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Racing Bike

A racing bike is built with one thing and one thing only in mind: speed. Everything about these bikes just screams fast, from the sleek tires to the light weight frame. They are expensive to produce, because of the extreme focus on minimal weight and maximum aerodynamics in their design. When you start talking about making wheels of carbon fiber, you know the bike is going to be expensive.

The most popular wheel material for all bikes including racing bikes is aluminum alloy. The metal is light weight and easy to form, as well as being less expensive than the newer and lighter weight carbon fiber wheel. Wheels have a thin profile, as do the tires attached to them. The tires are inflated to an extremely high psi, 120 or more for most races. They also have a very smooth tread; making wet road conditions a very real hazard.

The frame of a racing bike is made of hollow tubing. Unlike a mountain or all purpose bike there is no suspension. Racing bikes still favor caliper style brakes over the newer disc brakes that have taken hold in mountain biking. This is because a disc brake adds significant weight to each tire, and the additional stopping power that is afforded by disc brakes is not necessary in road races.

 

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