Originally Posted by aikigreg
Be nice to the newbie. I got back into cycling last year with a hybrid comfort bike, since I have some joint issues (wrist and ankles especially) that caused me mucho pain on my old mountain bike.
Now I've lost weight, added muscle, and seem to have strengthened my joints a little, and want to get onto a much faster bike I can ride for leisure and triathlons and centuries.
I've done a lot of searching on here and can't seem to find an appropriate thread, so I though I'd ask for ideas on what kind of road bike might fit me. I';m a 6'1" 230 pound rider. Weight is not as critical as comfort, so I'm looking for bikes with some sort of vibration dampening geometry or whatever I can find to make my ride more comfy. All help appreciated.
I rode streets a solid frame, solid fork moutain bike with fat slick tires. I had the handlebars dropped way down. When getting back into cycling on this bike my wrists hurt and my rear side too. I tried padded gloves and a gel seat. Big waste of money. After a month or less all the pains lessened on the non-gel seat. Then I later got a Lemond Poprad cyclocross bike. I didn't set it up with a major seat handlebar drop - maybe only 1" - to the tops of handlebars and kept the stock seat. It is far more comfortable and rides far smoother on the roads that the fat tire bike. There is not much weight on my hands in drops or hoods, I can kind of float over them if I want. The lesson is that a good fitting bike and fit for the purpose (i.e. not racing) with some body fitness is more important than shocks and gel.
Al