first commute on a road bike

dav1

well now im converted.

Been commuting by MTB for the past year but the miles its doing has worn out the drivetrain and is bringing a nice expencive repair (read upgrade) bill soon.

So i went and bought myself a yellow (2001?) carrera virtuoso for £130 which came a couple of days ago.

Made my commute this morning after having sometime to get used to it and ive shaved 3 minutes off a 2 mile trip (some of which ill put doen to good traffic this morning but not all), cant believe how much fatster it is.

I also managed to shave a lot of time off a 6 mile trip yesterday (but didn't time myself).

Now im just sitting asking myself why does anyone use an MTB on the road?

Eat My Dust

I think you'd be mad to just go out and buy a modern road bike and commute with it if you hadn't been on a bike in years!! The first time I went out on a modern road bike I just about sh*t myself it was so twitchy compared to the heavy mountain bikes I had been used to!!!

Belv

I had about 40 reasons in the year - punctures!

Been back on the MTB for a month now and not had one.

Prefer the road bike (a lot), but need the reliability.

Eat My Dust

Belv wrote:

I had about 40 reasons in the year - punctures!

Really? You need to get a track pump and some good tyres!! I'm (un)lucky enough to only get one or two punctures a year and I'm doing around 6000 miles.

Belv

Oh yes, really! If i didn't have a ready (and very economical) supply of tubes at work then i would have given up before then.

In November i changed to some Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres and had 2 since then (1 a month), each causing a deep cut in the rear tyre. It really should be replaced now! Then i had a crash on the road bike (ran off the cycle path by another bike that decided to turn in front of me) and bent the forks, so the MTB got fixed up quick and pushed (pedalled?) back into service.

craker

After I pranged my road bike commuter (awful brakes, ran into a car) I built myself a MTB hybrid out of bits and bobs - OK it's not as fast, but it's a damn sight more practical for commuting smaller distances on. Fat tyres = grip / less punctures, mudguards front & rear, rack, low gears for getting loads up hills. And the brakes are really reliable stoppers.

If you're commuting distance then the equation prolly starts to drift in favour of thinner wheels / faster light bike.

redddraggon

Belv wrote:

I had about 40 reasons in the year - punctures!

Keep out of the gutter.

SPOODZILLA

Belv, crap or worn tyres = punctures. I changed mine after getting a puncture a day for 2 weeks. Not had a puncture for the last 3 weeks / 450 miles.

I use a flatbar road bike for commuting, the MTB used to kill me, I could only do it 2/3 times a week. Now commute daily and 20 mins fast each way. Only use the MTB for offroad.

il_principe

Belv wrote:

Oh yes, really! If i didn't have a ready (and very economical) supply of tubes at work then i would have given up before then.

In November i changed to some Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres and had 2 since then (1 a month), each causing a deep cut in the rear tyre. It really should be replaced now! Then i had a crash on the road bike (ran off the cycle path by another bike that decided to turn in front of me) and bent the forks, so the MTB got fixed up quick and pushed (pedalled?) back into service.

There's your problem mate, get off the cycle path and onto the road! Notorious for giving punctures those paths, and they're rubbish.

Clever Pun

jashburnham wrote:

Belv wrote:

Oh yes, really! If i didn't have a ready (and very economical) supply of tubes at work then i would have given up before then.

In November i changed to some Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres and had 2 since then (1 a month), each causing a deep cut in the rear tyre. It really should be replaced now! Then i had a crash on the road bike (ran off the cycle path by another bike that decided to turn in front of me) and bent the forks, so the MTB got fixed up quick and pushed (pedalled?) back into service.

There's your problem mate, get off the cycle path and onto the road! Notorious for giving punctures those paths, and they're rubbish.

Road bike... clue's in the name

with hybrids and mtb paths are fine on a road bike head down and gun it on the road and yes as someone said the 'twitchyness' of the controls does take getting used to

dirk_van_gently

Sorry to bang the same drum again and again But:
CycloCross bike, nice half way house between MTB and Road, and VERY versatile.
Sorry, has to be said :-)
I have had my fair share of P!s but no more than I used to get on an MTB.

Belv

redddraggon wrote:

Belv wrote:

I had about 40 reasons in the year - punctures!

Keep out of the gutter.

I've been told that before and thought it didn't apply to me but having watched some you tube vids of 'primary' and 'secondary' position riding, i'm thinking that perhaps i do spend a lot of my riding time in the 'tertiary' gutter position!

And a cyclocross bike would be great (i like the Focus series from Wiggle), but the soon-to-be-spent budget is only going to stretch to a low-end road bike unfortunately. So i could look at cyclocross tyres or taking over one lane of the dual carriageway :shock:

niblue

If I'm going directly from home to the office I prefer my road bike - I stick to the main roads (which aren't all that busy when I commute anyway) and it's noticeably faster. I have an option to extend my commute up into the Pentland hills though and for that the MTB based commuter is better as, despite having 1.5" slicks on, it means there is a much wider range of tracks I can reasonably use.

A cross bike would seem to be the best of both worlds, especially as one with rack fittings could also double as a light tourer, so I'm thinking about getting a Specialized Tricross under our cycle-to-work scheme.

william79

I was looking for a new commuter & fitness bike; I went for an On One Pompino as a compromise between the old road bike & the MTB. It's a blend between cyclo cross, tourer, road bike, but with MTB heritage in the frame design.

I can fit big tyres (running just 700x32 at the mo), fit a rack, guards, etc. I find it's fast enough (I shot past a roadie tonight) & the fixed gear takes care of the fitness. The sturdy design means my commute on road & tracks is trouble-free; a pure road bike would be too fragile.

Everyone to their own, but I think there are plenty of bikes to choose from, to find a good alrounder.

dav1

indeed, I think i wasnt clear in my post about not using MTBs, i wasn't saying rpoad should be the only option.

What i meant was why dont people use nice lighter slick tyre equipped bikes for the road rather then heavy nobbley MTBs. (mostly getting at the people that buy cheapo MTBs because everyone else has one when it will never see dirt)

Many hybrids are designed to give you the best of both worlds and what you use will be an issue based on your needs. All i have to carry is a backpack with my locks, lunch and stationary so the extra weight is not an issue to me. Add the fact that there is relativly smooth road everywhere in norwich and the road bike fits the bill.

BentMikey

Eat My Dust wrote:

I think you'd be mad to just go out and buy a modern road bike and commute with it if you hadn't been on a bike in years!! The first time I went out on a modern road bike I just about sh*t myself it was so twitchy compared to the heavy mountain bikes I had been used to!!!

I'll bet it's not as twitchy as my wrongster (it's the 06 model with track geometry), and that neither are even close to my recumbent. I can just flick that bike right across the road in an instant.

andrewc3142

Road bikes for roads, MTBs for off-road.

Simple, really (complicated only by those types who insist on lying down to pedal but they're off the scale anyway).