Is it worth it for me to get a "Road Bike"?
I would really appreciate your expert (and experienced) opinion on this issue - should I get a road bike? will I notice the difference?
About me:
50 years old, 5’10” 165 lbs in good shape – live in Montreal Canada.
Commute to work: 11 miles each way to work (doing 22 miles total round trip every day) – mostly on the road and on concrete bike paths. Montreal roads are often cracked and bumpy but for the most part okay. There are only two hills along my commute. It takes me between 45 and 55 minutes each way, depending on wind and how tired I am.
Bike I used to own (till it got run over by a car): Giant Escape 2 Hybrid (700c tires). I liked it, it was okay, but it always frustrated me why road bikes whizzed by me. I am in better shape than those people!
Bike I currently use to get to and from work: Trek 3500 Mountain bike. I changed the tires to 1.5 inch (instead of 2 inch) slick tires. This bike is 26 inch – and is very heavy. Too small??? Is the suspension fork killing my power? Significantly?
Other weird facts about me and my ride: I use (and will always use) the spiderflex.com seat. I get zero chafing, zero pain. I plan to use this seat on a road bike. I also won’t do the bib-spandex thing. I wear hiking pants (long) and a T-shirt when I ride to work. I wear Velcro straps around my pants to prevent a chain-catch. And yes, I wear a small fanny pack. I really don’t care what I ‘look like’.
I’m reasonably happy with my current configuration but was wondering – if I buy road bike, will it make much of a difference? Would it be worth it? I would be willing to spend between $1000 and $1200 – any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.