[https://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee493/GravityAided/smallRossSignature2.jpg[/IMG]
The Ross is my roadie, it is a 1985 Signature . The Nishiki is my Citybike and Winter Ride .

Here is what I normally ride Cannondale with DIY bullhorns, Windsor Tourist with drops, KHS mtn conversion to slicks, fenders, rack and riser bars, Vintage Concord with Lauterwasser bars (semi drop), Vintage Soma with riser bars, and a Schwinn Mesa-Runner mtn bike converted to beach cruiser. Oh and a 2500GMC used for snow removal.

All these bikes fit me but in totally different ways. A bike shop fitting for say a road bike tells me 56 is about the right frame for me and that’s what the Cannondale, Windsor, Soma and Schwinn are. The KHS is a much smaller frame that was made correct with long seat post and stem and bars. The short top tube gives a bit more ability to move saddle back and gives a more relaxed upright peddle angle, great light touring bike. The Concord is a much taller frame and the saddle is about as low as you can go and allows the use of the Lauterwasser bars or drops without making the drop height unreasonably low for me.

Drop bars for me are only partly about getting into a more aero position. I set my drops on the Windsor fairly high wanting hand positions as my main concern. With the drops higher I find I ride them most of the time. When I’m feeling strong and like I want to push a bit more I will drop them an inch or so with the adjustable stem. Fairly easy to do even on the road.

I rode this Wilier this past year after not riding for 12 years. I'm 53 with a a new titanium right hip...



And if the weather cooperates I will take this for a test spin this weekend as I just completed building it up.

Another roadie, here. I love the vintage steel lightweights, something about the liveliness of the entire package. My '85 Trek 460 is an aggressive-geometry, fairly light and very nimble entry level racer. There is nothing like heading out for a personal TT on a race geometry frame bike that fits you like a glove.

1998


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She's riding:

2006


1984


1994

I am 63 years old and ride a Conndale Quick 5 for my daily commuter. I like the flat bars and the smooth ride of the bike. I use 700C 28 gator back tires which work great on the rough pavement I have on my daily commute to work. On the weekends and for group rides I ride a Scott CR1 team. I am running the 700C 25 Conteneental 4 season tires which have given great mileage with no flats so far.

My favorite is the Cooper(red)--incredibly comfortable and stable--a real gem! (1982)

The Serotta is a great bike but twitchier! (1998)

And when I want to get away from cars the Kein is nice and very solid (1990)

63 years old, 5'7" for 145lbs

My stable below. Can't see the reasoning behind buying a new bike, there are so many great used bikes out there or frames to build on. And all the CF bikes look so disposible to me, like they'll be in the dump in 5 years. Not so thrilled with the war machine look either. But, I also like downtube and bar end shifters much more than brifters, so what do I know. I actually stand and sprint out of stops, maybe change gears a total of 3 or 4 times a ride; who does that anymore!

Depending on where you ride, but changing gears so infrequently would indicate flat roads--I have to say index shifting is a great improvement, because one can change gears so easily and going up hill off the seat as well, which cannot really be done with friction shifters on the down tube!

67, 5-11, ~200

Nor I. But waitaminute, is thread C&V? I coulda' swore it was 50+. Just us C&V riders, I guess.

Only 3 or 4 times a ride is a bit low, but I also shift less frequently than many (ahem) younger riders do. I like to think I'm more tolerant of having a slightly sub-optimal cadence at any given time. Or to put it another way, I ain't so picky.

Another Blue Gunnar! Sir, you da man! Reynolds 853, or True Temper?

A shot of my Blue Max. Now eleven years.


Recent photo of Blue Max by a glass darkly2008, on Flickr

2009 Specialized Roubaix Pro - The all-day bike
2008 Ridley Excalibur - The go-fast bike
2009 Soma Double Cross - The winter bike
2011 Kona Unit (29er single speed) - The no-gears bike
2009 Salsa El Kaboing - The go-anywhere bike

(coming in 2012 - 2012 Vassago Bandersnatch 29er)

Why a TI hip and not CF or steel?

It's from 2006, True Temper with a Kestrel fork. Around 30,000 miles on it now.

I'm 54.

(I'm 6 feet tall and built like a Viking so 195~200 is as light as I am going to be. I weigh 200 now) Rode about 1000 miles from June to November of this year.

Now it is winter and I am having withdrawal symptoms. Waking up at night thinking about biking.

I have two Paramounts that I ride, but just picked up an all Campy 1987 Cannondale "team comp" Going to try it out next spring to lighten-up on the Paramounts as I am feeling guilty for riding them so much.. Being that they are pretty much pristine original paint survivors.

