The OBED RVR: Designing Our Best Endurance Road Bike

Cyclists who care about performance are often drawn to aggressive road racing bikes. But what if riding a race bike is actually holding you back from riding at your best? For riders who don’t have the superhuman fitness and flexibility the pros have (that’s most of us), improving your comfort on the bike can increase performance more than a bike’s aerodynamics, weight, or stiffness.

Comfort reduces fatigue, which will allow you to produce more power and endure longer stints in the saddle. Rider comfort was the key design principle behind the OBED RVR endurance road bike. We created the RVR because we believe most cyclists will perform better on a more comfortable bike. But creating a performance-focused endurance bike requires more than just chasing comfort. With an aerodynamic frame design, low weight, and highly tuned frame stiffness, the RVR endurance bike is a complete package designed to maximize comfort without sacrificing speed. 

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What is an Endurance Road Bike?

Compared to traditional road racing bikes, Endurance road bikes place a greater focus on comfort and compliance. They also tend to be more versatile than road racing bikes. They can cover a much wider range of riding conditions, including mixed terrain rides that venture onto broken pavement, cobblestone roads, or dirt and gravel roads. 

In general, endurance road bikes will have three key traits: 

• Relaxed geometry

• More tire clearance

• More frame compliance

These endurance building blocks are the backbone of the OBED RVR and they are the key to riding faster and going farther. But the RVR also mixes in three more traits traditionally found on high-performance road racing bikes to give you an extra edge when it’s time to ride fast:

• Aerodynamic efficiency

• Low weight

Let’s take a closer look at how all of these design elements have been incorporated into the RVR to create our best endurance road bike ever. 

Endurance Bike Geometry

The RVR is built with OBED’s endurance geometry, which is more relaxed and stable than the geometry used on a traditional road racing bike. It has a higher stack height, lower bottom bracket, and longer wheelbase than most traditional road race bikes. This provides a more upright riding position that increases comfort by relieving pressure on your hands and sensitive organs in the saddle area, and it reduces strain to the lower back, arms, shoulders, and neck.

The lower bottom bracket and longer wheelbase help make the RVR more stable. This provides a more relaxed ride that will require less energy to control the bike, meaning you stay fresher during long-distance adventures. Because of this relaxed and stable geometry, the RVR will also stay more composed over rough and uneven surfaces. Endurance geometry makes the RVR perfect for long-distance rides or riders who use their bike day after day without breaks. 

35mm Tire Clearance

Wider tires are more comfortable. That’s why the RVR is designed to use tires that are 32-35mm wide. Of course, you can fit narrower tires if you prefer, but tires this wide are more comfortable because they have more air volume. This allows you to use lower tire pressures which will absorb a lot of bumps and vibration. As a bonus, when riding on imperfect road surfaces—like rough pavement, dirt, or gravel—wider tires and lower pressures actually roll faster and have more traction!

Frame Compliance

Stiffness is a major concern for road racing bikes because racers don’t want to lose energy to the frame flexing while pedaling. But race-ready stiffness often leads to a punishing ride. That’s why the RVR frame is built using high-grade carbon fiber with a highly tailored carbon lay-up to ensure the frame has the ideal combination of comfort and efficiency. Key areas of the frame (e.g., fork and seat stays) are designed to flex vertically to provide enough compliance to absorb bumps and vibration. But the frame also has ample lateral stiffness through the downtube, bottom bracket, and chainstays to resist pedaling forces, so more of your pedaling power gets transferred into the ground. This means the RVR is supremely comfy, but it still responds and accelerates like a road racing bike. 

Aerodynamic Frame Design

Comfort and aerodynamics don’t have to be mutually exclusive. The RVR was developed by engineers who also have decades of experience designing and building some of the world’s fastest triathlon bikes. If there’s one thing tri geeks understand it’s aerodynamics. The RVR has a sharp aero headtube and downtube complemented by an aero chine molded into the headtube. This is something you often only see on the most extreme TT and aero race bikes. This chine helps recapture air disrupted by the fork legs and directs it backward so it doesn’t interfere with clean air passing over the headtube. With clean and controlled airflow, the RVR saves you a few watts to make riding faster and farther just a little bit easier. 

Lighter Weight

Weight is a major concern for performance-focused riders and it's often what steers them away from more comfortable bikes, but with a high-grade carbon and a tailored lay-up, the RVR frame is 1020 grams. The RVR SLi is even lighter with a 880 gram frame that shaves 140 grams off the standard RVR frame by using slightly higher-grade carbon. This means lightweight 16-18 pound builds are very achievable, and you don’t have to worry about the RVR holding you back on steep or long climbs.  

Why should you ride an endurance bike?

If you’re more comfortable you’re going to be able to go faster and harder for longer

One of the most eye-opening moments in my time as a cycling journalist came when I interviewed bike fit pioneer and industry legend, Dr. Andy Pruitt, to learn how much, if at all, regular riders should copy the bike setups of Tour de France pros. Pruitt has worked extensively with some of the world’s best pro riders and teams, and in his experience, opting for a less aggressive and more comfortable riding position was often better for both highly experienced and novice riders.

“Comfort helps you go faster,” Pruitt told me. “If you’re more comfortable you’re going to be able to go faster and harder for longer, rather than fighting to stay in some aerodynamic position.”

Endurance bikes like the OBED RVR are almost always the best practical choice for the majority of road riders. The rider is the most important element when it comes to performance, and being able to comfortably produce power and stay in the saddle for longer will ultimately give you most gains. Because the RVR provides a more comfortable ride experience, it encourages you to ride farther, ride more often, and explore new roads. 

A comfortable bike is also a bike that you’re more likely to ride. The whole point of having a bike is to ride it and enjoy it, right? A racing bike that hurts your body and can’t be ridden over long distances can detract from the experience of cycling. The RVR is designed to be fun, approachable, and easy to ride on nearly any road surface. As an added benefit, it doesn’t sacrifice much (if any) performance to a more aggressive racing bike on fast group rides, climbs, or even the occasional road race. This means it’s the perfect trifecta—comfy, fun, and fast. Ride an RVR, and we think you’ll understand why more riders should be on an endurance road bike.

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