Road bicycles may look the same as the ten speeds of a long time ago, but the technology used today makes them vastly different from those days. I think that is the reason why a lot of people new to road cycling are shocked by the prices of bikes and components. You have to realize that these bikes are not the $100 dollar Huffy ten speeds that you may have had years ago.
Road bikes today can have 22 gear combinations, disc brakes, frames that weigh less than the water bottles they carry and computers and video gear. My bike had two chainrings in the front and five in the back for a total of 10 gears when I was in high school. Now, my Trek Madone has two chainrings in front, but 11 gears in the rear for a total of 22 gears. My Iverson Touring bike weighed 40 pounds versus the 15 pounds of my Trek today. And my Garmin 510 bike computer gives me more data than I could use on a ride.
Steel
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| Photo courtesy of Ben Atherton |
When you walk into a bike shop today, almost all of the bikes are either aluminum or carbon fiber. Years ago, most of the bikes were steel. Steel was the dominant material for decades. Steel bikes are heavy, but compliant, which means that the steel absorbs the bumps, which makes a smoother ride than aluminum. Steel bikes are easy to make since steel is easy to weld and can last for years if taken care of and not left in the rain. If you commute to work, a steel bike is a good choice, because of the durability and the frame can be repaired if the bike gets knocked around. You can find new steel bikes mostly online. Or you can find quite a few on either Craigslist or EBay since steel bikes last for a very long time.
Aluminum
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| Photo courtesy of Iban |
Aluminum began to replace steel bikes beginning in the 1980’s. Aluminum is one-third as heavy as steel and with a small increase in tube thickness, aluminum can be just as strong as steel. Aluminum bikes are much lighter, but stiffer and brittle bikes. Aluminum is harder to repair or bend back into shape after a crash. The ride is harsher than a steel bike. When I rode my Trek 1000 for the first time after riding a steel Schwinn, I thought that someone had come along and roughed up the road for some reason. You can feel pebbles and grains of sand on an aluminum bike. I personally can ride an aluminum bike for no more than 3 to 4 hours before really feeling the effects of a bumpy road. For the environmental conscience rider, an aluminum bike requires more energy and resources to produce than other types of bikes and uses an alloy that requires non-recycled aluminum. A well-made aluminum bike is durable and cheaper alternative to other types of bikes. A typical quality aluminum bike will start around $600 to $700. An aluminum bike is a great entry level bike.
Carbon
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| Photo courtesy of Alan Levine |
The current hot bike frame material is carbon fiber. The pros race with carbon fiber bikes and carbon fiber bikes are becoming standard with the average road cyclist. A carbon fiber frame is 40% lighter than an aluminum frame, 20% less stiff, giving it a smoother ride and is 2x stronger than aluminum. An entry level carbon fiber bike starts around $1000. The price jump from aluminum is due primarily to the manufacturing process. Carbon fiber bikes are mostly hand made as the carbon fiber sheets saturated with the plastic resin that gives carbon fiber the stiffness are applied to the frame by hand. This means that frames come in standard sizes and custom carbon frame is not an option. The downside to carbon fiber frames is that the two material will fail suddenly. If you crash your carbon fiber bike, you have to have it checked by a bike shop carefully. A small crack in the frame tubes can snap suddenly out on the road. Also, you shouldn't drop your bike, or let it fall, especially against a pole or wall. Also, pay attention to any weight limit that any carbon fiber component you may have.
Titanium
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| Photo courtesy of Phil Gradwell |
You can find titanium bike frames in some shops. Titanium is lighter than steel but nearly as strong. So a titanium bike will absorb some of the road buzz like steel but is much lighter. Titanium frames can come in a variety of sizes since the tubes can be cut in any number of lengths, like steel and aluminum. Therefore, buying a custom bike is possible. Titanium is also very durable, like steel, but is also corrosion resistant. If properly cared for, a titanium bike could be a bicycle for life. But titanium is tougher to work with, welding is more difficult than steel and aluminum and the material does cost more, so titanium bikes start at around $2,000. so if you travel with your bike or commute and generally expect a few bumps while you ride, titanium may be a good choice.
There are other materials out there, like wood or bamboo. Calfee makes a line of bamboo bikes and claims that the ride is stiff, the bikes are durable and are comfortable. And, of course, unlike the metal bikes, these bikes come from renewable sources.Bike designers are limited by only their imagination and material science.
Walking into a bike shop and looking at the array of bikes lined up across the floor and along the walls can be daunting. But if you have an idea as to how you want to ride and what your budget is, the staff of the bike shop should be able to give you some guidance about what would be your best choice.
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