Wilfred Laurier

i think it was the mid 90s
was still reading MBA at that time so i remember
before grew up

Bikeforumuser0017

I pretty much just say a roadie is a bike with skinny tires (<25c). Idk why you would cantilever brakes on wheels so skinny.

Wilfred Laurier

because i put skinny tires on a bike with canti brakes

cplager

So, sometimes the pros don't ride road bikes? That seems silly.

ThermionicScott 

For me, the only essential characteristics of a road bike are the diamond frame, drop handlebars, and narrowish/smoothish tires. Famous road races like TdF and the Giro have been won with caliper, cantilever, and center-pull brakes, so I don't see how only one of those types could define a road bike.

Retro Grouch 

If we allow the racing rule makers to define a road bike does NASCAR get to tell us what a stock car is?

I-Like-To-Bike

Exactly. The proper definition of Road Bikes only matters to people who believe that ridding or owning a "Road Bike" creates a state of mind.

I-Like-To-Bike

Good analogy. Tdf and Giro bicycles, cycling and cyclists have as much to do with General Cycling, as the Daytona or Indy 500 cars, driving and drivers have to with general driving.

Wilfred Laurier

i used to agree
but maybe it is because i am getting older and mellower
and realizing that there could possibly be some things i might not know
but i think any bike designed to be ridden almost exclusively on pavement or other hard and generally smooth surfaces
can be a road bike

mentioned above are flat bar road bikes
which i would have called hybrids a few years ago
are road bikes because they are bikes designed to be ridden almost exclusively on road
the only difference between some flat bar road bikes and a road sport or touring bike
is the handlebars

and if we let the handlebar shape be a deciding factor
and the bike needs to have drop bars
time trial and tri bikes are obviously road bikes
but most dont fit your definition

i guess what i am saying is that
i am starting to think that any bike with skinny and or slick tires
is a road bike
some are just not quite as good as others for certain things
for various reasons

ThermionicScott 

I see your point (and laugh whenever I hear the term "stock car"), but I think most of us would agree that "road bikes" have as their ancestors the first road racing bikes. To go along with your analogy, I am completely unconcerned with how the UCI would define a road bike.

caloso

It is difficult to define but I know it when I see it. -- Stewart, J., dissenting.

frantik

"road bike" means different things in different contexts.. Most of the time it's probably going to mean "road racing bike", but it can also be used more generally like the old term "Ten Speed", which was a 700c/27" bike with drop bars and derailleur gears.

Single speed and fixed gear bikes can have 700c wheels, skinny tires and drop bars, but most people who own one would not call it a road bike. 26" mountain bikes with drop bars and skinny tires also are not usually called road bikes. 29er mountain bikes have the same size wheels as 700c wheels. A 29er with skinny tires and drop bar still probably wouldn't be called a road bike.

Seems like you have to get technical and define the exact frame geometries to separate a road bike from a drop bar 29er with a 700c wheelset and skinny tires.

tjspiel

To me a road bike includes pretty much any street bike designed for drops.

Cyclocross is a silly sport and as such should not in anyway influence the definition of what a road bike is. A few bored roadies thought it might be fun to race their bikes offroad. Of course it didn't really work and they had to carry their bikes a good chunk of the time. For some strange reason this caught on.

It should also be pointed out that there is a sport called broomball. Just as cyclocross racing is offroad racing without the proper bikes, broomball is hockey without proper foot gear or sticks.

frantik

maybe hockey is broomball without the proper brooms

Ferrous Bueller

sweeping is actually a hockey time trial

wahoonc

I am hoping that is tongue in cheek?

Cyclo-Cross as a cycling sport dates back to the early 1900's. It was used as a form of off season training for road racers...

Aaron

hyhuu

That still doesn't make it any less silly. But as long as it is fun people should continue to do it.

tjspiel

And Broomball is at least that old. It was silly then and perhaps even sillier today when you look what the "brooms" have evolved into.

Anyway, my point is that just because some road bikes have minor adaptations for limited offroad use, doesn't mean we have to change the definition of what constitutes a ROAD bike.

Cfiber

Darn it! I wish somebody would have told that to us kids, riding down country mountain trails on those darned things, back in the day

BTW

A road bike has drop handlebars, a rigid fork, and skinny tires.
A hybrid bike is usually found with flat handlebars, a rigid fork, and tires with a moderate width.
Mountain bikes have a suspension fork, flat handlebars, and the widest of tires.

* Any bike found with drop handlebars, a rigid fork, and wide tires, from hence forth shall be called a hybrid.
* Any bike with a suspension fork from hence forth shall be called a mountain bike.

caloso

CX bike has drop handlebars, a rigid fork, and tires of a moderate width.


<========= Viz.

F red

CX bikes are road bikes. They get used on roads, and carried off-road.

GamblerGORD53

A Road bike is an on pavement RACE TOY, end of story. They are Purposely designed for speed to be as light as allowed, have zero load capacity and exclude fenders and any mounts except bottle holders. In the olden days they were not so excusive, but NOT anymore. Anything else "not quite" is basically a Ten speed ( Paramounts etc ).

The next "down grade" would be the Clubman class, of which CX belongs. Weekend riders/ campers, transportation bikes.

Tour bikes more belong in the Roadster class, as much as I would rather reserve that for IGH heavyweights.
Calling these road bikes is a laughable attempt at ego boosting nonsense.

MTB are double suspension bikes with severe TT slope. They are basically dirt trail Toys.

Hybrids are variously inbetween MTBs and Clubman. Often with medium slope TT, front suspension, load capacity, accessories of all kinds.

cplager

Many (or even most??) hybrids have front suspension. Why? I don't know. But they do.

wahoonc

So my Redline R530 CITY bike is a mountain bike? It has swept back bars, suspension fork and runs 45mm tires.

Aaron

ThermionicScott 

So they just get carried for the whole CX race?