Comfortable.
Road bike.

Choose one.

being only slightly more helpful, have you considered using fatter tyres? Can make a lot of difference. Especially if you compliment them with improved replacements of other things you're not happy with (seat, etc).

Comfortable in what way?

I agree on fatter tires or using just a bit less air pressure will make a world of difference. For myself, I constantly re-evaluate my position on the bike which varies with how many miles I'm putting in. For example, we can ride most winter days here in Rhode Island but mileage is less than during summer months. As weather warms and miles ramp up, I seem to like being stretched out a bit more and so switch to a longer stem on the handle bar.

There are so many variations on road bikes these days.

Shop for a bike shop first. Find one that has a staff that makes you feel comfortable rather than intimidated. Once you find the right shop, pick a brand that they carry in a style and price point that you're comfortable with and you'll never go wrong.

Agree, with above, 1st pick the bike shop, for the service..

a bike you ride on the road with more comfortable non drop bars ,
is commonly called a Hybrid.. stateside..

a bike you have your bike shop change things ,
replacing the parts that reduce the comfort,

in favor of being bent over low, to go faster, race style..
reducing air resistance, of a upright posture, can be sorted out in the shop.

with those you choose for your personal needs..


[Irrespective of the brands they carry, as bikes use many interchangeable parts].



...

I'm not sure what you take to be comfortable - though it is often equated with a more upright geometry and clearance for wider tires. If you look for labels such as 'endurance road', you will often find that along with disc brakes. A good example of such a bike is the Trek Domane (though other manufacturers make similar bikes).

Some of the bicycles marketed as adventure/gravel bikes are also in this category, and can easily be made more road-ish by putting on slick tires.

I personally prefer carbon to steel, though honestly, a comfortable bike can be made out of carbon, aluminum, steel or titanium. In part, it just depends on how much you are willing to spend and your comfort level with different materials (people on this forum all have their own opinions).

Bike shop.. want drop bars or straight bars , 2 paths , both good.

Many Brands use a very few Huge OEM factories , shipping out of Taipei harbor..

So... # 1 Pick a Bike shop .. then try bikes there..

Read all the questions asking about; scratches in carbon or are they cracks, already asked..yet?

Many bike companies design using best properties of Aluminum for most of the range,

check them out @ LBS.



...

Why not a gravel bike? Can accept large, tubless tires for maximum road comfort.

I am 66 and ride 4000 to 6000 miles a year. I have a carbon fiber Orbea Avant, aluminum Schwinn SS DBX, Titanium Airborne Zeppelin and a steel Ochsner that I purchased new in 1992. I ride all of them and like different things about all of them. I find the Orbea is a really good all around bike. My Schwinn is set up for commuting/light touring with racks, adjustable stem and 32mm tires. The Airborne is light, fast and comfortable. I ride it the most. My old steel Ochsner is in the process of being hybridized. I have been riding it much more and every time I am reminded of what a great material steel is for a bike frame. I think if you are willing to change components and try different set ups, you can have a bike that fits your comfort zone and your riding style. I have made some changes to all of my bikes and they all fit me and my riding style very well.

I have a Roubaix with the "Future Shock" front fork and the Zertz in the seat post, plus 28mm tires. It is a huge difference over my previous Roubaix without the future shock. There is one particular bridge that I cross every time I go out riding, and it has a textured concrete surface. Wth my old bike I would really feel a lot of vibration, but with the new Roubaix, I'd say it is at least 80 percent smoother. The downside is that it feels a little "bouncy" at the handlebars at times, but for this 65 year-old, It's worth it.
The future shock bikes come with three different weights of springs, and I am using the heaviest which is the black one.

Generally ride comfort is...
Carbon (better than) Steel (better than) Aluminum

Some people have different opinions...but in addition to that different design and manufacturing has made the differences close to impossible to tell just from the material. They even make smooth riding aluminum frames now, to my surprise as I'm rather sensitive to road buzz through the frame. The most comfortable frame I've ridden was definitely full carbon fiber, but I've also ridden other old racey carbon fiber frames that had a really buzzfilled ride that I didn't like.

The only way to really know is to take them for a ride yourself.

I don't think the OP is coming back. Lots of one and done's lately.

I agree. I keep thinking we need to be ... something. In a lot of the cases I think we really didn't help; we did not understand what they needed. I include my self.

I'm in agreement with the fatter tires deal. I don't notice that much of a difference between 23 & 25 but 28's are noticeable to me.

