notice is that there is some kind of a combo between a fork ,tyre and the wheel bearings that makes a big difference . With the tubular tyres ,despite expensive and other stuff ,they seem class in the ride quality and handling compared to regular rims and tyres .
My country is a very bad road country and the qualities i saw in the Peugeot bike i can not find in another bike now . The tyres seem to be capable to handle obstacles better than regular road tyres .
I have another bike that is with racing ,yet normal tyres and if they are not pumped too much ,it seems to hit the rim's sides and with the tubulars the rim doesn''t have sides ,but try to pump the tyres up a good 120psi and you will grind with your teeth every little crack on the asphalt .I am a thin guy and the Peugeot handles me at 5 -5.5 Bar now . Regulars need 7 though..
I have even seen racing tyres of the tubular type that a guy said shouldn't be pumped up more than 4.5 Bar . And for real they are ok that way .