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| *Vultures Knob>>>Road Bike |
On road bikes; why you you have to lean so far forward?? it looks uncomfortable. :)? |
i have a Standardized hybrid bike (which i love) and it sits almost as upright as a cruiser. But anyway, i see road bikes going past me a lot and it seems the bikers are almost parallel to the ground! why? It is an aero-dynamic thing? :) It is mostly an aerodynamic issue but also to use different muscles in your legs. Unless they are in an all out sprint or time trial, you will see cyclists change positions on the handlebars frequently. This is to alter the pressure on your back and tailbone and to incorporate different muscles into the pedal stroke. Doing so allows you to remain comfortable for longer periods of time and maintain speed by introducing different muscle groups. You will also occasionally see cyclists stand for brief periods. This is also a way of relieving pressure to certain parts of the body to increase comfort. All in the name of speed! Source(s): My time in the saddle. You too! I loved my highway bike. I could sit back and the handlebars came to me. I would probably break my back trying to ride one of those plastic speed demons. It helps your speed and it isn't that horrible its quite comfy aerodynamics yes. sometimes harder to breather when your hands are down on the drops but they make handle bar width wider to allow you to breathe slightly better. check out the Tour De France on tv sometime and watch how they descend down a long mountain road. they have some unusual positions. With some riders it is all about aerodynamics, and when you are winning and losing time trials by a matter of seconds it is very important. However, for most of us that isn't an issue. The position which looks a long way forwards on a road bike really isn't that uncomfortable, and the dropped handlebars on "racing" bikes allow for a wider variety of hand positions, especially with well designed brake hoods, and brakes which are powerful enough to be used from the hoods without having to make a rapid change to the drops. Also a well set-up bike will make a real difference. This means getting the right relationship between your contact points (handlebars, pedals and saddle). Personally I find a forward leaning position to be preferable as it distributes some of the weight away from the saddle (always a good thing). It is, however often stated that the most comfortable rider is to be had on a recumbent with your feet way out in front, and that LOOKS pretty awkward as well. some class of road bike have different geometry for mour if a upright touring aspect, both my bikes are road bike, My Palo Alto has more steeper tube angles , but my Merckx is more laid back, but both still have you leaning foward on the drops. My Palo Alto ( also known as my Mexico bike ) is set up for triple and low gearing for really steep grades ( when I ride it in Rosarita to Ensenada ride ), my Merckx however is pure racer, light but agile ( due to the laid back angles ) and has a longer top tube length for a more spread out ride. On racing bikes you can buy a different stem and shorten your reach, and you can adjust the saddle a bit closer, you will be more upright by doing so. Both my bikes are odler drop handle bar models, before ergonomics came into play, so I have compensated by padding them a bit with rubber tape prior to wrapping them with cello tape ( Benotto ), this keeps it looking old school vintage but yet adds a bit of modern comfort. Tire size helps as well, and tire pressure, though I run 700 x 23 tire at 105 psi or so, I am not really all that concenred with the smoothest ride or I would bump up tire size to 700 x 28 and drop the pressure a little to about 95 psi. |
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