Effort required MTB v Road bike

zeroseven

can anyone who has experience of both estimate the approx increase in speed / distance that can be achieved by the 'average' road bike compared to the 'average' MTB

Always wondered as the road bikes seem to fly past me......

k-dog

On my mtb (with slicks) I can just manage 15mph average - worse if it's hilly.

On my road bike I can easily average 20mph.

So that's about 25% easier for the road bike. That feels about right.

I've been thinking about this this week as I've been passed a by a couple of guys on mtb's on my commute - they look like they are absolutely killing themselves and I can keep up quite easily.

Seems to irritate them no end when they look back and I'm sitting out in the wind just beside them - then there is a long gradual hill where I pass them again and don't see them the rest of the way home.

zeroseven

thats very helpful, thanks.

Sorry to sound like a nerdy teenager but can you estimate the difference between MTB on slicks and MTB on chunkies.............?
I'm new to this game and it might save me a fortune

trickeyja

I've just bought a new Allez Elite 2008, and I am extremely thrilled with it! I used to do a lot of mountain biking mainly on roads (with a Specialized Hardrock), averaging about 13-15mph, maybe 12mph on hilly routes. These were usually about 30 miles but every so often I would do a longer ride of up to 92mi.

Since I got my road bike (on Tuesday so I haven't even had much time to get used to it and up to speed hehe), I have noticed such a difference in the ease with which I can go.

As soon as I got it I went on a 60 mile ride from Cheltenham round the Ledbury area. I averaged about 18mph for the first 20mi and at the end of the ride my average was 16.4mph. Bear in mind it was windy that day (local weather station recording 15mph which can slow you down considerably). It was a fairly flat route but for comparison when I tried this on my mountain bike it took me 6 hours and I averaged 10.5! However that was over a year ago so I probably wasn't in such good shape.

It really feels as though all my effort is going in to my bike. Today and yesterday I went on two very hilly rides (definitely over 1000ft climbing) in the Cotswolds. I was able to average 15mph on both rides which were 30 and 20mi each. I was very pleased with this considering the hills; recently I did the same route on my MTB averaging 12mph.

Then there are the descents - I am hooked now!! I got to 46.2mph (74kph) down Leckhampton Hill and I swear I would have gone faster if I hadn't braked at that corner!

If you are interested I have started this training log: http://www.mycyclinglog.com/profile/trickeyja

Sorry for the long post, hope some of this is useful.

k-dog

Sorry to sound like a nerdy teenager but can you estimate the difference between MTB on slicks and MTB on chunkies.............?

Not such a big difference I think - maybe 10%. The bigger difference is in cornering IMO - much better grip with slicks on tarmac. I'm using 1.6 conti's on my mtb.

I agree with trickey that on my road bike it just feels like all my effort makes it go whereas on the mtb you feel like you're wasting a lot of energy.

andrewc3142

Difference = different world entirely

MTBs are great off-road but hopeless on-road IMHO.

Thinner, slicker tyres will help but you'll still be like a sail with flat bars. I read in one of the many articles on the Olympics team that around 80% of a cyclist's effort is combatting air resistance. Try riding at a constant cadence on the hoods of a road bike and then getting down on the drops and look at the speedo.

FSR_XC

Well I now have first hand experience of the difference.

Normally commute on my road bike, but used the Mtb this morning. Weather was wet, with hardly any wind.

Route is 10.4miles with 1120ft ascent (1300ft Descent) - quite hilly I believe (?)

The differences:

Gears:
R - 53-39, 27-12
Mtb - 44-32-22, 32-11

Time:
R - 30.30 - 34 min
Mtb - 36 min

Av Speed:
R - 19.5 - 20.5mph
Mtb - 17.3 mph

Max speed:
R - always over 40mph, up to 44mph
Mtb - 38.8mph

Found it harder to keep a constant 'flow'.
Never noticed how big the step is in the gearing before, finding I wanted to be 'in between' 2 gears on a few occasions.
As I had lots of lower gears, felt I should use them, so constantly telling myself to pedal & not relax. Only used middle ring twice.
Hated the fact that whenever I looked at the speed, I always seemed to be up to 5mph slower than I normally am.
Felt it in my legs more when I got to work.
OMG! It was heavy carrying it up 2 lots of stairs when I got in.

However, I did find it more comfortable & I rode over a lot of things that I would normally ride around on the road bike.
If I was going to have a gentle ride in, the Mtb would be easier as I have to ride hard to get up some hills on the road bike.

