What's In A Bike?
Holy post! I meant to put this up a few days ago, but it took me SO long to do all the research. I'm going to put a "links" section at the end of this post, to summarize all the great sites I used to get this information, but for now, I wanted to get the main article up!
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I’ve been thinking of buying a new bicycle.
About two years ago, I purchased a very nice Cannondale R500 road bike on Craigslist for $350. It was used, and it would be perfect for my needs, but it is WAY TOO BIG. I had a really fun season riding it, nonetheless—I competed in my first “real” triathlon, and I got a lot of other use out of it. It’s not a good idea to ride a bike that doesn’t fit you, however, so it’s time for me to get a new set of wheels.
After perusing the local bike shops, Craigslist, and a variety of other online retailers, I realized I didn’t know what the hell I was looking at. I knew that some bikes were pretty and cost $3,500, and some bikes were pretty and cost $600. I knew gear sets seemed to be very important, but I didn’t know why.
I’ve just finished doing the necessary homework so that I feel comfortable walking into a store again. Here’s a few days of web-surfing, condensed. It’s not exactly “everything I need to know about road bikes,” but it’s a good start.
For the casual rider
Before I begin with some of the nuts and bolts of the bike-buying business, however, let me qualify this article by stating that I’m an amateur biker, and I get out enough to know I need a machine that will last a few years and a few races. If you don’t bike more than 10 miles a week, I think you can happily get by with the cheapest bike in a reputable bike store. Pick one that looks nice. Get it fit for you (this should be free with purchase, but if it costs a few bucks, it’s worth it). Modern bikes are marvels, and the trickle-down affect of high-performance technology will ensure that unless you’re trying to shift gears while you crank up a hill in a race, you probably won’t have any gear slippage, and the parts will probably last you for years. If you wear a bike out, don’t get angry, consider it an accomplishment, and read on! You need a higher class bike, and I might be able to help you make the right economic decision.
Gears
Shimano. Oh, Shimano. You’re on all the bikes, and all your different styles look the same to me. What makes one Shimano gear set different from another? What’s the difference between Shimano 105 and Shimano Tiagra? Shimano Ultegra and Shimano Dura-Ace?
Weight, durability, looks, and price.
Shimano comes in two tiers. At the top are the Cadillac models. These are (in ascending order):
- Shimano 105 (awesome)
- Shimano Ultegra (really awesome)
- Shimano Dura-Ace (indescribably awesome)
If you’re just starting out, and you want to go top-of-the-line, you still don’t need to go higher than the 105s. The Ultegra and Dura-Ace are for the top-level professional riders. Lance Armstrong used them. The Ultegra and the Dura-Ace are slightly lighter than the 105s—about 6 lbs compared to the 105’s 7 lbs (that weight applies to the full gear set—check out Shimano’s site to get an idea of what a full gear set includes). Also, the Ultegra and Dura-Ace are slightly more durable, but again, if you somehow manage to wear out the 105’s (you won’t), the bragging rights are worth the inconvenience. This is a good thread that talks about the difference; what sealed the deal for me was the biker who put 10,000 miles on a set of 105s and Dura-Aces, and says that the 105s are as high as he’ll ever go. Some people describe the Dura-Ace as a smoother ride, but most people say it’s not worth the money, unless you want bragging rights.
But wait! Shimano has a second tier of gear sets (again in ascending order):
- Shimano 2200 (just fine)
- Shimano Sora (darn good)
- Shimano Tiagra (super great)
Again, the difference is weight, durability, looks, and price, but let’s put this whole conversation into perspective. My current bike is nine years old, and it has Shimano RSX gears on it—that’s the latter-day equivalent to the Tiagra. When you go to a store, everything you see will have nine years of advancement over this technology, and you know what? My bike works great. I put a heavy season of commuting, pleasure riding, and “racing.” I came in about middle-of-the-pack in the triathlon I competed in, and it wasn’t the bike that held me back. I was happy with the performance. I’ve been test-driving new bikes, and yes, I see the difference in shifting for the higher-end components, but it’s not something that would affect my commute, training, or racing. I would personally shy away from using the Shimano 2200 gear set on my main components (the deraulleurs and the shifters), but that said, you can get a great bike at a really reasonable price ($500-$1000) with these gear sets.
When you finally walk into a bike store, you’ll probably see a variety of components on a single bike—they mix and match when they assemble them to keep cost down, putting higher-end components on more-crucial part. It’s helpful to know the reason why the bikes are priced where they are.
Frames
Frames come in three varieties: steel, aluminum, and carbon. High-end bikes used to come in titanium, also, but that’s a quickly fading fad, as carbon and aluminum now offer everything titanium once gave you (weight and durability), but at a much-reduced cost.
The difference?
Weight, rigidity, and cost.
Most people don’t like weight in their road bikes, which is why steel is out of fashion. There’s always a caveat, however! It pays to test drive steel bikes—they’ve improved the build-technologies so steel frames can be made fairly light, now, and they’re cheap. You might find the weight difference between steel and aluminum to be too minor to quibble over. However! You might not even find a steel bike at the bike shop. Most road bikes are made from aluminum—even the less expensive models.
So that leaves us with carbon and aluminum, and seriously, don’t buy an all-carbon frame for your first bike. That’s such a poser move. Carbon is really expensive. Aluminum is the material of choice for intro riders. It’s light and fast.
It’s also very rigid.
What does that mean? More importantly, why does rigidity matter? Carbon has more flex to the frame, and that flex translates into a smoother ride (really). However, when you’re peddling a carbon bike, some of your energy is used-up flexing the bike, whereas with a stiffer frame like aluminum, that energy goes directly to peddling. Riders often say that aluminum is faster.
A lot of frames are built with both aluminum and carbon components, however. A popular package: the front fork (the part that holds the front wheel) is made of carbon, as is the seat post, and the rest of the frame is aluminum. I’ve been testing bikes, and I like this hybrid option. It’s cost effective, and from what I’ve seen, it really does make the ride smoother.
Tires?
I don’t really know that much about tires, except that my friend who weighs about 220 has to worry about them, because he’s heavy enough that he blows out cheap tires, and I weight about 177, and I’ve never blown out a tire. Eh, this will probably come back to haunt me. Don’t take that as an actual review.
Summary
I read up on all this stuff because I felt stupid when I entered a bike store. I was intimidated by the knowledge of the sixteen-year-old bike monkey behind the counter. I’ve found that taking a test ride is more important than reading any of this, but I wouldn’t have known which bikes I wanted to test ride unless I’d known something about the components.
I was talking to my sister a few months ago when she purchased her most recent bike. She bought one off Craigslist—it’s a stock bike with cheap stock parts, and she loves it. She wanted to get in shape, and we decided that the upside to crappy bikes is it takes more energy to ride them, so you get a better workout. If you’re starting to consider all those ultra-light components and frames, here’s a quick test that I think is worth taking!
1.) Stand in front of a mirror.
2.) Remove all your clothes.
3.) That bike is only a small portion of the weight you’re lugging down the trail. Now, is that 4 lbs difference for the $1,500 bike really that significant in the whole package (that being you and the bike)? Hmmmmmm….. If you happen to be staring at a Greek God/Goddess with rippling muscles, and you know that you need to lose that “bike weight” to compensate for the muscle mass you’ll be putting on, then by all means, drop the cash. If you’re like me, however, it might be best to look at the less expensive bike—I know a few other places I can shed the weight.
Happy Biking!
