The road bike guide
The fastest way to cover ground under your own power
A road bike is optimised for sustained speed on sealed roads, and everything about it serves that. The frame is light and stiff so your effort goes into the wheels rather than into flexing the bike. The tyres are narrow and smooth because that rolls faster on tarmac. And the drop handlebars, the curled-under ones, let you get low, which matters because above about 20km/h most of your effort goes into pushing air out of the way.
The drops also give you three or four hand positions, which is the more practical reason they exist. On a four-hour ride, being able to move your hands around is worth more than it sounds.
- Surface
- Sealed road, which is the whole design brief.
- Position
- Low and stretched forward. Fast, and takes some getting used to.
- Tyres
- 25 to 32mm, smooth. Modern bikes trend wider than they used to.
- Typical new price
- $1,200 entry alloy, $3,000 and up for carbon
Who it suits
Buy a road bike if you want to ride 30km or more at a time, on roads, and the ride itself is the point. Fitness, weekend group rides, a long sealed commute, eventually a gran fondo or a charity century. For that kind of riding nothing else comes close.
It is a poor fit if your route includes gravel, potholes you cannot dodge, or a kerb you need to hop. It is also a poor fit if what you actually do is ride 5km to work. You will be uncomfortable, and a commuter bike would serve you better every day.
Endurance or race geometry?
Road bikes come in two shapes and shops do not always explain the difference. Endurance geometry puts the handlebars a bit higher and the wheelbase a bit longer, so it is more comfortable and more stable, with clearance for wider tyres. This is what most people should buy, including many who think they want the other one.
Race geometry is lower and twitchier. It is faster if you are racing and flexible enough to hold the position. If you are not doing both of those things, it mostly just hurts your back.
What the money buys
Below about $1,200 you are getting a heavy frame and gears that shift vaguely. Around $1,500 to $2,500 is the sweet spot: a good alloy or entry carbon frame, hydraulic disc brakes, and a groupset (the gears and brakes) like Shimano 105 or SRAM Rival that works properly and keeps working.
Above $4,000 you are buying lighter carbon, electronic shifting and deeper wheels. All nice, none of it necessary. Most riders on a $2,000 bike are not being held back by the bike.
The upgrade worth prioritising at any price is wheels, and after that a bike fit. Both do more for how the bike feels than a frame upgrade will.
Road bikes on sale right now
Browse all road bike deals →Want similar speed with room for dirt roads? Read the gravel bike guide. It is much the same bike with more tyre clearance.