I have decided recently to upgrade from my current cheap & heavy MTB to a sports bike. Currently I do mostly bike path riding with a small amount of road riding. I intend to increase my road riding (with a lighter and faster bike) but still have have the versatility for bike paths.
What are the opinions of sports bikes? For what I can see they have similar cranksets of a entry-level road-bike, except with the flat handlebars and a suspension seat post. I would expect that these bikes should achieve similar performance of a road-bike, but more comfortable to ride and more suitable on to bike paths.
The bikes I've looked at are: Avanti Blade Sport/Comp Specialized Sirrus Giant Perigee
Any comments or preference on these models (I hear that the Perigee is heavier than the other 2). Or would you recommend an entry-level road-bike with Sora/Tiagra fittings. recommendation?
"cameronn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:s_GKb.613
Quoted message said:
What are the opinions of sports bikes? For what I can see they have similar cranksets of a entry- level road-bike, except with the flat handlebars and a suspension seat post. I would expect that these bikes should achieve similar performance of a road-bike, but more comfortable to ride and more suitable on to bike paths.
I'm not sure what a 'sports bike' is but I assume it's one of the newish 'road bikes with flat bars'? I don't think they would be more comfortable than a road bike with only one hand position versus 5+ positions on the drop bars of a normal road bike. A suspension seat post could be fitted to a road bike as well as wider tyres which would probably be better for rougher bike paths anyway.
Quoted message said:
The bikes I've looked at are: Avanti Blade Sport/Comp Specialized Sirrus Giant Perigee
Are these road bikes with flat bars or the more upright 'hybrid' or 'comfort' bikes?
There's not much to add to what hippy said. The difference between the two is the fatter tyres, V-brakaes to accommodate fatter tyres and flat handle bars. In terms of comfort, I don't think either the"sports" or the road bike have much to offer. Stiff aluminum frames with very short wheelbases, matched with aerodynamic posture don't leave much room for comfort over long distances anyway.
If you don't foresee to use roads a lot more than now, and if you don't like to do any modifications to your bikes yourself, then go for the sports.
Remember that with $2000 you can get an MTB that would be only ~2.5 kg heavier (if you get disc brakes, otherwise difference could be even smaller) than the roadie that you would buy with that price. Not as fast, but perhaps more versatile/comfortable.
Good Luck!
Quoted post said:
Originally posted by cameronn Hi all
I have decided recently to upgrade from my current cheap & heavy MTB to a sports bike. Currently I do mostly bike path riding with a small amount of road riding. I intend to increase my road riding (with a lighter and faster bike) but still have have the versatility for bike paths.
What are the opinions of sports bikes? For what I can see they have similar cranksets of a entry-level road-bike, except with the flat handlebars and a suspension seat post. I would expect that these bikes should achieve similar performance of a road-bike, but more comfortable to ride and more suitable on to bike paths.
The bikes I've looked at are: Avanti Blade Sport/Comp Specialized Sirrus Giant Perigee
Any comments or preference on these models (I hear that the Perigee is heavier than the other 2). Or would you recommend an entry-level road-bike with Sora/Tiagra fittings. recommendation?
