I've just started cycling this year for the first time in 15 years (I'm 36) and I've been riding a steel mountain bike that was given to me for free. I've put road(ish - they're still pretty wide) tires on it to help reduce the rolling resistance, cleaned it up and put on some clipless pedals (I broke the old ones after a month ..) but otherwise the bike is pretty stock. Luckily it doesn't have shocks on it.
I've been doing about 3-4 rides a week for the last 2 months of between 30-55km each averaging now about 24-25 km/h. I'm finding though that I feel frustrated with the bike as I'm being passed often by guys on real road bikes and while I know I'm not in the best of shape I have no doubt that the bike I'm on is contributing to my slowness. For example, the gearing on the bike is too low - it's really hard for me to push the bike past 35km/h on a flat ... I just can't pump my legs fast enough 🙂
I've been looking into getting a beginner road bike such as a trek 1.5 as the next step to keep me going and build up some endurance.
My question is whether anyone has taken a similar route and can say what, if any, performance improvement I might expect from the change in equipment?
I made a similar change recently - Moved from my 20 year old 30 pound MTB with street tires to a Felt Z85 (Sweet bike by the way) -
With only a week under my belt, things I've noticed. I picked up 2MPH in average ride speed - not a lot, but noticeable. I feel like I could ride further, although I haven't yet - in other words, I don't feel as tired after the same distance ride. I'm sore in a few new places, just because I'm using slightly different muscles (I didn't have clipless pedals on the MTB). And like you mentioned, the gearing is better for going fast 🙂 - however, if you like going up steep hills and are used to a triple and/or really low gearing, even a compact double will be a shock to you 🙂
Thanks for the info ... you actually made me curious enough to weigh my bike (28 pounds) 🙂
My current assumption is that I might see about 3 km/h improvement on average. Mostly though I expect that I won't be ending bike rides with a sore back and neck as the bike will be setup exactly for me instead of me trying to make a mountain bike into something it isn't. Hopefully that will be motivation enough to keep it up and loose the extra pounds 🙂
Thanks for the info ... you actually made me curious enough to weigh my bike (28 pounds) 🙂
My current assumption is that I might see about 3 km/h improvement on average. Mostly though I expect that I won't be ending bike rides with a sore back and neck as the bike will be setup exactly for me instead of me trying to make a mountain bike into something it isn't. Hopefully that will be motivation enough to keep it up and loose the extra pounds 🙂
I have three Kona bikes; Zing deluxe,(23 x700' road bike) Paddy wagon,(28x700, road/commute) and Smoke(47x700 commute) Different type of bike really make for different reason. For me, Zing is the fastest, 27km/hr on average. But I rather go 2km/hr slower on my Paddy wagon for the comfort. I only ride my Smoke when it rain. I am sure a real road bike can give you higher speed, if speed is what you looking for, but racing bikes are generally more expensive. . .
I made a similar jump recently, went from a cheap and very heavy steel mountain bike (triple) to an aluminum framed Cyclocross bike with much improved componentry and gearing for the road. The sensation of speed is certainly vastly improved, and the aluminum frame is much stiffer therefore acceleration is much better, the bike really leaps when I pedal mash it. Don't have detailed empirical data to provide, but the difference was impressive for me.