2003 q carbon klein I got it 2009. Put 3400 miles on it in 2009. Needed quadruple bypass in Dec of 2009. 2010 put 4300 miles. This year 4600 and did a ride that went from Cleveland to Cinny. 4 days 334 miles ave 17.5 all 4 days 95 degrees or higher. Happy with my Klein. Picture of me by the Ohio river.

Are you racing in a UCI event? If not check out the Bacchetta Carbon Aero 2.0! Fast!

50 yrs old. 6'2", 198 lbs. Mostly ride 70% road/30% gravel trails, flat bar hybrid (Trek 8.4 DS) w/ bar-ends, or a 1990 Specialized Stumpjumper w/ bar-ends. Both bikes not too upright as I still like to be somewhat aero. Semi-slicks on both bikes (700x40; 26x1.85). Usually do 20 miles every Sat/Sun, 12 mo/yr. After a 10 yr road racing career ('87-'97), no problems w/ the speed difference from now and then. Almost all of my rides are a brisk pace, as I ride for fitness, health, and weight maintenance. No problems w/ comfort at those distances. Love the flat bars...as long as they're with bar-ends for out-of-the-saddle climbing!

64 y.o. I mostly ride a steel traditional frame (Romulus) from Rivendell with a relaxed geometry similar to a sport touring bike. Great for long days and stable/fast sweepers. I find flat bars don't give me enough variety of hand/back positions to stay comfortable. I like the lightness of carbon, etc., but it feels muted and a little "dead" after years of riding steel. I am considering getting a titanium frame for this up-coming season as my once-and-forever last (lol) bike.

I got this one after a health issue nearly took my life. After recovering, I figured, life if fragile so if I was going to do it...

I'm 59, 5'7", 175 pounds and ride every day trying to get in about 25 miles. For my daily commutes I mostly ride a Giant Transend hybrid, aluminum frame and wider wheels. I also use this bike when I ride with a casual group that includes lots of newbies as it forces me to slow down (not that I'm very fast anyway) and I can haul supplies. These casual group rides can be anywhere from 10 to 30 miles, plus whatever distance I ride getting to and from the starting point.

For other group rides and my pleasure rides I am riding a steel Salsa Pistola road bike. This also seems to have what tsl refers to as "relaxed front-end geometry." So far my longest ride on the Pistola is 150 miles. As I said, I'm not a speed demon, but I can get a decent sustained effort on the bike.

I bought both of these bikes new in 2010 when both my 1995 year old Raleigh rigid M-60 mountain bike and 1985 Raleigh Team USA road bike needed replacement. For the hybrid, I basically bought the bike without a test ride. For the road bike I rode eight bikes in the same price/component range, both aluminum and carbon frames.

I notice many of the respondents who favor drop bars prefer not riding in the drops. I would concur. I've been riding seriously for about 40 years, racing for 35 of them, so I'm used to being in a low position. But the only time I'm ever in the drops now is when I'm on the track, spinning away in the pace line at over 40 kmh. On the road, I'm on the tops of the bars or the tops of the brake hoods about 99.9% of the time. Even when I'm pounding into a headwind, I just bend my elbows a little and keep driving from the tops of the hoods. During Paris-Brest-Paris, I will admit I was in the drops for about five minutes out of nearly 65 hours, and that was to stretch out my back!

I think that the basic design of the drop handlebars misleads beginners. They LOOK like you should be putting your hands into the drops for normal riding. But as you have seen, most of the very experienced riders here prefer to stay out of the drops, using the tops of the brake hoods as the "default" position. Indeed, I think the drop position is SUPPOSED to be uncomfortable, because you only need to be in it for a short time, like leading up to and doing a final sprint, or riding a short track race or criterium, where you want to be in a secure position for when you get bumped from the side. But for recreational use, you almost never need to be in the drops.

But what often happens is that beginners try to set up (or have their bikes set up by overly-accommodating bike shops) their bars so that they are comfortable in the drops. Remember, it only looks like that's the normal position. This results in the bars being set way too high, and the rider looking ridiculous to anyone who has seen lots of stylish riders. And the upright rider is probably going to be very uncomfortable because the saddles that come on road bikes are usually designed for riders on drop bars in the proper position, not for upright flat bar riding.

If you decide to go with a road bike, the only way you are going to be comfortable is to learn to adapt to the road position. And the road position is critically dependent on the bike fitting properly. With upright bars, you can get away with a lot of wrong dimensions because the saddle and bars are designed to accommodate a very casual approach. But a road bike and road position require way more precision. That's how people do seven-hour professional road races, or 1200-km brevets in relative comfort. Riding a road bike properly, if you are over 50 and are not used to it, requires some effort!

L.

What he said. Very true. Fortunately it doesn't take much expertise to re-adjust either bar height or seat height and the willingness (courage?) to try it.