Beginner road bike sluggish

[himynameismason]

I'm new to road bikes and am trying to figure out how to make my bike feel smoother. I have a Tommaso Tiempo that I bought in college but have never been terribly satisfied with it. My Trek MTB is much more enjoyable to ride (and actually less work). What parts would you recommend upgrading to make the ride smoother and less sluggish? The crank is Tommaso made, and that is my first guess as to where to begin.

 

[maydog]

Your road bike will never be as smooth riding over the same pavement as a mountain bike. A MTB rides on a much larger volume of air and most have some type of suspension - they are built to soak up surface roughness.

You can get your road bike to ride a bit smoother using larger diameter and good quality tires. A more forgiving fork can also soak up vibration - but beware that upgrades - beyond tires - only result in small improvements, the cost of which could approach the purchase price of your bike.

If it is properly tuned: no dragging brakes, tight hubs, rubbing tires, proper air pressure and properly fitted, the most sluggish component would be the engine. Changing the crank, assuming the number of teeth in the chainring are the same, will result in no measureable improvement to the ride at your level.

 

[dabac]

Apart from the tire volume thing covered by Maydog, it's very much down to the overall build quality. A cheaply built bike will just be overall heavier, sloppier and generally less responsive than a better built bike. By the time you've upgraded your way out of that you might as well have bought another bike. One thing that might be fooling you is the gearing. A road bike crankset may well have 42/52 teeth on the biggest rings while a MTB can have 32/42 instead. So if you try to compare them gear-for-gear then the road bike will indeed feel sluggish. Replacing the crank is a so-so thing. Replacing it with another brand with the same crank length and tooth count will most likely achieve next to nothing, no matter how blingy the replacement is. Replacing it with another with a lower tooth count will probably make the bike perk up.

 

[AyeYo]

Amazon lists the shipping weight as 152lbs. Any bike that heavy bound to feel sluggish.

Have you tried simply airing the tires down a little to help with smoothness? You also might want to define "sluggish". Do you mean slow acceleration, slow handling, dead feeling steering, etc?

 

[himynameismason]

Thanks guys for your suggestions. What I mean by sluggish is that even on flat/smooth roads, the bike still feels like I'm peddling up a hill. If that makes any sense. And I am new to road bikes, therefore I don't know how better define it. I feel like I'm at the mechanic making noises to tell him what's wrong. But I haven't ever had the bike tuned, so that is a great place to start. Also, when comparing this bike to my MTB, it makes total sense that I am used to less teeth on the crank as compared to the considerable increase on this road bike crankset

 

[AyeYo]

This might seem too obvious, but maybe not... are the brakes dragging?

Is the chain lubed? Are the derailleur jockey wheels lubed?

 

[himynameismason]

If I'm interested in using this bike for regular fitness and not races or anything, would putting a MTB crankset on it help to get it near what i am used to or is that a bad idea with a road bike?

 

[himynameismason]

Truth be told, I haven't checked it. Also, any advice for me is never "too obvious." Haha I'll look at that when I get home

 

[AyeYo]

Why not just downshift and stay in lower gears? I find it hard to believe you can simply find a lower gear with the current drivetrain. What kind of speeds are you riding at?

 

[himynameismason]

Again not a bad idea. Ill check tires, lubrication tonight. And I'm not riding at fast speeds at all. Between 10-20