Well i went looking for a mountain bike but...

Toblerone1

Help!
I went shopping to my local bike shop for my first personally-owned bike, looking for a mountain bike in fact, but then i saw this bike in the shop (the slightly more expensive version), and road it and completely fell in love with it. I can only afford one bike! Everyone is telling me a mountain bike is more versatile, more practical, better exercise...
can anyone please convince me to give in to my temptation? I just feel so sad at the thought of not getting this bike...i mean, what does one do with a road bike?

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/spe ... e-ec016892

R34PER

personally i dont really like it... although i currently have two mountain bikes so i would probably be a little biased. when i was younger i had a few road bikes and loved them, mainly the increased speeds on the road but with my current commuter mtb i have just changed the gearing to be a little more road biased so i get the best of both worlds, i can either take a nice fast(ish) road ride home or detour through the woods for a little play on the way home. all good but really my advice would be to follow your heart and anyway, if you decide you fancy a mtb after a while just save up for one too.

alfablue

If you ride on the roads, a road bike is infinitely better - what you saw was something of a hybrid (okay, maybe a "flat barred road bike), this is a road bike:



If you want a road bike that will handle off-road, you could get a Cyclocross bike

If you buy a mountain bike, you can put on narrow slick tyres for the road, but it may well still have heavy bouncy suspension which will slow you up, as will the riding position. Making your road ride harder may well mean it is better exercise, but it may result in doing fewer miles as it isn't that enjoyable on the road. Also, if you convert a mountain bike for the road, then it is unavailable for off road unless you spend the time to swap things back, and that may mean you no longer bother with riding off road (this happened to me when I "commuterised" my mtb). If that is likely to happen you may as well get the road bike and save up for an mtb, then you have the right tool for either job, not a compromise.

sloboy

I currently have 3 in a garage - a MTB a road bike and a kind of self built hybrid (cross/light tourer frame built as a pretty rugged all weather commuter).

If I only had one ? Probably something a little more off-road capable than the hybrid you've shown. A hard tail (no rear suspension) designed for "cross country" or XC. They're pretty fun to ride in a wide range of conditions, as long as you're not in a hurry on the road.

If you find yourself wanting to ride both on and off road a lot, then it's quite worth saving up for a second set of wheels because:

- you have one set with off road tyres and one set with slicks to make changing over quick and easy.

- having a garage full of spare wheels is one of the defining characteristics of a REAL cyclist

FSR_XC

It really depends what you will be using the bike for.

For a good all round bike that you can ride gentle off-road trails, you could look at a tri-cross bike.

If you want to ride muddy, rocky off-road get a mountain bike.

Commuting and general riding and the hybrid you mention will be fine.

gkerr4

they are nice those vita's - I am trying to tempt the missus with one to see if it will get her out cycling- I know that (pure) road bikes just don't appeal to many women.

it is lightweight and well designed and put together

go for it!

unless you are planning some serious off-road stuff then the vita will do all you want of it - 700c wheels are very strong these days so it will deal with canal tow-paths as well as roads themselves

get it - if you get the bug for road riding then you can always trade it in!

webbhost

Toblerone1 if you are going to use it on roads only, then I would say ditch the mountain bike idea and get yourself a nice road bike instead. In my personal opinion preferably one with drop bars providing your back is fit to use one.

I could not disagree more with the "mountain bikes are better exersize" comment... Think about it, the amount of exersize has nothing to do with the bike in itself.... its more about how far you will push yourself. The only difference is on a road bike you push yourself just as hard, however you go faster

There is the issue with less riding time less exersize then.... but if you are that concerned about exersizing time, you have to start finding alternate longer routes to work ...It will happen one day

P.S. I used a mountain bike for commuting on the roads for 2 years and I thougth road bikes looked stupid and pointless. That is until I went down a hill and got overtaken by a roadie going twice the speed of me and I decided to try one. I never went back since and only ever use the road bike about 3-4 times a year for off roading.