Upgrades to MTB as Step to Road Cycling - Advice Please

rob_lay

Hi All,
I've recently got back into cycling. I have a dirt cheap Halfords Apollo Mountain Bike (full suspension) which I'm using to get into shape. Its hard work though, I'm looking to get into road biking but currently have no budget for a new road bike.
It has standard MTB type compoents but you'll have to excuse me as I'm pretty new to bikes and components. The tyres/wheels are great big thick things (which are ok for off road) but I'm only cycling on road and don't intend to venture off road any time soon.

I'm looking for some basic upgrades that I could make to the bike to get more out of the effort I'm putting in ideally in priority order - having done a bit of looking around I'm working along the lines of:
Tyres - what type - will thinner road/commuter type tyres fit my big MTB wheels
Wheels - again what type - would I be able to fit thinner road type wheels to my MTB forks
Pedals/Shoe combo

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Cheers
Rob

sicknote

Hi Rob

For the bike you have I would say just to put tyres on it like these or look here, as I think you would be wasting money by putting any thing else on it.

Try to get some money and look for a second hand bike on ebay or gumtree and you can get some good deals if you take you time.

I got an old steel framed bike that has campag gears and did London to Cambridge on it last sunday, it cost me about £80 to get it on the road included buying it and some on here have done much better.

What every you do enjoy it and I have also just get back to cycling after a 10 year break myself.

lae

^ I agree with Sicknote.

There's not much point in buying new wheels or even new tyres for your MTB - a road bike has different geometry and will ride in a completely different way to a mountain bike, even if it has road wheels/tyres.

For less money you could pick up a cheap old road bike, fettle with it and get it on the road. If you don't like it, sell it - you haven't lost anything. If you do like it you can upgrade the cheap roadie or buy a more expensive one.

For example, my main road bike cost me £12 to buy (!!!), a middle-of-the-range 1970s Raleigh racing bike. It was perfectly useable after a bit of tinkering and I rode it around for a couple of months completely standard... of course by now I have spent about £350 turning it into a retro single speed but you don't have to do that if you don't like it

simon_e

Schwalbe City Jet 1.5" tyres, pumped up hard with appropriately sized inner tubes.

Shimano M520 SPD pedals and some reasonable SPD shoes (I use Shimano MT40, but naturally you should find a pair that suit your feet). If you don't want SPDs then a good alternative is pedals that will take toe-clips.

Clean and lube your chain, adjust your gears so they change smoothly.

Make sure your rims are fairly straight and don't rub the brakes. New brake pads might help as these bikes usually come with pads that are as hard as hell and cr@p for stopping - especially in the wet.

Don't spend money on wheels etc if you don't have to, you're not really going to benefit. Save up for a better bike.

maxandpaddy

Road tyres from Decathlon at £9.95 each. Just finished the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride on my mountain bike even though I completed the ride in 4 hours 42 minutes 66 mile. Just bought a road bike off Ebay half the weight of my mountain bike, So you could adapt your mountain bike to a road bike but you will never get away from the weight issue. Hope this helps. [/b]

rob_lay

thanks all for the responses.

I understand that my MTB will never be a road bike, thats ok, I was looking for incremental gains if you like.
Thanks for the pointers to decent road tyres for my MTB wheels - at £20 for a pair that should make a difference.

I had the idea that any upgrades I did to my MTB I could then rip off it and stick onto a road frame when I get one (I'm working on the assumption that I'll keep the old bits from my MTB to put back on once I've taken off the upgrades). I'm guessing this would work for pedals/shoes??

If I got a set of clipless and associated shoes then I should be able to put these onto my current MTB and then put them onto a road frame once I've saved up for one shouldn't I, or are the sizes different??

Thanks
Rob

simon_e

rob_lay wrote:

I had the idea that any upgrades I did to my MTB I could then rip off it and stick onto a road frame when I get one

Unlikely to either work correctly or be cost-effective. Complete bikes are nearly always cheaper than self-build. The geometry is totally different, road bikes have larger diameter, narrower wheels, different chainsets, bars (and therefore brakes & gears) and so on. It isn't worth it.

rob_lay wrote:

If I got a set of clipless and associated shoes then I should be able to put these onto my current MTB and then put them onto a road frame once I've saved up for one shouldn't I, or are the sizes different??

AFAIK any clipless pedal will fit both cranks. A lot of people use SPD pedals both on- and offroad because the cleats are recessed so you can walk in the shoes. With dedicated road shoes (Look, SPD-SL, Speedplay) it's a bit like a duck on an ice rink

neil_sheehan2000

Simon E wrote:

If you don't want SPDs then a good alternative is pedals that will take toe-clips.

I'm not sure that's true. If you don't want SPDs then odds are you want to be able to take your feet off the pedals as easily as possible. Some decent flat pedals (DMR V8's are a popular, inexpensive choice) and some trainers with suitable grip (such as Vans with the 'waffle' sole, or even those super sticky Five Tens or similar) may be your best bet. I wouldn't advise anyone to get toe clips; in my opinion you either clip in or you don't, and toe clips are the worst of both worlds.