On a Sunday morning, you swipe your phone to check the latest status of your friends on social media. A friend of yours is sharing his road biking moment. This intrigues you as you think riding a road bike must have some benefits, which makes him into this.
Meanwhile, this reignites your interest in cycling as you realize you stop cycling for a long period of time.
Why not start cycling again? And since you think riding a road bike has many benefits and it looks quite fun, you then start looking for a road bike.
Dang! The price makes you hesitate. Why on Earth does a road bike cost so much? Why are people willing to spend so much on a bike?
To you, cycling is just an exercise. A bike should be cheap. So, why not just ride a cruiser bike? – At least this is what you expect.
A road bike might be expensive, but its benefits outweigh its cost. That’s why people prefer road bikes, despite the price.
Now, let’s look at these 8 road bike benefits that make you crave a road bike.
1. Speed
You sit upright when riding a cruiser bike. You feel great when you feel the wind on your face and body.
Then, you lean your body forward a bit for speeding. There you are. The sensation is stronger.
This feels great, doesn’t it? I mean, you don’t break a sweat, as the wind cools you down.
Little do you know that this actually is disastrous for cycling speed.
Why should this matter to you? When you’re speeding, this “wind” acts as AIR RESISTANCE.
Besides, pedaling creates uneven PRESSURE between the frontal and back area. Your frontal area has higher pressure. So, you are actually PULLED backwards.
The faster you pedal, the greater the uneven pressure is. Hence, the pulling force is stronger.
So, cyclists hate these when it comes to cycling AERODYNAMICS. To make you pedal faster and more efficient, you need to minimize both air resistance and air pressure drag.
And that is why speed is one of the benefits of a road bike!
1.1 How road bike improves speed
The design and features of a road bike aim to improve cycling aerodynamics, such as:
- Dropped handlebar
- High saddle
- Thin frames and wheels
When pedaling, this makes you lean your body forward in an aggressive position. Your body is PARALLEL to the ground.
The design and posture aim to reduce FRONTAL area, which reduces air resistance and air pressure drag.
With aerodynamic posture, you either:
- Pedal the same force but longer distance and greater speed; or
- Pedal less force but with the same distance
1.2 Bike aerodynamic study
In a journal on ResearchGate, the researchers studied the relationship between aerodynamic drag and types of bike (ie. time trial bike, road bike, and mountain bike).
They found that:
- Time trial bike had 36% less drag than mountain bike
- Time trial bike had 18% less drag than road bike
- Road bike had 21% less drag than mountain bike
- Time trial bike had the lowest drag coefficient (which means the lower the drag coefficient is, the less drag it is).
Time trial bike is just another type of road bike, which allows cyclist put the arms on the aero bar. – A typical aggressive posture in track cycling or triathlon.
Based on the study, time trial bike cycling posture has the least frontal area. Hence, this explains the drag.
Nonetheless, the result achieved from the road bike is also in line with our common understanding.
2. Stylish
What would you do whenever you saw a cyclist with a road bike on the street? Did he catch your attention?
Well, I did. In fact, I do. I just can’t help looking at the cyclist as it is so eye-catching.
Look at the bike design. And look at the outfit of the cyclist. It’s so fancy and striking.
Likewise, if you rode a road bike, you’d just grab their attention, too. This is awesome, isn’t it?
Maybe you think I’m a shallow person. But, who doesn’t like attention? That makes you look like a CELEBRITY.
Whoever tells you that they don’t like this attention, I think that’s a LIE.
This is how the world works. Everyone seeks attention. That’s why you see this on social media all the time.
In contrast, nobody really pays attention to a cruiser bike. They are so ordinary and nothing special. You may not even notice when a cruiser bike passes by.
Well, you may argue where being too eye-catching isn’t that great, considering the risk of being stolen.
Yeah, you have a point. However, as long as you properly lock your road bike, you can still avoid bike theft.
3. Light
Let’s do this on your own.
Type the keywords “how heavy is a cruiser bike” on Google and search. What is the top result you get?
You might get the result where the average weight is around 30 to 40 pounds.
Now, type the keywords “how heavy is a road bike” on Google and search. You might get the result of around 8kg (or 18 pounds).
Meaning, a road bike is much LIGHTER than a cruiser bike.
Well, some road bikes are heavier than another, depending on the materials.
For example, steel road bike is heavier (but cheaper) than carbon fibre or titanium road bike.
Some cyclists are willing to pay the premium for a carbon fibre or titanium road bike. And weight is one of the crucial factors.
3.1 Why weight matters
There are 2 reasons for it.
Reason No.1. – This is all about speed (mentioned above). Less weight is more responsive.
More weight means greater inertia and momentum. You need to pedal harder to accelerate. – So, you waste unnecessary energy.
Reason No. 2. – You can lift and carry the bike with ease.
Well, you might think this is redundant. Why do we need to carry the bike when we can ride it?
What if you are riding on a muddy or rocky road? You can lift your bike and carry it on your shoulder and bypass the road.
Imagine if you are riding a cruiser bike, you have these options:
- Carry it (it’s like hell because of the weight)
- Ride through it (your bike fills with the mud and you have to clear the mess later)
- Give up and return (you just don’t want to deal with the mess above)
Do you have to face this ordeal? Absolutely not!
