Who’s riding road bikes these days?

[hamster]

Some great thoughts here. I think Sportives are the equivalent of playing golf, with a similar demographic. I have done a couple and never again - bad roadcraft, people treating it as a race, unfriendly and idiotic behaviour.

By contrast on the same roads a few weeks later, the CTC Wessex events are a wider section of the population including younger riders, have no testosterone and are generally friendly with a huge mix of bikes. They are also free!

 

[al-onestare]

Both.

 

[4th in the devil]

I ride with a group of around a dozen riders (from a pool of around 20) every Saturday. Some of us have been around racing and riding bikes for over 30 years, some have come to the sport more recently. There also a "laughing group" of around the same number who go a bit slower and generally have a café stop. Some dip between the 2 groups depending on how they are feeling, level of form etc. The average age is probably mid-40s. Nobody looks down their noses at the type of bike people ride but guess what? The guys who enjoy riding their bikes and do 80-100 miles at around 20mph average are all on carbon (plastic if you want to call it that) bikes with ultegra level equipment. Reliable, smooth and fast. If I turned up on my 531 frame with 80s campag record I would be dropped pretty quick. If a new young guy turned up with a alloy frame and base level parts he would be welcome and would either keep up or even give us old guys a hard time! If not, we'd ease off and make sure he got round safely, simple as that.

We ride Sportives now and again and treat it more like a collective team effort to see how fast we can get round. Other riders and free to join us but there is generally more of a race mentality(you are getting times after all). In my experience there is lots of chat at the start and finish and generally a really good atmosphere making the entry money worth paying. Yes, we could ride the same roads for free on other days but some focus and atmosphere is no bad thing.

I love looking at and owning retro bikes but I also love riding a Di2 equipped carbon road bike with deep section wheels. Its horses for courses and lets not tar everyone with the same brush.

 

[CassidyAce]

Sportives . . . Why? If I want to discover new routes, there’s Komoot. If I want to be competitive, there’s Strava. If I want to ride socially, I can sort something out on social media. For free.

More broadly, road biking has an image problem: too serious, too competitive, too much Lycra! It looks like roadies take themselves too damned seriously while simultaneously looking too damned silly. And the Lycra is not just a joke but an issue. For many women, Lycra is too revealing: if they’re a bit self-conscious about how they look, figure-hugging Lycra is not the way forward, especially if middle-aged guys have lecherous eyes or make lecherous comments. For the MAMILs . . . Well, something less figure-hugging might be for the common good, too. Who wants to see the contours of some sweaty, middle-aged guy's cock? I don't subscribe to the view that roadies are genuinely all unfriendly and over-competitive but the public image is not good.

Mountain biking and gravel just look more welcoming, more laid back, more fun, while simultaneously looking more sensible—for everyone. I see more young people and women riding off-road than on-road, and that's really no surprise.

 

[Peachy!]

Sportives . . . Why? If I want to discover new routes, there’s Komoot. If I want to be competitive, there’s Strava. If I want to ride socially, I can sort something out on social media. For free.

More broadly, road biking has an image problem: too serious, too competitive, too much Lycra! It looks like roadies take themselves too damned seriously while simultaneously looking too damned silly. And the Lycra is not just a joke but an issue. For many women, Lycra is too revealing: if they’re a bit self-conscious about how they look, figure-hugging Lycra is not the way forward, especially if middle-aged guys have lecherous eyes or make lecherous comments. For the MAMILs . . . Well, something less figure-hugging might be for the common good, too. Who wants to see the contours of some sweaty, middle-aged guy's cock? I don't subscribe to the view that roadies are genuinely all unfriendly and over-competitive but the public image is not good.

Mountain biking and gravel just look more welcoming, more laid back, more fun, while simultaneously looking more sensible—for everyone. I see more young people and women riding off-road than on-road, and that's really no surprise.

