Where the Road Bike Goes: Traffic, Climbs and Descents

The road bike is a Scott Foil RC Ultimate, an aero road bike built to go fast on tarmac. Its board sells zones on a bike that spends its life in traffic, on climbs and on descents, and this post is about that life, because where the bike goes is what you are paying for.

In the city

A road bike in a city centre rides at eye level, in the same lane as the cars, stopping at the same lights. Every driver it filters past at a junction sees its down tube from a metre away. Every pedestrian at a crossing sees its head tube coming towards them. At a cafe stop it leans against a wall or a railing at the height people sit, with its top tube and down tube facing the street. A billboard is above the eye line and ignored; a bike at a red light is at the eye line and looked at.

On the commute

The morning commute is the same streets at the same time every day. A logo on a bike that rides the same route is seen by the same drivers and the same pedestrians repeatedly, which is the thing advertising pays most for and gets least. The bike does not need to be noticed the first time. It is there again tomorrow.

On the climb

Long climbs are slow, and slow means visible. A bike on a climb is passed by every car on the road at a speed that lets the driver read what is on it. The rider is out of the saddle on steep sections, which exposes the top tube and seat tube. On a popular climb the bike is also among other cyclists, who look at bikes more carefully than anyone else on the road.

On the descent

The film on the road board was shot from the handlebar on a real ride: tunnels, traffic, and the far side of a pass taken at the speed of the cars. On a descent the bike keeps pace with the traffic around it, which means the same car sees the same bike for a long time rather than for a moment. The rims and the down tube are what a following driver sees. Nothing in the film is staged or edited, and the sound was removed so that it plays silently everywhere.

The surfaces that face the road

The down tube, upper and lower, faces the side of the road and is seen first by anything overtaking. The rims spin and are seen from the side. The head tube faces forward, towards whatever the bike is riding at. The top tube faces up, towards anyone looking down at the bike when it is stopped. Our post on choosing a zone walks every surface; for the road bike, the ones that face traffic are the ones the city sees.

Who sees it

Drivers and passengers, at junctions, on climbs and on descents. Pedestrians, at crossings and outside cafes. Other cyclists, who look closely. People who photograph a bike leaning against a wall, which happens more than you would expect with a bike like this one. None of these are counted, and brandmybicycle does not claim a number of impressions. What it claims is where the bike goes, and the film is the evidence.

The gravel bike is different

The road bike stops at the city limits and the tarmac. The gravel bike goes past both, to passes, forest tracks and villages where there is no other advertising at all. The two are separate boards; our post on where the gravel bike goes describes its days, and two bikes, two boards covers choosing between them.

At rest

A road bike like this one is leaned against things: a cafe railing, a shop window, a wall at the top of a climb, a bike rack outside an office. At rest it is at the height people sit, with its top tube and down tube facing the street, and it is at rest for longer than it moves on most days. Everybody who sits down at the next table reads what is on it, and bikes of this kind are photographed more often than most things that are leaned against walls.

What the road bike is not

It is not a courier bike with a fixed route and it is not a shop display. It is a fast road bike ridden the way fast road bikes are ridden: commutes on weekdays, long rides at weekends, climbs when there are climbs. The visibility is the sum of those days, and brandmybicycle does not reduce it to a figure. It shows the film, states the roads and leaves the estimate honest.

One bike, one board

The road board is a single Scott Foil RC Ultimate, size M. There is no fleet behind it and no second road bike waiting if this one fills. When its goal fills, the board closes forever and the bike rides with every sponsor on it; until then, every open zone is on the page with its price.

For the life of the bike

The vinyl goes on when the goal fills and stays on until the bike is retired. Every commute, every climb and every descent after that carries the logo. There is no renewal and no second charge; the road is the contract.