road v mtb v commuter

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Comments

  • sunday_rider
    sunday_rider Posts: 23
    I've been following this thread with interest. I have a road bike which I love but the snow has made me think about getting an urban bike/mtb as well. ,
    I understand that an mtb can never be as fast as a road bike. But by starting with a light frame, putting slicks on having a rigid carbon fork, having reasonable gear ratios and keeping the weight down generally can an mtb start to approach a road bike for speed especially around town?
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    sunday_rider wrote:
    I've been following this thread with interest. I have a road bike which I love but the snow has made me think about getting an urban bike/mtb as well. ,
    I understand that an mtb can never be as fast as a road bike. But by starting with a light frame, putting slicks on having a rigid carbon fork, having reasonable gear ratios and keeping the weight down generally can an mtb start to approach a road bike for speed especially around town?

    If you're thinking about an MTB AS WELL AS a road bike (so you can ride in snow etc) then you will probably won't want to be putting slicks on it because that gives you little advantage over a road bike. My two bikes could hardly be too much different: road bike on 23mm slicks and MTB on 2.1 Ice Spiker Pros. The MTB - Cube Reaction - is still pretty light but I'm not trying to make it a road bike - just as efficient as possible in the winter conditions.
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • Avoneer
    Avoneer Posts: 525
    Cyclo cross bike.

    Best of both worlds.

    That's the way I eventually went with no regrets.

    Spikes for winter, slicks the rest of the year.

    Pat...
    "Campagnolo has soul, Shimano has ruthless efficiency and SRAM has yet to acquire mystique. Differentiating between them is a matter of taste"
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    Avoneer wrote:
    Cyclo cross bike.

    Best of both worlds.
    ...

    Or compromise :wink:

    If I could only have one bike, it might be a cyclocross bike...
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • walkingbootweather
    walkingbootweather Posts: 2,443
    Perhaps total journey time is a better gauge than average speed. I'm just a regular guy (not super-fit or anything). My regular commute in is a pretty varied 12 miles. On my 15 year old tourer, which is what I usually use to commute on) it takes an average of 49 mins (in all conditions). On my Sunday best titanium audax bike I can average 42 mins (but I only ride that it when the sun in shining and I fancy taking the scenic route home). I also use a rohloff geared mtb/expedition bike with locking forks which takes about 53 mins on road tyres and 55 mins on knobblies. Typically it takes about 15% longer on my way home because it is more up hill, but more often than not I vary my route home. These are moving averages not including stop time. My bikes are quite different in character but they are all decent qualty and are mechanically sound.

    If I drive I can do the trip in about 25 mins on a good day, and 40 mins on a bad day. So the variation between different types of bike is probably less than the variation due to traffic when using the car.

    Not a scientific study I grant you, but a fair indication of the differences for my particular route. Different terrain, traffic, loads, fitness levels etc. can skew this considerably.

    In an ideal world it is great to have more than one bike and blast or pootle depending upon your mood and conditions. Some days it is great feeling that I'm flying along, other days it is just as great to just enjoy being out there.

    There isn't a right or wrong way. Just enjoy it.
    Nobody told me we had a communication problem
  • mudcow007
    mudcow007 Posts: 3,861
    I have two bikes that i commute on, a low end Trek (i think its a 3 series?) and a Kona Stinky when i want to hurt my self.

    my trek has 1.5 skinnies on and my Kona has 2.7 knobblies with the added effect of full suspension, when i get to work from off the kona im ready to keel over.

    i takes me 20-25 mins on the trek but about 40mins on the kona

    i think when i can pursuade my mrs to allow me to get another bike i will be getting a roadie!
    Keeping it classy since '83
  • rich_e
    rich_e Posts: 389
    I'd say there are a lot of variables as to what works best for different people...

    If you are doing a sizable commute, a proper Road Bike is a no brainer.

    In a city like London though, while I commute using my Road Bike I'm hindered by the constant stop starting of traffic lights and junctions. So in this situation any MTB that isn't too heavy or a hybrid both running skinny tyres will be about the same really. The difference is that a Road Bike is most likely lighter and makes better use of its gear ratios and chain ring size, which makes it at least a little more efficient, so you use a little less energy.

    If I can actually be bothered, I might try my commute one day on my full suspension MTB with full knobbly tyres and compared the info from my Garmin to see how much less efficient it is.

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