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General: How much do you lean on your road bikes?

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    I'm curious how comfortable other people feel leaning into a turn on skinny 23c road tires. I've never thought about it much when I used to ride fixed gears 99% of the time, because you're already limited by your pedal hitting the ground, and I feel pretty comfortable doing whatever on them because if the back tire starts to lose traction you'll feel it immidiately. I've been riding geared bikes more lately, and I notice when I'm going into some sharp turns I'm pretty apprehensive about really leaning into them, because I know if those tires lose traction, it's going to be so fast that I won't know until I've hit the ground.

    Obviously this is going to be affected a lot by the quality and condition of your tires, but if it's just average quality and condition, how do you guys feel about it?
    • CommentAuthorRuffinit
    • CommentTimeJun 1st 2009
     
    As you state it's a combination of confidence, tire and road quality. I don't really think so much about the size of the tire because the bike it's going on is what will differentiate the way you ride it. I ride my crit and road bikes differently than say my touring bike which has wider tires. That's not saying that coming down say Vail Pass that you'll be able to outrun me in either the corners or the downhills as the touring bike will likely out run a road bike down a mountain (unloaded) it will handle slower in tight hairpin curves, but extremely stable at very high speed.. this is partially the inherent weight of the bike and partially the frame geometry. I have slid out at high speed no matter what the tire, but I think you find that if it's a question of traction my rear wheel has ALWAYS slid out first which makes for LOTS of road rash but not hard breaks. I figure a good wreck (solo) approximately every 1000 miles.
    Bottom line is that as you gain confidence in a new riding style and different frame, you'll gain experience at digging those corners deeper and deeper.
    PS.. the reason that cyclists shave thier legs is because the hair pulls your skin out when you slide across pavement.
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    specifically I'm thinking about <20lb road bikes with 23c tires. Long graceful turns and windy downhills aren't an issue as I feel pretty alright on them. I rarely do anything aside from commuting any more though, so it's usually me coming up to an intersection where I want to make a right turn, and not sure how much I really have to slow down before I can just lean in and take the turn.

    One of my bikes is a normal road bike, the other is a cyclocross bike with road tires and riser bars, so the steering isn't as stable in the turns but it still has about the same weight and traction.

    Does anyone really feel comfortable just tossing their bike into a corner, or does everyone grab their brakes and slow down quite a bit just to take the turns more gentle?
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    My pedals will hit the ground well before I run out of balls.

    I need a real road bike.
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    I had a Schwinn Traveler I bought new in 85. It had the alloy wheels standard. One day I was dismounting the bike from a standstill when I lost my balance just slightly, but it was enough to taco my wheel as I pushed forward to regain position. Since then I use steel wheels. I was tired of worrying about crappy roads knocking the light weights out of true. I feel safer, which makes me a better rider.
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    Knee pucks.



    Anyhow, it's all about feel. Temperature, wind, tires, surface, etc. all play a part.

    When I'm feeling extra frisky when riding road bikes I might give it a little rear brake just to rotate things a bit. It's all about reps when it comes to confidence.
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    Photobucket

    Imagine this....
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    I've been learning to trust my tires more. There's still sand on the roads here from the winter, though, so I'm always a little nervous.
    • CommentAuthorHyde
    • CommentTimeJun 1st 2009
     
    Tires are everything. Well...almost. Practice, as stated above, will yield the best results on the best products. Different tires have very different characteristics. I have run a number of different tires & run 19mm tubulars right now that grip better than some 21mm high end tires that I have run previously. Know your limits & practice lots!!!

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