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So this is more a brief background and a quick question really.
When I was younger I had a couple of road bikes and did a lot of miles, then I got married had kid and it all stopped.
Now I am 36 trying to loose weight and have started again (all be it with a commuting bike able to take panniers rather than a full on road bike due to only being able to afford one or the other.)
two question’s really
1) having done a few long distance rides on this bike I am really missing the drop bars (couldn’t afford at the time to raise price to get a tourer with drops) is a conversion to drops affordable/sensible?
2) I recently sold my old road bike to someone who happened to be the chairman of a cycling club, I’ve never done group rides before - what are some tips? How do you get started? What happens if you can’t keep pace? Do they take people with a traditional road bike (as explained above)
Hi there, GuitarMan. Thanks for signing up to our humble community and for being brave enough to dive right in.
And a couple of great questions to kick things off.
My £0.02's worth on each of them are below. I've put them in expandable sections so you don't have to look at a wall of text. Hit the arrows to the left of each one to open /close the answer to each of your questions.
What to do about drop bars...
I guess it really depends on what you miss the most about drop bars?
If you're looking for performance enhancements then the best thing to upgrade to help you go faster is the wheels. Changing your bars won't really help in this way. Even if they weigh much less than your current ones, at a beginner's level it's always better and cheaper to lose weight to the thing ON the saddle vs. what's under it 😉
If it's just for aesthetics then I guess it depends on how much you're prepared to spend to look a little better.
If you miss the riding position and getting aerodynamic 'into the drops' then, as above, it's a case of 'is it really worth spending the money to have this again on something that isn't really a road bike. Remember, it's not just the bars to pay for. You might need to fork out to have some fit and re-cable everything for you, too, if you can't do this yourself.
Instinctively, if it was me, I'd sell the bike and replace it with a dedicated roadie. I believe the second hard market is still better for sellers at the mo as supply might still be an issue, although this might be changing as people who bought bikes earlier in the year sell them again at the thought of having to ride in the winter!
Group riding
Hope all this helps, buddy. Shout if you have any further questions.
Cheers.
Ben.