Lecterman

I bought my road bike back in November, see this thread. It is as '89 Centurion Dave Scott Ironman Master. Due to weather, not having shoes (clipless pedals), and my hectic work schedule, I was just finally able to give it a decent ride today.

My other bike on which I have logged most of my miles is a hardtail MTB with hybrid tires, so I don;t really have a frame of reference for road bikes but here goes:

My road bike is a steel, Reynolds 531 I think, and since I have been riding steel ont my MTB, there is not a great deal of difference in the feel of the bike, IE stiffness. The weight difference is obvious as my MTB fully loaded with my gear is about 32# and my Centurion is about 23#.

This bike is very smooth, and is virtually silent. All I hear is the wind and some chain rubbing if I am in the big ring on the front and a big cog on the back and vice versa, so I have to get use to the gearing.

Going from 21 speeds to 14 takes some getting used to. On the biggest hills I ride, I am in I guess what is essentially "14th gear" (I'm still building myself up on hills), whereas I am used to having to get into "21st gear" in my MTB. A little more effort obviously due to the gearing, but the lighter weight helps.

On flats there is a big difference. On my usual route I hit 18-21mph on flats, but with my Centurion I was hitting 20-23 mph on flats. Quite a difference for me, but on the flats I am able to use a little bigger gear than on my MTB b/c I am hauling less weight I guess.

Anyway, I guess my main point is I liked riding my road bike and I look forward to riding it much more, starting tomorrow.