On Comfort Bikes

[ft_critical]

So I needed to hire a bike to do a ride in Brisbane recently. For $80 I hired an Avanti, it was probably the one below but an older model.



It came with Shimano R500 wheels on 25mm Vittoria Rubino rubber. It had tons of spacers on the already ´endurance´ head-tube. Full Tiagra with little indicators in the brifters to tell me what gear I was in. Big square drop bars.

So how was it? It was awesome!

[I am comparing it to a Cinelli Best of Pro with Record and Reynolds Carbon 40mm clinchers and a Colnago Cristallo with Chorus and Campagnolo Neutrons (both 23mm).]

I rode it 105km and 2800m of vertical, up to Mt Glorious. The 25mm tyres are so comfortable it is incredible. They grip and give cornering sability that is far superior (my opinion of course) to my existing 23mm shod rims. Very solid, even on R500’s which have had a questionable rep in the past.

The higher headset, spacers etc saw the bars obviously higher. This was very comfortable out of the saddle particularly as it allowed me to get my hips forward, and straighten my back. This made standing climbing a dream once I got used to it.

It had a stock Merida saddle, versus my Selle Italia Flite/s. I can’t believe I am writing this but it was great also. I thought the nose was up too much to begin with but then I discovered I could ‘lock’ my sit bones at the back of the saddle (against the wings of the saddle) and rotate my hips forward when climbing seated. Again, super comfy and efficient.

Descending, so you would think all that height would be bad. But, I found that I could get myself very low with my shoulders almost parallel with the cross bar giving me effectively the same profile as on my existing ‘slammed’ race bikes.

Brakes, well sorry they are not good enough compared to Campagnolo brakes in anyway. I found that I couldn’t modulate the stopping force accurately to allow me to brake progressively harder into a corner.

Shifting was clunky (felt pretty agricultural) but exact, never missed a shift front or rear derailleur.

Conclusion… well, I wonder why I spent so much on my existing bikes to be honest. I do wish I had the clearance to run 25mm tyres – sigh.

[Duck!]

Most of the "negatives" you list aren't specific to the "comfort" orientation of the bike, but rather the component selection, which can also find its way onto more race-oriented bikes.

R500 wheels. The only rep they deserve is that they're effing heavy, which does bring performance trade-offs. However they are generally robust, reliable wheels.

25mm Rubino tyres vs 23mm what? Rubinos are OK tyres. Tough, decently grippy in the dry, scary when it's wet. 2mm doesn't make that much difference, composition does.

Tiagra; if older 9-sp then yes it's a bit rough, partially from wider sprocket spacing (although coming from Campag you'd be used to that as it's traditionally wider than Shimano), but there is a bit of free play in the lever before engaging the mechanisn. 10-sp. is a lot sharper, the shifters being essentially recycled 7800 Dura-Ace. Once the shift mechanism is engaged it's actually a shorter stroke than anything from Campag or SRAM.

Saddle: well price really is irrelevant. If the shape suits your bum it's good, if it doesn't, it's bad.

Brakes, yep, some budget models just plain suck. The Big Three (Shimano, Campag, SRAM) are all pretty good (at least for standard road calipers, SRAM/Avid have a variable rep for hydros!).

[biker jk]

Nice comparison. It's a Merida not an Avanti (well at least it's a picture of a Merida). I believe tyre grip has more to do with compound than width. I have 23mm Schwalbe Ones on my Lynskey and 25mm Continental GrandSport's (OEM) on my Merida. The Lynskey corner's noticeably faster. The wider tyres improve ride comfort by running lower pressures (15 psi less than on the 23mm tyres). I agree on everything else.