From Hybrid to Road bicycle

[giorgiogu]

Hi all,

How are you?

I live in South London and i enjoy ride my hybrid bike

The thing is, 99% of the time, i ride on road, so i'm thinking to switch to a road bike but i'm a bit unsure how to relate the "number of speed in my bike" vs the road bike.
My bike have 24 speeds (ok, some overlapped), 3 rings at the front and 8 at the back, where i use 1-1 for the toughest hills and 3-8 to speed downhill.

Usually i use 1-1 oh hills above 10%, and even so, i struggle to get to the top.

I was looking for road bicycle below £500 and i can see that most of them have 16 speed , 2 rings at the front and 8 at the back.
I would like to understand if the "16 speed" of the road bicycle have the same o wider range compared to my "24 speed" hybrid or i would need to look for more rings at the back?

Thanks for you help, and sorry , i don;t know many of the technical terms related to bicycle .

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
What's the model of your bike / web link if possible (don't worry we will find it)?

This will help us to look at the gears and make suggestions..............
Your age will help us with further suggestions too.

[giorgiogu]

Hi,

Thanks for your message.

The bike is an Ammaco CS700 21'' Frame.

Sorry, i don't have a specific website with specs


I'm 44 years old

Thanks for your help

Giorgio

[markfh]

Further to NA's reply, it would help to know the number of teeth on each ring at the front and at least the number of teeth on the smallest and largest sprockets at the back.

As a general point a lot of "road" bikes come with what is referred to as a compact double chainset (50/34) and depending on the current set up on your hybrid bike you will probably need a considerably larger largest rear sprocket in order to achieve as low as gearing as you have on your current bike. Although this can be achieved by using a larger number of sprockets on the rear this result in larger gaps between adjacent gears and also a considerable additional cost. The design of both the chainset and the rear derailleur fitted to such a road bike will limit how much lower you can get the gearing without considerable additional cost due to having to change the chainset (and possibly bottom bracket) and the rear derailleur.

[giorgiogu]

Thanks for your message,

I'm going to to have a look at the number of teeth later today and i will post them here asap.

Just to give an idea, this is my bike: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ad8-u ... vOyXOVGRWQ


Thanks again

Giorgio

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

http://www.discountcycleshop.co.uk/26/2 ... CKOUT-FORK
The specs are vague, but you will struggle to pedal this bike even with a prone body (head down) on the flat for more than a mile or so, meaning that the gearing will for now do what you want if you adopt a better aero body position, which hybrids ignore of course.
My advice would be to flip the stem and add some bar ends.
Then move the handlebars as far down as they will by putting the stem spacers above the stem., if you can stomach it, meaning if your body is flexible enough.

It will never be as fast as a road bike but the cost in adopting the stance for more speed will be minimal, you might also opt for a longer stem to get a better reach.

[PH]

If you're struggling in bottom gear on your hybrid, the chances are you'll struggle even more on a bike with a double chainset. A lighter bike is easier to get up a hill on, but the difference isn't as great as some would have you believe.
There are some road bikes available with triples, though even these will be higher geared than you hybrid, this is IMO the best of them
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-520- ... 77757.html
Not only is it a good spec for the price, it's also designed for 28mm tyres and mudguards something which in uncommon on road bikes and will give more versatility.

[markfh]

A few things that might help others suggest appropriate bikes.

What do you mean by a "road bicycle"? I had assumed that you meant one with drop handle bars (like the Triban 520 that PH has suggested) but is this correct? There are some flat bar road bicycles which are generally similar in design to drop bar road bikes but with straight handlebars

What sort of cycling do you want to do with the bicycle? Leisure? Exercise? Commuting? In town? In the country? In traffic? Away from traffic?

What sort of distances do you want to cover and over what time period?

Looking specifically at the Triban 520 that PH has suggested. It may be possible to relatively cheaply extend the range of the gearing, all be it at the expense of larger gaps between gears, by a couple of small changes. According to the specification it comes with a Shimano Sora R3000 rear derailleur. This is available with either a short cage (SS) or mid cage (GS). For a triple it should be the GS version but it would be as well to check as what I am suggesting is dependent on it being the GS version. According to the specification the Triban 520 comes with a 11 - 25 cassette. The Shimano specification says that the RD-R3000 GS rear derailleur can cope with large sprockets in the range 28-34 teeth. Assuming that the Triban 520 comes with the RD-R3000 GS version then it would be possible to get a lower gear by changing the cassette and most likely the chain. The reason for also changing the chain is that it is essential that the chain is long enough to be able to allow the selection of the largest chainring at the front (i.e. 50) and the largest sprocket at the rear. If it isn't then catastrophic damage will result if this combination is selected. It is possible that the chain on the Triban 520 is longer than needed for the specified chainset and cassette but it would be safest to assume that it isn't.

If you are also willing to consider a "flat bar" road bike then the B'TWIN TRIBAN 520 FLAT BAR ROAD BIKE (https://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-520-flat-bar-road-bike-sora-id_8322799.html) might also be worth considering. As per its specification it has similar gearing to the drop bar version BUT it comes with a different chainset. In addition to the way of lowering the gearing suggested for the drop bar version suggested above the Prowheel Ounce chainset also allows a further or alternative relatively low cost way of lowering the gearing by changing the inner (smallest) front chainring to a smaller one. This has the advantage of not requiring a longer chain. Although using a smaller inner chain ring will exceed the specified tooth difference for the font derailleur this is generally not an issue. Such a change MAY be possible on the drop bar version but I am not familiar with the Shimano Sora chainset on that version so cannot say that it is definitely a possibility.

