What is a road bike? The basics explained The anatomy of a road bicycle April 21, 2021 at 6:00 am Road bikes are bicycles designed to take you as far and as fast as your legs can manage on paved surfaces. The road bike gets its name from the terrain it is designed to be used on – the road. Advertisement At first glance, the road bike hasn’t changed a great deal over the years. Compared to a complex full-suspension mountain bike, it’s a traditional bicycle with a near-identical silhouette to those raced 50 years ago. Of course, there’s nothing traditional about the carbon fibre frames and electronic 24-speed drivetrains we see now on high-end machines. Modern bikes are faster, more comfortable and more technologically sophisticated than ever before.