Making a hard tail mountain bike more road friendly

[Cycleops]

I imagine your bike is quite weighty. Those forks are heavy so you could swap them for a plain set, might make it feel a bit faster on road. Just a thought.

 

[Hobbio]

The Maxxis tyres are designed for hardpack already, so if I swap them it'll be for something that's properly road-orientated. Thanks for the heads up though

I'm not sure that changing the forks is something I'll be doing either, you're spot on about the weight reduction but I think that any money I spend in this area would be better used towards a dedicated road bike. Besides, I'm 105kg on my own so that's where I'll be focusing my weight-loss plans lol.

 

[craigwend]

I went for a shorter stem because of my 'bad back' - ( prolapsed disc - which is generally okay now) - got a cheap £15 adjustable one, e.g. http://www.amazon.com/Kalloy-Adjustable-31-8-30-150d-Threadless/dp/B001CK0CZA, raised up & to 'drop down / extend as back 'feels better',

I also used bar ends but dropped them in the middle (see pic) - as again less strain on my back & gives (on the road) a better 'aero-ish' position.

Yes tyres obvious - I've had narrower cheaper semi-slicks; though settled on hybrid tyres, http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s142p2829

oh & for road pump tyres up to the max !

 

[Trull]

I've stuck gatorskins on my stumpjumper comp and fitted a rear guard to keep my beam end drier and that's been enough. You could stick a carrier on as well to relieve any additional stress on your back (either rack top bag or a stuff sack with bungees/toestraps to hold it on) and this also gives you somewhere to put a decent reflector/light.

 

[Lanzecki]

I recently converted an old MTB to more road use by changing just the tyres. TBH, I didn't really notice much of a change from the MTB tyres. At most a few MPH faster. Worth the effort? After all if you are looking to loose some weight, the slight increase in resistance isn't a bad thing.

 

[Hobbio]

It's more for comfort Lanzecki, but if it'll be spending a lot more time on the road I'm thinking that the tyres should reflect that.

That said, I take your point about the extra resistance so I'll just fit the bar ends, pump up my existing tyres and see how it feels.

If it's still not quite right I'll look to change the stem, and probably the tyres at the same time.

I'm also scanning eBay etc for bargain road bikes...

 

[Lanzecki]

Comfort on road tyres is a secondary thing. When I finally bought a road bike after years of MTB, hybrids, and other strangeness ruch as home builds (I prefer to call them bespoke), I noticed the increase in speed AND the roads I thought were fine shock me to bits.

That said once I got used to it, it was worth it.

 

[Hobbio]

When I say comfort, I mean being able to spend more than 30 mins in the saddle without my back causing me issues. As I burn the fat off my back will improve (hopefully).

 

[MickL]

When I say comfort, I mean being able to spend more than 30 mins in the saddle without my back causing me issues. As I burn the fat off my back will improve (hopefully).

Did with me, still got a lot to loose. But I have noticed a big difference, even managing to run a 10k cross country race last year!

 

[Hobbio]

Sweet mate!