#279 - Road Biking for Mountain Bikers - Part 1

My Merida Scultura 904 Comp posing at Loysel's Toy Café

Heh! Nice title right? Anyway, don't let the authoritative
sounding title fool you. That is just my way of saying "Steps
I took when I ventured into Roadbiking" .

 

Anyway, why get a road bike? For training purposes!

Most professional XC riders train on a road bike.

Even downhiller Rachel Atherton was on
a Cervelo road bike when she had that accident

circa 2009.

 

Round The Island training rides (RTI in Singapore

Roadie speak) are much faster on a roadbike. I know

that it can also be done on a MTB.

I have done it twice and twice I came home at

almost lunch time and almost bonking. Compare this

with my Roadie friends who go at around 5AM and then

reach home in time to have breakfast with their families.

 

Ok, now that I've convinced myself that road bikes

are good for training and marital bliss,

let's go and discuss the steps I took :
 

1. Buy a Roadbike

This should be a no-brainer ... if you have money :-)
Since I am always short of this magical stuff that

makes the world go round, I had to do some hunting.

 

Off I went to Vertex to take a look at last year's ...

No, make it last 5 years' bike models from Specialized,

Giant, and Cannondale. Sigh, no dice. Nothing fits

my budget.

 

I then went to Hup Leong at Chinatown and looked

longingly at a 2013 version of the Merida Scultura

904 Comp in white and blue. John approached me and

asked what I was looking for and what was my budget.

I said I have only this much (or is it this little hehe) and

that I think a good aluminium bike should be good

enough for me. If he can give me an aluminium frame

with carbon seatstays and carbon fork then that would

be like hitting the jackpot already.

 

We both sighed and stared loonnnggg and hard
at the ALL carbon (even the fork steer) Scultura 904

... and then he asked me if I want THAT all

carbon bike instead? I said of course !!!!

So he fitted the bike to me, put in Shimano 105

pedals and kept the cleats for when I come

with my new roadie shoes :-)

 

Before I do a review of the Merida Scultura 904 Comp,

here is Road.cc's review of the same bike.

 

 

My carbon Shimano roadie shoes
- pic courtesy of Google Images

 

2. Buy a pair of Carbon Roadbike shoes

I went back to Vertex and headed straight to Tay

Junction/Giant. I saw some cycling shoes on sale

there and I wasted no time trying on a few pairs

that would fit my budget.

 

Of course, these would be the plastic/composite

soled shoes. One of the salesladies whispered to me

that there is this Shimano Carbon soled shoes which was
a few years old and is on sale for 50% off. That should

fit my budget!

 

I tried them on and they were sooo stiff. If anyone

of my friends saw me at Tay Junction on that day,

they'd swear that they can see a thought bubble

on top of my head showing myself winning a sprint

in Tour de Bintan (teeehihihihi).

 
I was willing to take the display pair that I tried

on but the saleslady said she'll get a new

pair for me. Nice :-)

 

Again, before I make a review of my Shimano

SH-R215s. Here's a review from Cycling News on

Dec 2004 (gasp! My shoes are that old?)

 

 

3. Have your bike fitted to you

Bike fit is not that important for Mountain Biking.

Case in point, watch any UCI XCO race last

year and see how many times you will see

Absalon, Schurter or Fontana sit on their saddles.

I think there was even a race when Fontana

elected to continue racing without a seatpost

when his seatpost broke?

 

But for road cycling, you may have to sit 2-3

hours straight! Hence a proper bike fit is

necessary.

 

A few years back, I emailed a bike fitter which

was featured in the Singapore Cycling magazine

SPIN. Not sure if I remember correctly, but I

was quoted 400$ for a bike fit. Yes, I know bike fit

is important BUT I didn't know it would cost

that much :-(  

 

So, I turned to my ever dependable friend : Youtube.

Just search for bike fit and you will see all the

videos where people will teach you how to do a basic
bike fit ... for free :-)

 

I know that having a professional do the bike

fit is ideal. However, I am just looking for a basic

fit and these Youtube videos should be ok for this.

 

So in the end, I fiddled with the following :
position of the cleats
saddle height
saddle fore and aft position

 

As for the stem length and stem height

(spacers under the stem), I kept the stem

height as is (all spacers under the stem). I then
kept shortening the stem from 100mm to

80mm and finally 70mm UNTIL I no longer

feel numbness on my hands whenever I cycle to

East Coast Service Road.

 

That is the extent of my bike fit.

Here are two videos that I used as instructional

videos for fitting my bike :

video1

video2

 

Ok, that's it for Part 1. See you again for Part 2

where I will discuss grips, brake lever adjustment,

brake pads and tires.