Practicality

I know you do not see the point of Road Bikes.

Road Bikes are constrained by limitations. To begin with, their full-rigid structure; no front or rear suspension, limits them to only the road. A seemingly small depression on the road could cause havoc for the poor soul sitting on the saddle. The dropped handlebars can only add to your discomfort. With most of your torso thrown way over the cranks and your back arched in such an uneasy posture. And the worries do not end there; the slick tires create some confidence issues when taking a high-speed corner or when the ground is moist.

Trek Series 1.2 (09)

The best way to explain the whole point of a Road Bike, I had to travel South, past West Coast Park across Vivo City and up Mount Faber to try and make you understand the purpose of a thoroughbred bike.

Setting off from the humble neighborhood of Clementi, the majestic road bike rolls out onto its natural terrain, the black tarmac. Mounting the road bike however is not a classical moment. With the geometry of the bike coupled with the high angled seat makes it almost impossible to mount it while ‘maintaining coolness’. Thankfully however, there was a curb to boost me up to save me from the embarrassment.

A flick on the shifters and I was pulling up on West Coast Highway and rolling freely alongside cars with about a hundred and twenty horsepower. You really feel the rush when you’re on a Road Bike. It feels fast, it feels pointy and it feels precise. There is nothing to prepare you for the rush that the bike has to offer. You really feel that urge to go faster and faster. The more power you apply on the pedals the faster it goes. Simple and easy.

If you realize, there has been no mention on shifting the gears. That is the party piece of the Road Bike. A single gear can accelerate and sustain you to the desired speed. Hardly do you have to shift the gears. It really makes you think that the gear ratios was made by engineers whose life revolved around numbers.

Soon however, I was approaching the South Coast. Due to the high demand for property around that area, it has drastically changed to become a construction yard. This would mean the flat smooth road has turned into a surface with dips and rise. You would be expecting me to curse and swear right now. But nope, I’m not. As a matter of fact, it added more ‘flavor’ to the whole cycling experience. You get more involved in the whole cycling process; it’s more than just turning the cranks. What is even better is that you feel the road, you learn every nook and cranny on your journey, and that’s good. (somesort)

Right pass Vivo City and straight up Mount Faber. I’m happy to report that so far everything has been going well and going fast. This is the point of time where you wonder why I brought you all the way to the South to explain the point of a Road Bike. So here it is.

This is the ‘Henderson Waves’. A thirty-six meter bridge above Henderson Road. This summarizes the whole point of a Road Bike. The Waves is as much of a bridge as a Road Bike is as much of a bike. They could have just made the waves a normal bridge at four and a half meters high just like how they could have made a road bike a normal bike: with the lack of aggressive geometry. If they did that, they would not have captured the attention of the public, it would have just been, well….. normal.

And yes they could have added an overhead shelter to make it more practical but they chose not to. They chose to define it, there is a saying, ‘what is more practical is less define’. So they had to make a choice and decided to pay tribute to the sky. And in many ways this relates to a road bike. Yes they could have made it practical, yes they could have a flat bar instead of a dropped, yes they could have made it less aggressive and added to the comfort. But they didn’t. The Road Bike stands as it is today because it’s defined, it’s a thoroughbred, it does one function and it does it very well.

And here we see two thoroughbreds as they stand in their glory. So yes the road bike is less practical but my god it is defined. This is the type of bike where you hammer it down and it puts a smile on your face so wide that it splits your face into half.

It is less practical but more defined

~Callum