Do I need a road bike?

h34e0f

So I'm faced with a dilemma; I'm a keen mountain bike rider, however while I'm at Uni It's fairly difficult to get to a trail for a ride without driving, This means that I am unable to do much regular riding for fitness. I was therefore thinking about maybe getting a road bike for evening rides. However, I'm not sure if it's worth it; it would be far cheaper to just put skinnier tires on my hardtail xc bike.

What are the actual benefits of a road bike? Sure, you'll go faster and it'll be easier on road - but isn't the idea of training to push yourself; and therefore making things easier is a step backward?

If I was to get a road bike it would be cheap and basic (budget of around 350), so would there be point?

anto164

Get yourself some 700c wheels that fit the mtb, and some slicks. The only issue is bike storage at uni. You'll need to keep it in your room/house otherwise it probably will get nicked.

desweller

The axiom runs something along the lines of: If you're doing it right, it doesn't get any easier; you just get faster.

Stiff_Orange

h34e0f wrote:

however while I'm at Uni It's fairly difficult to get to a trail for a ride without driving

What Uni? You're location says 'Plymouth' lots of MTBing around that area. Have you joined the Uni MTB club? A bit of local knowledge might surprise you about where you can ride.

h34e0f

anto164 wrote:

Get yourself some 700c wheels that fit the mtb, and some slicks. The only issue is bike storage at uni. You'll need to keep it in your room/house otherwise it probably will get nicked.

I've always kept my bikes in my room, wouldn't dream of anything else. Besides, my house has a shed for bikes anyways.

Stiff_Orange wrote:

h34e0f wrote:

however while I'm at Uni It's fairly difficult to get to a trail for a ride without driving

What Uni? You're location says 'Plymouth' lots of MTBing around that area. Have you joined the Uni MTB club? A bit of local knowledge might surprise you about where you can ride.

Living in the centre of town it means around 20 minutes to any offroad, and when I'm looking at a quick run (~1h) in the evenings, there's nowhere really to ride xc.

Ben6899

Yes!

But I'm biased.

bill57

anto164 wrote:

Get yourself some 700c wheels that fit the mtb, and some slicks. The only issue is bike storage at uni. You'll need to keep it in your room/house otherwise it probably will get nicked.

You might be able to fit 700c wheels on an MTB, just don't expect to have any brakes.

RideOnTime

Get a road bike your MTB won't wear out so fast.

esspeebee

h34e0f wrote:

What are the actual benefits of a road bike? Sure, you'll go faster and it'll be easier on road - but isn't the idea of training to push yourself; and therefore making things easier is a step backward?

If you're riding on roads, a road bike is far more enjoyable than a mountain bike with slicks. You'll go faster, it'll handle better, and you'll generally have more fun. Which means you'll do it more often and push yourself harder, or so I found.

If I was to get a road bike it would be cheap and basic (budget of around 350), so would there be point?

That sort of money will probably get you an entry-level road bike new, but you'll get a much better bike if you don't mind looking second hand. Either way you should be able to find something decent as a training bike. If this were to be your main bike, I'd say you should look at spending more, but as it sounds like you've already got your XC bikes, you should do just fine for that money.

CakeLovinBeast

Do you need one? No.
Should you get one anyway? Most definitely!

I came to the road from a MTB background, though admittedly I was 18 months - 2 years off any kind of bike before I recently started again. It's just a different kind of riding TBH. (To me) it seems less technical, but more focused. But the best bit, as you're already aware, is the lack of time spent travelling to where the trails are... Just open the door and off you go. The buzz that you get from nailing a particular section is no less (again, in my opinion) to how it was off-road.

SLX01

I have a road bike and a hard tail mtb with narrow slicks which I commute on. Unless you are going to be doing a large number of miles or any kind of competition the mtb should be fine. In some respects I actually prefere the mtb as the benefit of disc brakes and wider tyres makes up for the extra weight on poor quality roads with traffic.

h34e0f

Thanks for all your responses.

I think my main thoughts at the moment are that if I get a road bike, I'll be able to eliminate my compromises on my mtb; thinner tyres than I'd like and low travel fork. A road bike would mean I could get some juicy fat tyres on there and make it much better on the trail...

And I'm thinking, if I were to buy new wheels and tyres for the mtb, it would be costing nearly as much as I could get a roadbike for anyways.

I know a few people into road biking locally so I'll give them a ring and see if they know of any bikes for sale to get an idea of second hand pricing.

Nuggs

Yes, get a road bike.

I predict that over the next few months you will start the following threads:

October 2011: Do I need a winter bike?

May 2012: Should I upgrade my road bike using my student loan (even if it means not eating for the next 3 months)?

August 2012: Should I upgrade my recently upgraded road bike to take advantage of all the Olympic-related special offers (even if it means selling my body to medical science)?

BTW, the answer to all of the above is yes.

h34e0f

Nuggs wrote:

Yes, get a road bike.

I predict that over the next few months you will start the following threads:

October 2011: Do I need a winter bike?

May 2012: Should I upgrade my road bike using my student loan (even if it means not eating for the next 3 months)?

August 2012: Should I upgrade my recently upgraded road bike to take advantage of all the Olympic-related special offers (even if it means selling my body to medical science)?

BTW, the answer to all of the above is yes.

Haha brilliant.

Now that is anotehr area which confuses me. What would the difference be with a 'winter bike'? Surely you'r just put gripier tyres on and focus on maintenance more...

Nuggs

h34e0f wrote:

Haha brilliant.

Now that is anotehr area which confuses me. What would the difference be with a 'winter bike'? Surely you'r just put gripier tyres on and focus on maintenance more...

After selling your kidneys to buy your dream bike, you're hardly going to expose it water or road salt!







Having a frame which can take full mudguards is also a bonus....

h34e0f

Nuggs wrote:

After selling your kidneys to buy your dream bike, you're hardly going to expose it water or road salt!

Well the way I see it is; there's no point having it if you're scared to use it! Bikes are designed to be used & abused (or maybe that's just the mtb side of me talking :P). I'm the kinda person who isn't bothered by things getting damaged in use; if they're pristine after a few weeks of use you're obviously not using them to their full potential

This will probably explain the condition of my current bike...

esspeebee

h34e0f wrote:

Now that is anotehr area which confuses me. What would the difference be with a 'winter bike'? Surely you'r just put gripier tyres on and focus on maintenance more...

The winter bike has wider tyres with more tread, and full mudguards. Most racing bikes are sold with no mudguard or rack mounts, and with so little brake clearance that you can't fit mudguards or any tyres wider than 25mm.

Clearly this means that you need two bikes -- one for summer use with skinny tyres, no mudguards, and no brake clearance, and one for winter use. It all comes down, really, to finding some way to justify buying another bike.

h34e0f

I tend to concentrate on my swimming more during the winter and have a deep set loathing for mud guards. So I think I'll manage (for now) not spending out on two bikes 8)

I'm going to see what my search for a second hand rig turns up, and go from there.

chris281192

yes

mouth

Absolutely, unequivocally, YES. Best thing I ever did.