Comfortable road bike
I was thinking about replying to this thread, beginning with that same sentiment as [MENTION=133361]Lazyass[/MENTION], though it’s only been two days since the OP posted. It seems there are two interpretations of comfort. The first is the position of the rider's body on the bike. I’m personally interested in that because: It seems that a second set of suggestions are directed towards a different comfort problem, namely the contact of the rider’s bottom to the road surface via the tires, frame and seat. Other than a temporary saddle sore years ago on a cross-country ride, that has not been a problem for me, as it seems a complaint of seemingly all new riders.

IMO while many solutions are proposed, ultimately it requires miles ridden. I think about that when (in previous years) I put in time-consuming, long-distance rides to “pound the perineum.”

I didn't know which of those two the OP was concerned about: bike shape and fitment to body, or the bike's ability to absorb shock and vibe energy, isolating the rider.

Jim, I'm sorry you're having such a neck problem, because I know how much you like to ride! For you, I think it's bike configuration and subsequent change in fitment to body, and the ability of the bike to limit shock that would affect the neck. If you going to set up an upright bike to commute on, maybe talk to Irwin. He rides Rivendells with upright bars. My main idea for you is, don't use a heavy back pack - do a rear rack with panniers or a front rack with low panniers. There's essentially only one way I like to carry stuff on my arms, and that's in a messenger back with the strap across my chest. I've gotten comfortable fits with certain Timbuk2 bags, and with a large Chrome bag, though I did not buy the Chrome.

Did you have unusual (considerning the layoff you allude to) loss of strength only in your neck?

My wife and I have found regular yoga, 90 minute sessions to do a good job of building strength, even if we only go once a week. I would not say there's a lot of muscle mass, but certainly I've had improvements in strength. A lot of the standing poses involve supporting nearly all your weight on one leg with knee bent just shy of 90 degrees, and this is a serious isometric strength builder. Many others exist where you are on your belly raising you shoulders, hips shoulders, head and legs to form an arc with all you weigh on your belly. The simplest thing along these lines is called salabhasana, or locust. Since it only uses the weight of your head and you control the duration, reps and how far you raise your head (intensity), I believe these are more gentle for treatment of a mile injury or strength degradation than say, a neck yoke loaded with lead. But I only know anything about the yoga part of it.

I don't know if you remember the old "Hills of Ann Arbor" loop from your early days here, but after two years of yoga I could climb all of them once, though not at respectable speed. Some of that was strength, some of it was drinking the Kool-aid (, and some was the growing ability to levitate ( who needs a 'bent?).

My road bike with drop bars is extremely comfortable even for long days in the saddle. Titanium frame with a carbon fork and ergonomic drops from Zipp and a comfortable C17 saddle (technically the carbon version) some good tape and 28mm tires. I bet I could go even more comfortable if I went with a Shockstop stem from Redshift and an eeSilk post but I feel no need for that and they aren't silver and will ruin the look of the bike. My touring bike is also technically a road bike and super comfortable as well with a slightly similar set up but steel frame and fork and 38mm tires. Same sort of deal with my Single Speed/Fixed Gear RandoCross FunTime Machine, again all steel and same tires but I wish I had kept my normal Zipp bars, the ti seatpost is also a nice touch.

Agreed on the wider tires though. I wish I had gotten on that bandwagon way earlier. Holey gee wilikers, Batman, wider tires are the bee knees and cats pajamas all rolled into one. I never thought I would think 28s would be my "skinny road tire" and 38s would be on anything I would own and wish the bikes they were on could even go wider.

One perfect way to a super comfortable bike is seeing a good bike fitter as they can help dial in your position and help find you components to increase your comfort.

I have one of these two and I highly recommend it. There's some bridges on the MUPs I use here which are made of wooden planks, and it's pretty remarkable how much smoother it is to ride on them with this bike. Overall, it's a very comfortable bike, except for the saddle; I really need to get another one as their stock 143mm "Phenom" doesn't seem to fit me well and makes me sore after ~10 miles.

I have to say, I think the higher-end bike manufacturers and their affiliated shops are missing out on an opportunity here: they should be automatically, as part of the new-bike-buying experience, be helping you find a saddle that fits you well and putting that on your new bike, instead of including some default saddle that seems to fit no one well and sticking you with that, forcing you to buy another saddle and eBay the old one. They could go farther with other parts on the bike too: handlebars, stem, etc.

Trek' s Domane Featured Decoupler where top and seat tube are elastically, not rigidly joined ,

is there to make Saddle time less - uncomfortable..






..

just bought one of these a couple of weeks ago- Trek Domane ALR 3- i am loving it so far