Road bike frames are a lot lighter and thinner than off-road frames such as mountain bikes.  This is to help the bike move a lot quicker on road surfaces.

Road Bike Frames And Size

The size of your bike frame is another very important factor to consider.  Your bike frame needs to be the correct size for you, so you will need to take some measurements before you go to any bicycle shop.  You need to measure your inside leg measurements first.  Once you have this number, you will need to subtract 9” to have the correct measurement for road bike frames.  When you stand over your bike frame, you should be able to rest your feet comfortably on the ground, and you should also have plenty of clearance from the crossbar too.  Standard clearance distances are 7 to 13cm for mountain bikes, 5 to 10cm for racing bikes, and 1 to 8 cm for hybrid bikes.

Is Your Bike For Sport Or Fun?

The next thing that you need to decide on is whether your bike is going to be used for racing or just for fun.  If you are looking for road bike frames for racing bikes, then these frames will be designed for speed, and in many cases, they are lighter and less stable than other road bike frames.

Bike Frame Types

Titanium frames are great if you have the money to spend on them.  They are very light, but their ride can be hard, and it is suggested that the main tubes should be mixed with carbon forks to give you great handling and better comfort.  The great thing about these frames though is that made properly, they will last you forever.

Carbon fibre bike frames are what most people want.  These are very popular and less expensive than titanium frames.  These frames are very strong, and they give you a comfortable ride too.  These are perfect if you don’t have enough to spend on titanium frames, but still want a frame that is built to last.

Personal preference is always going to play a part when it comes to choosing the right bike, and there are a number of questions you will need to ask yourself, such as what type of performance you want from your bike.  Is comfort important?  If you want to sit more upright on your bike, then you will need a slightly larger frame, but you still need to ensure that you have the correct crossbar clearance.

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For most of us, well-intentioned but casual bike riders who secretly believe we might be Lance Armstrong’s heir if we only had a few more hours a day to spend on our bicycles, buying a new road bike is tantamount to buying a road bike frame. The frame is what we’re thinking of, something new and shiny and colorful, something we suspect even car drivers envy when they see us flash through the snarl of traffic. Truly, a road bike frame is a beautiful thing and part of the reason we love bicycling.

When you have the good fortune to be looking at new bicycles, though, you definitely want to look at a few elements besides the color of a road bike frame. Face it. When you’re on your way back home from a long Sunday ride and you’re riding your thirty-fifth mile smack into a stiff headwind, the fact that your frame is cobalt blue or even Bianchi green is not going to help you. The length of your seat tube is going to help you and the length of your top tube and even the angle of the three main tubes all put together is going to help (or hinder) you, but color is not.

If you shop at a discount store or even a general purpose sports store, if you get any help at all in choosing a bike that fits you, it will probably consist of a clerk instructing you to stand over the top bar of the frame and see if you can comfortably straddle it with your feet on the floor. This is not really particularly helpful, especially if you happen to have anything unique about your physique, like long legs combined with a short torso. If you have long legs, you can straddle almost any bike, but will your body be able to relax comfortable in the stretch between your saddle and the handlebars? The whole geometry of the road bike frame matters a lot to fit. And fit matters excessively to comfort.

If you’re a racer, comfort will not be your only consideration. Indeed, it may be down among the last elements you consider. Speed is not usually built from comfort, and the road bike frame that promotes speed is built of different materials than one used primarily for recreational riding. Frames can be made of titanium, chrome-moly, aluminum or steel, and each metal has different advantages of weight and strength. Frame geometry varies, too, with touring bikes featuring a longer vertical base and top tube than the skittish racing models.

So when you’re looking at road bike frames, think beyond the paint. Get a frame that fits both you and your purpose. Whether you do your research online or in a good bike store, you’ll be glad you took the time.

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