Unwittingly purchased road bike

[DM9297]

Having used (suffered) a mountain bike during gentle bike rides for a couple years, I thought it was time to buy a (cheap) hybrid.

Cue me logging on to eBay at 2am during the Olympics and seeing a bike with 15 minutes remaining and no bids, I've agreed to buy a £125 bike which, on closer inspection, is a road bike with drop bars, tiddly widdly tyres and no pedals.

Other than changing the tyres to something more appropriate and adding pedals, is there anything else I'll need to do to make the bike suitable for riverside jaunts with the other half? I'm anticipating problems with the gears which might make slow riding difficult? Or is it better off just being resold?

[Banana Boy]

Defo give it a go before moving it on! Is it a full on road racer or could it be a bit more relaxed road bike / tourer? (Pics / Ebay link might help)

Depending what the frame is you should be able to get at least 25mm tyres on it, if it's a touring frame you might be able to go 35mm+

Most road bikes have a little chain ring at the front so 'slow' riding really shouldn't be a problem.

This could be the start of something beautiful...

[Gren]

Yep, tyres and pedals will be fine.

If it's a triple (3 rings up front) you'll have some properly low gears. Even doubles will probably have a 34 tooth ring up front which is average for a mtb middle/single ring even if the cassette out back isn't.

[yellowjack]

DM9297 said:

...I've agreed to buy a £125 bike which, on closer inspection, is a road bike with drop bars, tiddly widdly tyres and no pedals.

Other than changing the tyres to something more appropriate and adding pedals, is there anything else I'll need to do to make the bike suitable for riverside jaunts with the other half? I'm anticipating problems with the gears which might make slow riding difficult? Or is it better off just being resold?

Riverside jaunts? Road bike? Just ride it. Seriously. I've ridden a modern carbon fibre road bike on muddy, rough byways on 23mm slick tyres OK. My 'old' (1990s, steel) road bike? I did a couple of laps of an XC MTB race course on it. Not fast or particularly fun, but I did it to prove an infanteer wrong. Sappers really do "do it Everywhere"

I've even deliberately set out on a road bike to claim a few gravel KOMs, when I ran out of gearing on my MTB to compete with the 29"er boys. Definitely go as wide as the frame will allow with tyres, and run them at lower pressures than the road, but for gentle jaunts on riverside paths, gearing shouldn't be an issue. There won't be any steep gravel climbs, I shouldn't think. Grip will be OK too unless it's very wet and sloppy. I'd certainly keep it, unless you've bought a poorly described gem which will sell well at a higher price when described properly on the auction listing.

It'd be interesting to see a link to the auction...