roadifying mtb(er)

tsenior

hey comuteers! i'm from a mbiking background and have just moved from half way up the hill (near coed llandegla if you know it) to the very bottom of the hill (on the wales/shropshire border), i could previously do the 5 mile e/w commute mainly off-road and had an old steelframe giant rigid for that purpose.

the quickest commute is now mostly on-road, over double the distance with much more climbing (i count crossing 30 x 10m countours on the OS map 1 way so 300m). I do have the offer of buying a mates roadbike when he upgrades in jan but having explored a bit, the most direct route (which avoids some fairly dangerous roads) is on badly surfaced lanes/tracks with 1 mile of bridleway shortcut so i think i am better off keeping the giant? its quite big with old school geometry and a long stem so i'm not fully sat up in it (and i'm used to the weight )

so i have some high volume slick tyres, a pannier rack and some bar ends on order and am after reccomends for economical solutions for

rear lights
F & R mudgaurds (to fit below rack. 26 in wheels, tyres are 2.0 in so tricky?)
bag to go on rack
windproof /water resistant shell that packs up small

explosifpete

Road bikes are much tougher than people think (ever seen the Paris roubix ?)
A cycle cross bike would be the best thing for you as it is almost as quick as a road bike but the larger volume tyres will give better grip and comfort, but your mate is selling one of those so go for the road bike

tsenior

cheers, i will get the bike off him anyway for longer rides into cheshire shropshire in the summer anyway, never ridden one so am still going to have the mbike option i syuupose

can afford to buy another unless i sell my full sus which isnt an option.

still need a light,bag,jacket though.................

Initialised

My current commuter is a rigid Giant, I changed the gearing to a 48t big ring and put mud guards , ergongrips and mudflaps and ride it with semislicks. It does the job bit I've had my eye on a disc endowed crosser for a while.

jonnyboy77

tsenior wrote:

so i have some high volume slick tyres, a pannier rack and some bar ends on order and am after reccomends for economical solutions for

rear lights
F & R mudgaurds (to fit below rack. 26 in wheels, tyres are 2.0 in so tricky?)
bag to go on rack
windproof /water resistant shell that packs up small

Smart R1 rear lights are good and currently cheap at Planet-x (although showing out of stock)
I put Topeak M1 & M2 on my MTB for commuting as they have reasonable coverage and are easy to remove.
I have Ortlieb rolltop panniers for the rack, although I have switched to a Deuter backpack lately
I have yet to find a jacket that keeps me dry and doesn't make me sweat, but then I have also refused to consider spending big money on one too.

HTH

Jon

tsenior

niped into aldi and took a punt on a cycling jacket from there £15......claims to be waterproof/breathable but not used in anger yet.

Also got som emudguards from there for £7...the front wont fit due to the old canti brake boosters but the back was made to fit under the rack once a fiitng was improvised!

fnegroni

Recently changed the front suspension fork for a rigid fork (Kinesis Maxlight XLT). It was the best mod ever.
Next will probably be a hydraulic disc brake at the front.
http://wokingham-cyclist.blogspot.com/2 ... -ride.html