[mjr]

Lots of good comments above. If you know or can find out the number of teeth on the cogs, http://www.gear-calculator.com can draw charts to compare two setups.

Just to muddy the waters, I'll mention roadster bicycles (Pashley Sovereign as maybe the most famous - and expensive - example) as a more comfortable road-aimed but maybe less off-road-capable alternative to hybrids and nothing like the faster-faster road bikes.

[Scunnered]

I have recently switched from a hybrid to a road bike myself. If you look for an "adventure" road bike you will find that they are more versatile than an ordinary road bike. To start with, they have room to fit touring or cyclocross tyres and mudguards. They usually have disc brakes. Mine has compact 48/32 chainrings. This type of bike will also have a rear cassette with something like 11-28 or 11-30 teeth. This gives the low gears you want, plus at least one useless gear (11 tooth and possibly 12 tooth sprockets). My solution to this is to split two cassettes to make a custom 14-32 cassette. A 14T sprocket is good for 25+mph at a cadence of around 90, and I am not going to go any faster than that, unless freewheeling downhill!

[giorgiogu]

Hi guys,

Thanks very much for all your comment! I couldn't image to receive so many information!

I read all your messages and also made some research.

I have found out that:

1) I'm unfit, a road bike or a bike with a wider gears range will not fix the issue, if i want to improve i need to get fitter.
2)I'm improving a little bit week by week, i go cycling 3 -4 times a week , from 30 to 60 minutes at the time, and i can see that, i get better, slowly but better

Last weekend i borrowed a road bike from a friend of mine, and after i got used to the very different handling of the bike, i went to ride to some of the sector i usually do with the hybrid.
Well, in the "big" hills i still struggle, i just made them a bit faster. But here is the thing, i'm interested to track my progress at the moment, so if with the road bike i can be a bit faster, so i can be with the hybrid, i mean, if i keep "training", in a couple of month it's likely i will have better times with the hybrid as well (ok, with the road bike probably always a bit faster).

I also found out that, after last weekend, my leg muscles were screaming like i have never been on a bike! I mean, it's about 2 months i ride with the hybrid and my legs got used to it, now with the road bike looks like i'm using different muscles

[willcee]

A short and amusing story... some 7 years ago I was prevailed upon by my riding buddy to take part in a saturday ride, of 30 miles starting in a local village, this chap and I both in our 60's had been cycling maybe every sunday in winter and a couple of rides each week in the summer, we go soft when we have to and hard when we can, anyhow we arrived signed up for the 30 ride and started off, there were many kids and parents and other would be riders en route of varying competancy, however we passed many riders and eventually about 8 miles in happened on a couple of young women riding horrid squeaky Hybrids that hadn't seen the inside of a workshop for decades, we passed the time of day, cycled behind chatting and later had to stop to assist one of the gals retrieve her snack box which was tin and loosely clamped in a rusty old rear spring type carrier, and when we had it reset securely.. right one of them said we need to put the hammer down, we smiled at each other.. and off they sped, we drilled it up behind them and i looked down at my sigma, nearly deafened by the protesting old machines, they were up around 20 mph, and they kept it up for the next few miles, i glanced over at Davy , and while we weren't struggling, said.. ''good job they aren't on decent modern machinery cause if they had we would have been in a totally different place''.. they.. i later found out were long distance runners, in their late 20's and did a bit of cycling mainly to work etc.. the effort it must have been to ride those old rickels at that pace would have blown us up totally, the bikes is the chassis YOU are the engine.. will

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Did not ride at all for 5 years, didn't do much else either

Got on my road bike (I have previously run marathons, used to cruise at 20mph for over an hour at night in my jeans
Walked up to 46 miles in a day with camping gear etc. etc) and rode 60 miles straight off on out skirts of Dartmoor
But struggled with my feet and could not bear going up hill so had to get off and walk near the end, overtook a couple out for a sunday ride on the flat but they caught me walking up the hills, I knew I could do it but the body say's NO
My feet were suffering because I had few years back just recovered from multiple surgery and losing a third of my body weight, the physio said you will have to rebuild all your muscles ( I think she meant retrain as I recovered to the same shape) with special note on the feet.

If you do any exercise then you will have the edge for sure, and if you have done it before many years ago it stays with you, age is the killer for sure.

[giorgiogu]

Hi guys,

It is a pleasure to read all your answers, thank you

Just to give an update, I switched to a road bike, Fuji Sportif.

I do enjoy the bike more and I feel more relaxed to ride it.

I still struggle on some of the hills (i get at the top, but then I need a good couple of minutes to recover, cycling like a zombie) but I make them faster, so probably I could take them easier but for one reason or the other, when I'm climbing, it's like I try to push as hard as I can.

In general, my average speed has increased and I enjoy taking long rides. but this could also be because I got a bit fitter.

I do enjoy riding