Mar ge

I find that as long as a tuck well in on the MTB and keep my front forks on lockout / Racing Ralphs inflated pretty hard the dfiference with my road bikes is not much at all. I don't bother fitting the slicks on it anymore either.

I ride the MTB a lot both on & off road so find the position more comfortable due to familiarity which certainly helps.

Typically I can hold 32kph avge when road training on the MTB and with the road bike something around 34kph avge.

With the MTB though I run out of gearing if there is anything downhill or if I can get a tow from a fast(er) group of road-bikes.

cougie

I used to do a lot of road cycling on my MTB - I could keep up with my pals on their road bikes but I guess I was fitter. Hills were harder though because the bike was heavier, and with the extra weight it always took a bit to accelerate up to speed. Once going on the flat though with hard tyres - it wasnt too bad - but certainly more effort than on a road bike. And I found my position was better with long bar ends.

felgen

I thought this is a very interesting question. I have searched around for an answer, but to now I have only had a few anectodal comments regarding what improvements people have found. One guy told me that he used to manage 2 1/2 laps of Richmond Park on his mountain bike to his friend managing 4 laps on a road bike, and when he got his road bike he was instantly up to 3 1/2 laps for every 4 his friend managed. Another told me that you can average 4-5mph more on a road bike for the same effort.

Seeing as I have a road bike coming in a few days. I think in the interest of science, I might do a log of three laps of Richmond Park on my MTB (slicked and upped gear ratios), then compare this to the road bike. I think it would need two weekends to complete, as I think to account for the effects of fatigue that I should do MTB saturday, then road bike sunday, and then reverse the order of the runs the following weekend - I am sure the wind and conditions will vary, but without doing multiple rides on different occasions I can't think of a better way to do it. As I have the use of a Garmin edge 305, I was thinking about logging the following:

HR
gradient
speed
average speed
lap time
average lap time

Those variables should give an idea of where the benefits lie as I would be able to see just how much harder you have to by trying to get up a hill on each type of bike. If anyone is interested I can put the results in the thread when complete. The only problem is it may stuff up two weekends' worth of riding, as I am not sure I would fancy doing much else after two maximal hour(ish) efforts....

The only problem is that I dont have an 'average' mountain bike, so I am not sure it would answer the question being asked properly :roll:

cougie

I'm not sure it would be of any use to anyone other than you really ? Different bikes, different positions, different weather, differing fitness all play a part.

Its less of an effort on a road bike compared to a knobbly tyred MTB. Thats about as far as I'd go. One of the best cyclists round here uses a rigid mountain bike frame but with narrow slicks, and he's faster than most road bikes, but then again - he would kick most peoples asses whatever the bike.

felgen

cougie wrote:

I'm not sure it would be of any use to anyone other than you really ? Different bikes, different positions, different weather, differing fitness all play a part.

Its less of an effort on a road bike compared to a knobbly tyred MTB. Thats about as far as I'd go. One of the best cyclists round here uses a rigid mountain bike frame but with narrow slicks, and he's faster than most road bikes, but then again - he would kick most peoples asses whatever the bike.

Yeah true - will keep the info to myself. Its just that wihtout a road bike yet, I just wonder what difference it will make. I will just be satisfied with 'some improvement'

another jacko

Comparing my 70s steel road bike and a 90s rigid steel mtb with narrow slicks over the same 30 mile route home from work over the last 2 weeks I would say the road bike is much easier up hill, there's not much in it on the flat and the mtb is much faster downhill - mainly because the riding postion and stiffer frame/fork/wheels give me more confidence to stay off the brakes for longer. Overall journey time is very similar, but I'm noticeably more tired at the end on the mtb.

Riding an mtb with knobblies on the road feels like riding with the brakes on! Only do it to connect up tracks.

gondwanaman

Well I ride a 10 yo Dodsun MTB with slicks (& gearing for Boer war veterans) and every skinny fucker on their skinny bikes pass me.

I have done a 20.3 mile loop in 82 minutes and I'm sure I could drop at least 10 minutes on a decent road bike. On the flat it's very hard to spin quicker than 22 mph without losing the pedal (no clips) and thinner tyres would probably help up the hills.

felgen

of course the best way to do it would be to have a power meter - pedal at the same wattage (assuming same conditions) and see what the difference is. Then again who has a pair of power meters, one for their MTB and one for their road bike...... :shock: