In one sentence, a road bike can be defined as a bicycle built for riding on paved roads at sustained speeds. Often riders tend to use road bikes for cyclathons and speed riding. However, for levelled performance, there is increased use of hybrids. It’s important to remember that road bikes are meant for long distances and endurance riding more than speed or bursts of fast racing.
The average road bike is light-weight so that propulsion and distances are covered more easily. Rigid frames and forks helps reduce weight as opposed to using suspension systems, making the bike nimbler and providing higher efficiency as the rider’s weight and torque are not activated by riding and instead converted into easier forward motion. The wheel size is larger on road bikes to help cover more distance with each revolution of the wheel, hence lesser effort for greater distances.
Interestingly, the performance of a road bike is heavily influenced by the rider and the riding position. Most road bikes will have bent bars that point downward. The forces the rider to sit leaning forward which help in aerodynamics, there by cutting fluid friction. This position also derives the most muscle push from the rider. Nowadays, some brands offer bikes with more relaxed positions but are still built for efficiency and maximum performance.
The tyres on road bicycles are extremely thin, to reduce the weight and also to reduce the friction. The treads and compounds used in the tyres are enough to keep the bike steady on paved roads irrespective of speeds. However, due to the thin tyres, road bikes cannot be put through terrains or trails of any sort. Road bikes require paved roads, especially since they don’t have suspension either. To the same extent, road bikes don’t come with a wide range of gears. Again, the weight of the bike is kept minimum with lesser gears and since the bike is used for long distances of paved roads, there is no use of gears for slow speed riding. That becomes a factor for mountain bikes and trail performance bikes.
If you are looking at picking up a road bike, the Firefox Sirocco is definitely our top recommendation. The bike has an alloy, aerodynamic, road frame that is best suited to reduce weight and cut through fluid friction. The wheels are also alloy rims, further cutting down the weight and yet providing sturdy balance. Additionally, the bike comes with TEKTRO brakes and ZOOM handlebars that are bent downward for optimum riding position. For easy cleaning and transport, both wheels come with Quick Release systems.
And to spoil you for choice, the bikes comes in two colour options, black with blue decals and yellow with blue decals! Take your pick and get riding.
Do you have a certain preference for road bikes? Or do you recommend against them? Share your insights with us so we can incorporate them in our blogs. And when you head out on your road bike next, share your #EverydayAdventure story with us!
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