CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!

Bike Type Terminology (Road or Racer?)

(28 posts)
  • Started 12 years ago by Wilmington's Cow
  • Latest reply from crowriver

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  1. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    When did a Racer, which is what it was always known as when I was a kid, become a Road Bike? Was it because of the emergence of the Mountain Bike and so some further distinction was thought necessary?

    Hybrid makes sense to me. As do Fixed, Singlespeed, Folder, Recumbent (only the name makes sense there, obviously), BMX and so on...

    But Road bike doesn't truly define it does it? The rest can go on the road as well. I'm going back to using Racer. In much the same way that I refer to a seatpost as a seatpin. Call me old-fashioned if you like... :P

    Posted 12 years ago #

  2. Smudge
    Member

    "racer" does make me think of weiman(sp?) sidepull brakes, downtube friction gearlevers and little short (pointless!) alloy mudguards.

    But I agree, racer much better defines a certain type of bike :)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  3. wingpig
    Member

    I only became aware of the term in the late nineties after I moved up here and attempted to find 'tyres for a racer' in shops, whereupon I learn of the new term and that they didn't have many.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  4. riffian
    Member

    But I've never raced on my 'racer'.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  5. steveo
    Member

    I think there is a very distinct difference between a Kaffenback and a Bianchi both are road bikes but kaff is a bike for the road while the Bianchi is a road bike but a racer is probably a much better description.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  6. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    I'd call the Kaff a Tourer or Commuter ;)

    "But I've never raced on my 'racer'."

    Would it stop a BMX being a BMX if it had never been used for BMX; or a Mountain Bike being a Mountain Bike if only ever used in the town? I'm thinking the genesis of the type of bike is possibly the way forward to definition. So light-ish frame, skinny tyres, drop bars, developed originally for racing, therefore Racer?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  7. chdot
    Admin

    "racer much better defines a certain type of bike"

    Perhaps!

    I think 'racer' meant anything with drop handlebars and, generally, with derailleurs.

    The only other type of bike was the 'roadster' - straight bars and Sturmey Archer 3 speed - or perhaps four). There were also bikes with "no gears" - in truth just one - "singlespeed" is probably a more recent term.

    (I'm sure some people had 'tourers' but didn't know those sort of people).

    Of course all this changed around 1964.

    "Hybrid makes sense to me."

    Really? Yes I tend to agree - BUT never seems to have caught on with the public!

    A bit like bridge (cameras).

    Posted 12 years ago #

  8. chdot
    Admin

    "I think there is a very distinct difference between a Kaffenback and a Bianchi both are road bikes but kaff is a bike for the road while the Bianchi is a road bike but a racer is probably a much better description."

    Now I'm more confused...

    Posted 12 years ago #

  9. wee folding bike
    Member

    I had a road bike built in 1990 and that's what I called it then too. I thought it was to differentiate it from a track bike. Either could be use for racing.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  10. steveo
    Member

    Now I'm more confused...

    I was thinking along the lines of the utility comfortable type of road bike (Kaff) and the nuts out rigid, guardless speed type of the Bianchi. Superficially both bike look the same but one is a racing bike the other is still a racer depending on your choice of terminology...

    Maybe thats the answer Racing bike for bikes which are based on Tour tech and road bike for touring/commuting.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  11. Dave
    Member

    Hmm, I would not think of TdF style bikes when someone says "road bike" - to me that term includes tourers and road-going singlespeed/fixed and also the fast sort of "hybrid".

    "Hybrid" to me is reserved for the sort of bike you wouldn't want to ride on the road or off it either.

    If I specifically wanted a TdF style bike I'd ask for a "racing bike".

    Posted 12 years ago #

  12. PS
    Member

    I thought the (possibly male) cyclist mentality was that you can race on any type of bike? Certainly seems like it when you see every morning's commuter challenge stakes... ;)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  13. Baldcyclist
    Member

    Terminology just seems to have changed over time.. People now talk of 'Roadies' as people who ride road bikes (aka racer). I agree that the introduction of mountain bikes - ie bikes with chunky tyres that will never be ridden on grass much less a mountain - probably had something to do with the change in terminology.

    Must admin 'racer' reminds me also of a time of plastic saddles and down tube shifters...

    Posted 12 years ago #

  14. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    "Ah were right about that saddle though..."

    Posted 12 years ago #

  15. Dave
    Member

    "People now talk of 'Roadies' as people who ride road bikes (aka racer)."

    Yes and no - 'roadies' would include, for example, people on time trial bikes and many roadies will ride single-speed/fixed (if not all the time then certainly on training runs / over winter).

    Are audax riders 'roadies'? Probably depends who you ask - people at Glentress would say yes, people at the TdF might say no? Yet you see all sorts of bikes on brevets - I was soundly thrashed once by a rigid MTB...