4. Bike commute
Cyclists prefer bike commuting as it is eco-friendly. It is also a great way to stay fit. Plus, we can save tonnes of money, too!
Hence, cruiser bike is the perfect choice for bike commuting. It serves all these purpose, especially the ridiculously cheap price.
With that being said, it doesn’t mean other bikes aren’t worth any consideration. Still, you can ride any types of bike for bike commuting.
And a road bike should be on your list.
4.1 Why road bike for commuting
Yeah, road bikes are often more expensive that other bikes. After all, they are still cheaper than a car.
Buying a road bike is just a one-off payment. You won’t need to apply for loan to buy a bike. – Save interest.
After that, you SAVE petrol, parking, car maintenance cost. So, in the long run, that’s a huge amount of money you’ll be saving.
The biggest perk is road bike is designed for LONG-DISTANCE and endurance riding. Different bike commuting distance, 3k vs 10km for instance, really makes a difference.
Cruiser bike for short-distance commuting is perfect, but not the long one. You’ll realize you’d spend too much time on it. And this could be frustrating.
So, get a road bike for long-distance commuting. – You tend to ride faster and reach destination earlier.
5. Road-side repair
Flat tyre is no joke, especially when riding on the road. As you don’t know how to fix a flat tyre, you really don’t know what to do.
Who should you call?
And then you start panicking.
Hang on. With a little knowledge about tyre changing, you can repair on your own. – Especially if you ride a road bike.
5.1 Why should you think so?
You just need to carry these simple gears with you when riding:
- A small tyre lever
- Spare tubes
- A mini pump
- Tape
And you can fit all these in a small pocket or bag. It’s easier than you think!
Basically, you need to:
- Remove the wheel, tyre, and tube
- Deflate the tube
- Inspect the tyre and tube
- Patch or replace the tube
- Inflate the tube
- Reposition the tube, tyre, and wheel
Basically, the above applies to any bike tyres. But, it is easier to patch or replace a road bike tyre because of the size of the tyres and tubes.
Here’s the video from Global Cycling Network you can watch to know how to change road bike tyre road-side.
In contrast, you might have difficulty in changing thick tyres of other bikes (eg. cruiser bike, mountain bike, etc). Plus, you might need wrench to unscrew and rescrew the wheels too, which is really troublesome.
In this case, you might as well continue riding with punctured tyres sent for repair right away.
6. Various gear options
Most road bikes have these features:
- 2 or 3 chainring set (front gear)
- Cassette: collection of various sizes of rear cogs
Clearly, these are for gear shifting. Some people hate these because gear shifting is pain in the butt.
Nonetheless, gear shifting is a cycling skill that cyclists should take time to master.
But, once you’ve mastered this, you can ride on any gradient with ease. – Typically when riding uphill.
In contrast, many cruiser bikes are gearless. So, you have to grind through the uphill and ride with the horrible gear.
Even if you can change gear, it doesn’t mean this totally solve the problem. Again, with the inherent low speed of a cruiser bike, you can’t expect to ascend like a road bike.
7. Versatile
When we talk about road bikes, we always think of those cyclists riding with an aggressive riding posture.
They lean their body forward; their grips are on the dropped part of the handlebars. This makes their body parallel to the ground.
And we totally are unaware of the other way of riding a road bike. That is, to ride the RECREATIONAL way.
There are several ways to put your grip on the dropped handlebars. The position affects the aggressiveness of riding posture. – Of course, aerodynamics, too.
Or, what about the saddle height?
What if the height is too tall for you? – Well, just lower it.
Simply alter the way to hold the handlebar and adjust the saddle height to allow you to sit with more upright posture.
The idea is you canSWITCH the style of riding easily.
After all, it’s all up to your purpose. It’s like having a bike with multi-purpose use.
Let’s think the other way. Can you do this for other bikes? Well, you can raise the saddle height. Then, you can also change to dropped handlebars.
But wait! Why don’t you get a road bike instead? – Save your time to get this trouble.
8. Bike race
You wish to take part in bike races, especially Tour de France.
So, you must know how to ride a bike fast and efficiently.
Hence, you need a road bike. Hands down!
Besides, road bikes are used in these events. I’m pretty sure you know this, too.
Well, maybe you try to be the odd one out and think of riding other type of bike. – But, I don’t think it’s possible. Talk about bike APPROVAL.
Besides, it’s simple illogical to do that.
Just like FREESTYLE swimming discipline. Technically, you can use any strokes you want: breaststrokes, front crawl, doggy style (though not official, lol), etc.
The question is, did you see any swimmer swim different strokes other than front crawl? – You didn’t right?
That’s because front craw is the fastest and most efficient stroke. And because of this, freestyle and front crawl become synonym.
The exact same thing applies for bike race. Technically, road bike is fast and efficient.
Final thought: road bike benefits
Road bike provides benefits more than you expect.
Although road bike is more pricy than the other bikes, the benefits outweigh the cost. – That’s why road bike is the top choice amongst cyclists.
I know road bike is really eye-catching, but it doesn’t mean this is the only reason to get a road bike and ignore other benefits.
And if price is your concern, get a cheaper road bike that is made of steel or aluminum. Or even a second hand one.
You get the hang of riding a road bike. Don’t let price restrict you from getting a road bike.
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