Road Bikes

Road bikes will help you get where you’re going quickly and efficiently. If it’s speed you’re after, you’ve come to the right place

Road bikes are the fastest, lightest and in many ways most effective forms of travelling on two wheels. The beauty of modern road bikes is that they don’t actually require that much of a compromise — they’re comfortable to ride, affordable to buy, and reliable to run. The single requirement is that you use them on relatively smooth surfaces — hence why they’re called ‘road’ bikes!

Because of the explosion in interest in road bikes in recent years, a number of new sub-genres of road bike have become more prominent. We’ll explain these in a moment, but for now it’s worth understanding that the qualities that make a road bike are fairly universal.

Firstly, all road bikes have drop handlebars. Because of this, they all use integrated levers that control both the brakes and the gear selection. Road bikes tend to put a priority on lightweight — even the least expensive road bike will be substantially lighter than an equivalently priced hybrid or mountain bike. That means their frames will be made from aluminium, carbon, lightweight steel or in titanium. Finally, road bikes roll on 700c wheels fitted with relatively thin tyres, ranging from slicks to more grippy cyclo-cross treads.

View All Road Bikes

Race bikes

Race bikes, or speed-orientated road bikes tend to have higher-end components and lighter, normally carbon frames. They might favour a more aerodynamic position for the rider, and the bikes themselves might possibly feature aero details such as internal cable routing. The ride quality will also be stiffer than other types of road bike, favouring power delivery more than comfort, but they should feature excellent handling characteristics. Race bikes will almost certainly come fitted with thin, slick tyres.

Time trial bikes

An extension on the race bike theme, time trial bikes will favour aerodynamic ability and stiffness over all other considerations. They will often come fitted with aero-bars to help give the rider a more extended, aerodynamic shape. Time trial bikes might not be particularly comfortable or well handling.

Sportive bikes

Sportive bikes are designed for serious but non-racing road riders who want to spend a long time on their bikes. There is much cross-over with race bikes — lightness, efficiency and handling will all be given priority as these things help reduce fatigue over a long ride — but extra consideration will also be given to providing the rider with a comfortable, perhaps slightly less aggressive position on the bike. Like race bikes, sportive bikes can feature anything up to the very best gears and brakes, but they might have fractionally wider slick tyres, again for comfort.

Cyclo-cross bikes

Cyclo-cross racing takes place on courses that mix road and off-road surfaces, but cyclo-cross bikes often feature a lot of qualities that make them great general purpose bikes, too. They tend to have relatively high, traditionally shaped frames; wider tyres with excellent grip; and effective brakes such as V-brakes or disc brakes, which are able to cope with more testing conditions than road bikes’ traditional caliper brakes. However, often cyclo-cross bikes aren’t quite as light, refined or as suited to out-and-out speed as other road bikes.

Touring bikes

As with cyclo-cross bikes, touring bikes can be superb for non-cycle tourists, too. Touring bikes will have treaded tyres that are slightly wider than sportive or race bikes, but more importantly, the touring bike frame will be designed with weight carrying and excellent day-long comfort in mind. Expect the frame to be made of high-quality steel or aluminium, with a rear rack and possibly front rack fitted as standard.

Quick commuters

Not a separate niche as such, but any type of road bike can be converted into a ‘quick commuter’. Just be aware that if you’re planning on taking a small load to work each day, the best way to carry anything on a bike is with pannier bags, which will require a rear rack. Many sportive, cyclo-cross and all touring bikes will come with rear rack mounts, but the more speed-orientated bikes, especially those with carbon frames, may not.

Should I buy one?

If your aspirations involve cycling on asphalt, then a road bike is really the most sensible, and obvious choice. Road bikes are so much more efficient at covering smooth ground, it would be foolish to consider anything else.

If you’ve been inspired by the exploits of professional riders such as Bradley Wiggins or Chris Froome and now you wish to get fit, perhaps take on a challenge ride or sportive, a road bike is perfect. If you want to get to work quickly each day, a road bike is the answer. If you want to travel and see the world from the saddle, a road bike in the form of a touring machine is what you need. And even if you want to do a bit of mild off-roading, there’s always the option of a cyclo-cross bike.

With modern road bikes being so good in so many areas, they’re easier to live with than ever before. Buy a road bike and see how far and fast you can go!

Groupsets

A groupset is the collection of a bike’s vital mechanical components, namely: brake/gear levers, front derailleur, rear derailleur, chainset, rear cassette, and brakes. The quality of a bike’s groupset is a main factor that distinguishes individual models in a manufacturer’s range. In descending order of quality, the groupset hierarchy of each major manufacturer goes like this…

Shimano

Dura-Ace / Dura-Ace Di2 (electronic shifting)

Ultegra / Ultegra Di2 (electronic shifting)

105

Tiagra

Sora

Claris

Tourney (gears only)

Campagnolo

Super Record / Super Record EPS (electronic shifting)

Record / Record EPS (electronic shifting)

Chorus / Chorus EPS (electronic shifting)

Athena

Veloce

SRAM

Red

Rival

Force

Apex