Road bikes vs Road Adapted Mtb's

[Simba]

Is it my understanding that the advantages of a roadie over a mtb on road tyres etc is the weight, gear ratios and riding position? Or am I missing something?

 

[2Loose]

Taller and thinner wheels too.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Yeah I want to give the tank thinner road/hybrid tyres.

It might weigh more than it's worth, but at least I can get it to go faster!

 

[Mike!]

Having just started commuting and fitted Skinny road tyres to my MTB i have considered going further and replacing the front 'shock' forks with rigid ones and fitting a set of full length mudguards etc etc. However my bike is clearly to big for me (mis-sold!) and is now 10 years old (but in superb nick as it's hardly been used).

I'll probably fit the mudguards but leave it at that and save for a 'proper' bike to do it on....

 

[HJ]

Is it my understanding that the advantages of a roadie over a mtb on road tyres etc is the weight, gear ratios and riding position? Or am I missing something?

Depends on what you intending to use it for. If you are not going to race, you only really need road bike if you want to pose, for general transport just about any bike will do.

 

[e-rider]

yes; weight, aerodynamics, lower rolling resistance and larger gears - but that all adds up to make a large difference.

I spent the last 5 years on an expensive slicked MTB with rigid forks, V-brakes etc (got it down to 23 lbs), then bought a road bike last year and...... it's much faster and weighs 19 lbs and cost half the price I spent on the mtb!

 

[Moodyman]

I think the advantages of a road bike have been pointed out well, but there are disadvantages. They're not great for winter riding, so if you're commuting year-round, and only have money for one good bike, an ATB will be better.

It depends on how big your wallet is. Most keen cyclists have two bikes - a winter and summer bike. The summer one is obviously the flashy road racing type.

 

[maurice]

The drop bars are also really good for giving lots of hand positions. Coming from an MTB at first I thought they were weird, now I love them.

 

[Tynan]

I've ridden mtbs, hybrids and road bike in London commuting year round and love the road bike way more than the others, faster, comfier, less effort for the same result and perfectly practical

road bikes no good for winter? why not? not for ice but what bikes are and that's not more than a few days if that in London

 

[Norm]

I'll give you £50 for it. Delivered.

 

[maurice]

I'll ride it away for £40, no hassle.

 

[Tynan]

to be fair the blokes on mtbs do tear away from the lights like men possessed

they get caught within 20 yards but I suppose you can call that acceleration

 

[Moodyman]

26 inch wheels are quicker over the first 50 metres and more nimble in stop-start traffic.

With disc bakes his bike is more suitable in an urban environment.

 

[Simba]

To be honest I am fairly quick all round on my "road" Mtb. I know I would be quicker if and when I made the switch to a roadie though.

 

[jimboalee]

Back in the eighties, there were roadrace bikes, tourers and the new-fangled MTBs from Calif.

Tourers traditionally had dropped bars, mudguards and racks. They had lower gearing to accomodate the extra luggage weight.
Roadrace bikes were roadrace bikes.
MTBs were 26" fat tyre 'comfort' bikes with touristy low gearing and wider flat handlebars. They were dead easy to ride.

As well as all these, the Brit kids were riding around on 26" youths sports tourers with 'cow horn' ( or better still, Moto X ) handlebars and touristy low gears. I was amoungst them in the seventies.

Some smart Alec came up with an idea of combining a sports tourer with 700C wheels with flat bars and MTB touristy gearing.
They didn't know what to call it, but it became known as the 'Hybrid'.


What some smarter Alecs have done is take a reasonably priced MTB and put road slicks on it. It has the full range of gearing for climbing the shopping mall stairs and low rolling res' tyres for whipping along with the traffic.

Apart from the 26" wheels compared to the 700C wheels of the Hybrid, I would call it a Hybrid.

I rode mine round a 100km Audax last Sunday with surprising ease. Being a converted MTB Hybrid, I wasn't expected to ride very fast but I found myself in the leading group of six riders after the last control.

I will keep my Dawes Giro 500 ( dropped bar sports tourer ) for 200km events next year.