Designed for the road, built for speed. Start Fitness has a wide collection of mens, women and childrens road bikes. We offer bikes for beginners to professionals, all from premiums cycling brands like Cannondale, Bianchi, Scott and many more. Road bikes come in a number of different styles like Endurance, Touring, Time Trial and Lightweight, all these styles have their own unique features, this means you may be more suited to one style of road bike compared to another, for example, the endurance and touring bikes are for long distance riding whereas race bikes are for fast-paced and shorter distance races. The different styles of road bikes are broken down below to give you a better idea of what you may want, if you are unsure or have more questions then please contact our cycling department on the information page on this website or click here to view our buyers guide.

Endurance road bikes, also known as ‘sportive’ bikes, are designed with the primary focus on comfort rather than all-out speed. On longer rides, a rider who is more comfortable will experience improved performance and enjoyment. They provide more comfort thanks to their ergonomic design which places the rider in a more upright position – reducing lower back and neck pain which are associated with riding over longer distances. These bikes also feature a longer wheelbase which improves high-speed stability.

Race bikes need to be fast and performance is everything, speed and efficiency take priority over comfort. By default, these bikes place the rider further forward and lower, this position reduces frontal surface area and is, therefore, more aerodynamic. Race bikes can be broken down into two sub-categories:

• Lightweight- As the name suggests, these bikes are designed to be as light as possible, often the preferred choice of ‘climbers’.
• Aero – With straight-line speed as a priority, aero bikes use advanced aerodynamic shaped frames and fork to slip through the air with minimum wind resistance. Achieving these aerodynamic shapes can come at the expense of comfort and weight gain – these two disadvantages are more than overcome when speeds in excess of about 20mph are achieved and the aero design comes into its own.

Time trial Bikes are the most specialist style of road bike, they take the concept of an ‘aero road bike’ one step further and the lose the ‘drop’ bars altogether (reducing the riding position options). These bikes are designed for time trials and triathlon races only, very fast speeds over a relatively short distance. The bike’s teardrop frame greatly improves the aerodynamics of the road bike, reducing the air resistance in the direction of travel. The frame shape also means the bike becomes more susceptible to side wind which may cause the bike to be a little bit more unstable compared to the other styles of road bikes. The TT Bikes uses frame parallel handlebars, this means the riding position is low and stretched forward with your shoulders and head down with arms extended over the front wheels, the position improves aerodynamics ensuring faster speeds compared to the endurance road bikes. 

Touring Road Bikes are similar to endurance bikes as it puts more emphasis on comfort than all-out speed. The upright riding position allows you to remain more comfortable while travelling over greater distances, the bike is designed to let you carry everything you could need while you are on your travels. These bikes are often made from Steel, this material gives the bike its strength while also giving you more ability to fix your bike if it becomes damaged, as you’re more likely to find someone who is able to weld/repair a steel frame than alloy or carbon. As a material, steel is can also offer a more compliant (comfortable) ride when compared with aluminium or carbon. Touring bikes also have the advantage of letting you fit wide tyres with more tread for better grip while riding off-road, with the wider tyres that give you a more stable platform which is necessary when carrying heavier loads.