That’s where the gang at “Flab” are doing a cracking job (large fit kit for the oversized boys & girls)
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads...he-back-clothing-£10-off-1st-purchace.445769/

 

[legrandefromage]

To miss quote; I wouldn't want to join any club that would have me as a member

 

[M_Chavez]

And the Lycra is not just a joke but an issue

If you don't like how you look in it then why wear it? 95% or more cyclists won't benefit from the marginal aero advantage at high speeds.
I wear mtb-style clothes on a road bike.
Blindly believing the marketing hype or being peer-pressured into wearing a zentai suit against your own judgement is as close to a joke as it gets imho.

Who wants to see the contours of some sweaty, middle-aged guy's cock

You might be surprised that there's got to be people who would actually pay good money for this.


I'm not against plastic. Owned two frames but sold them on very quickly. The framesets rode quite well. Didn't like the hollow sound they made. Yuck. Didn't like the anticipation of the dreaded "creak".
The problem I have is that every time you replace a plastic frame (which will happen a lot more often than, say, steel or ti or alloy) it will most likely come with a new standard for BB & headset and will only be suitable for use with pizza cutters that imho have no place on a road bike and add a few hundred grams to offset the light weight of cf.
Nobody seems to want a used plastic frame that's a couple years old, as they fear it's been damaged. Give it a decade, we'll generate tons of plastic waste with them.

 

[pigman]

Sportives . . . Why? If I want to discover new routes, there’s Komoot. If I want to be competitive, there’s Strava. If I want to ride socially, I can sort something out on social media. For free.

More broadly, road biking has an image problem: too serious, too competitive, too much Lycra! It looks like roadies take themselves too damned seriously while simultaneously looking too damned silly. And the Lycra is not just a joke but an issue. For many women, Lycra is too revealing: if they’re a bit self-conscious about how they look, figure-hugging Lycra is not the way forward, especially if middle-aged guys have lecherous eyes or make lecherous comments. For the MAMILs . . . Well, something less figure-hugging might be for the common good, too. Who wants to see the contours of some sweaty, middle-aged guy's cock? I don't subscribe to the view that roadies are genuinely all unfriendly and over-competitive but the public image is not good.

Mountain biking and gravel just look more welcoming, more laid back, more fun, while simultaneously looking more sensible—for everyone. I see more young people and women riding off-road than on-road, and that's really no surprise.

Very anti road and pro MTB. Just the way to create division in the sport, nice one

 

[Jamesbike]

If you don't like how you look in it then why wear it? 95% or more cyclists won't benefit from the marginal aero advantage at high speeds.
I wear mtb-style clothes on a road bike.
Blindly believing the marketing hype or being peer-pressured into wearing a zentai suit against your own judgement is as close to a joke as it gets imho.


You might be surprised that there's got to be people who would actually pay good money for this.


I'm not against plastic. Owned two frames but sold them on very quickly. The framesets rode quite well. Didn't like the hollow sound they made. Yuck. Didn't like the anticipation of the dreaded "creak".
The problem I have is that every time you replace a plastic frame (which will happen a lot more often than, say, steel or ti or alloy) it will most likely come with a new standard for BB & headset and will only be suitable for use with pizza cutters that imho have no place on a road bike and add a few hundred grams to offset the light weight of cf.
Nobody seems to want a used plastic frame that's a couple years old, as they fear it's been damaged. Give it a decade, we'll generate tons of plastic waste with them.

Tell that to my 12yo carbon bike as it isn't listening!!

Done c2c, lejog, 400k audax etc on road and the occasional unintended gravel road!

More robust than titanium, dosent rust like steel, or crack like aluminium.

The reason people often have issues with pressfit BB is they lubricate the bearings to ease them in. They are in interference fit so no grease required. My haven't creaked except when I went overboard with the lube before my lejog.

 

[CassidyAce]

If you don't like how you look in it then why wear it?

I don't. Never tried it. And I'm by no means overweight either.

You might be surprised that there's got to be people who would actually pay good money for this.

A niche market: not for general viewing.

Very anti road and pro MTB. Just the way to create division in the sport, nice one

Not really. To say road biking has an image problem is not to be anti-road; in fact, I went for a nice road ride myself yesterday. But if you want an explanation of why sportives are not more popular, I do think that the public perception of roadies has something to do with it. I think the post made it quite plain that I was writing about the image not necessarily the reality.