    Guess this is a good illustration of the difficulties of group theory and pigeonholing...

    Posted 12 years ago #

  16. Min
    Member

    Yes I guess it is probably a thing that has come about after the advent of the MTB. My Orbit can't be really be described as a racer since it is an old tour bike pimped up. But my old step-through Peugeot 10 speed was described as a racer at the time even though it probably wouldn't have won many races. I still see the "gents" version of that bike roaming the streets occasionally. :-)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  17. wingpig
    Member

    Spanning classifications and dodging pigeonholing:

    My dad's front-suspended tri-barred chaincased dérailleured hybrid.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  18. Smudge
    Member

    Well it was agreed this morning that an audaxy/day touring road race type bike constituted a "road bike" whereas a "tourer" had to have racks for panniers, this left drop barred mudguard-less skinny tyred multi gear bikes as "racers", which is fine except for what we call bicycles used for racing, "track bikes" was suggested, but that implies velodromes....

    tricky... darned tricky... this pigeonholing business ;-D

    Posted 12 years ago #

  19. crowriver
    Member

    @Smudge: sidepull brakes, downtube friction gearlevers and little short (pointless!) alloy mudguards.

    Ah, yes. Now I'm getting all nostalgic for my 1980s ten speed. Red and silver paintwork, very reliable as I barely maintained the poor thing over the best part of a decade. I think tyres/inners and brake blocks were the only things I replaced.

    The wee mudguards were just sufficient to stop a mucky stripe spreading up your behind/back in the rain.

    The days before helmets, hi-viz, v-brakes, and MTBs everywhere.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  20. chdot
    Admin

    "The wee mudguards were just sufficient to stop a mucky stripe spreading up your behind/back in the rain."

    Don't remember that!

    One 'selling' point was that stopped grit getting into the brakes and headset, which might have been slightly true.

    Pre-chromoplastic, mudguards were thin and easy to break or more solid, and therefore 'heavy', metal.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  21. DaveC
    Member

    Can I ask what those long bars on the picture'd bike above are called. I want a set but don't know what to search for. Cheers,

    I think of all bikes with drop handle bars as racers, BMX were small fat tyres bikes which now appears to be over taken by MTB. I recall a Hybrid being a cross between a MTB (pre suspension) and a racer. They had ~40mm wide tyres which were semi road, semi knobbles. The early bikes had a suspension seat post. This leaves commuter bikes, racers with flat handle bars. I recall a kid in our street putting the bars off his Chopper on his racer....

    Posted 12 years ago #

  22. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Can I ask what those long bars on the picture'd bike above are called.

    Variously "aero", "tri", "clip ons" or I think I've seen them refered to as "anatomical" / "ergonomical" bars, depending on if they're being used for time trial, triathlon or more sedate and comfortable purposes.

    Now there is also the sub-genre of "flat barred road bikes" that might previously have been called "hybrids".

    Posted 12 years ago #

  23. DaveC
    Member

    Cheers Kaputnic, I found a set on CRC which look suitable.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  24. kaputnik
    Moderator

    @dave crampton, I have the basic £45 RSP ones (available in EBC). They have been doing the job for TT and are quite adjustable in all dimensions (fore/aft, up/down, rotation and angle of the elbow support pads). Be careful with the ones where the 2 bars are joined together at the front, as that reduces how adjustable they are.

    They call them "clip on", but I've found that the way most attach, when they're on, they're on and it takes a good deal of time to remove and then put them back. When I don't need them, I just remove the elbow pads. I also had to re-route all the brake cabling to get them to clamp properly.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  25. DaveC
    Member

    Yes, I know , I was wondering where I was going to put my lights and GPS but a friend has some and mounts these on the bars themselves freeing up space to put the bars on. I'll have a look at the EBC ones, thanks for the tip, I like the adjustability. I aso have brake cables routed under the tapes...

    Posted 12 years ago #

  26. kaputnik
    Moderator

    I aso have brake cables routed under the tapes...

    The problem I had was that I had wrapped the tape the "wrong way", i.e. started near the stem and worked out towards the ends of the bars. Otherwise I could have just unwrapped the tape a bit, moved the cable and re-finished the tape.

    Most of the bars have a shim to fit standard or oversized bars. The other problem I had was that my bar clamps as oversize then quickly narrows down to standard sized, meaning that you can't mount the clip-on where the profile changes. Annoying. But I got there in the end (after completely diss-assembling the clip-on unit and rebuilding it back to front and upside down!)

    I also ended up having to get a stem-mount for my computer, but again this was more due to the silly profile change in the bar.

    I can show you tomorrow over coffee if you're around.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  27. DaveC
    Member

    Yep, I'm considering this as someone is bringing in their Pinto.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  28. crowriver
    Member

    Mine were a bit like this, but just cheap plain aluminium, not so fancy:

    Posted 12 years ago #

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