{"id":2439,"date":"2021-07-30T20:54:35","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T20:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/?p=2439"},"modified":"2021-07-30T20:57:40","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T20:57:40","slug":"the-ideal-road-bike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/2021\/07\/30\/the-ideal-road-bike\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ideal Road Bike"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What is the ideal road bike?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Efficient (fast)\n<ul>\n<li>If you don&#8217;t care about this, you might as well ride a mountain bike as they can traverse any kind of terrain, roads or trails.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Comfortable\n<ul>\n<li>Comfort = fun, especially on long rides.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Handling\n<ul>\n<li>If you&#8217;re going fast, it needs to be responsive and predictable in the turns.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Brakes\n<ul>\n<li>The faster you go, the more important this is<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Requirements<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gearing: wide range\n<ul>\n<li>A wide range is essential: at least 1:4 from low to high<\/li>\n<li>Examples\n<ul>\n<li>My &#8217;99 Trek had low 39-25 = 1.56, high 52-12 = 4.33, range = 4.33\/1.56 = 2.78:1\n<ul>\n<li>This is not enough. The high is about right but the low is much too high<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Modern: low 34-34 (1:1), high 50-11 (4.54:1), range = 4.54\/1.00 = 4.54:1\n<ul>\n<li>This is great &#8211; much lower 1st gear and roughly the same high gear.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Modern bikes offer much smaller front chainrings which solves this problem<\/li>\n<li>How many gears is irrelevant: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, whatever.\n<ul>\n<li>This is marketing bullshit.<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s the range, not the number of gears, that matters.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Electronic shifting is irrelevant.\n<ul>\n<li>Mechanical cable shifting has been perfected for decades and works perfectly<\/li>\n<li>Mechanical doesn&#8217;t need batteries, is lighter, cheaper, more reliable, simpler, and user serviceable<\/li>\n<li>Electronic shifting is a solution in search of a problem<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Frame: carbon\n<ul>\n<li>Must be both stiff (efficient) and comfortable.<\/li>\n<li>Aluminum is stiff but uncomfortable, transmitting vibration to the rider which gets painful and fatiguing on long rides<\/li>\n<li>Steel is comfortable but too heavy, and it is not as strong or durable as people think<\/li>\n<li>Carbon fiber is the best frame material: the efficiency of aluminum with the comfort of steel, and very strong and durable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Wheels: carbon\n<ul>\n<li>Must be stiff (efficient), light, and aerodynamic<\/li>\n<li>Aluminum allow rims cannot be both light &amp; aerodynamic &#8211; choose your poison\n<ul>\n<li>When you make them deep enough for good aero, they get very heavy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Carbon rims give the best of all worlds, and good ones have lifetime warranty<\/li>\n<li>BUT Carbon rims\n<ul>\n<li>should not use rim brakes &#8211; poor braking and can melt the rims<\/li>\n<li>should not use alloy spoke nipples &#8211; need to use brass to avoid redox<\/li>\n<li>Make sure the spokes are exposed so you can true them without unsealing the tire<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Tires: clinchers with latex tubes\n<ul>\n<li>Clinchers with latex tubes are faster and more comfortable than tubeless<\/li>\n<li>Use the narrowest tires that provide sufficient comfort\n<ul>\n<li>Much has been said that modern tires can be wide without increasing rolling resistance.<\/li>\n<li>This is incorrect, misleading and mis-interpreted: wide tires are not faster.<\/li>\n<li>All else equal, a narrower tire run at its recommended pressure has less rolling resistance.<\/li>\n<li>All else equal, a wider tire run at its recommended pressure is more comfortable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t use tubeless tires.\n<ul>\n<li>Tubeless is great on MTB, where they enable you to run lower pressures without getting pinch flats. These lower pressures increase traction.<\/li>\n<li>On road bikes, tubeless tires are neither faster (rolling resistance) nor lighter than tubed tires<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Brakes: hydraulic disc\n<ul>\n<li>Rim brakes are a bit lighter, but less effective and can&#8217;t be used with carbon wheels<\/li>\n<li>Hydraulic brakes are better than mechanical: lighter touch and self-adjusting<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the ideal road bike? Efficient (fast) If you don&#8217;t care about this, you might as well ride a mountain bike as they can traverse any kind of terrain, roads or trails. Comfortable Comfort = fun, especially on long rides. Handling If you&#8217;re going fast, it needs to be responsive and predictable in the &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/2021\/07\/30\/the-ideal-road-bike\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Ideal Road Bike<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exercise","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2439"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2442,"href":"http:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2439\/revisions\/2442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}