Lightweight mountain bikes?

manoharalewis

Need a bike that can handle being on or off road. Obviously all bikes can do that, but I'd like one that's easy to do both versus too fragile for rough terrain/too bulky for the road. Also want something with a little speed, though anything is faster than walking. Originally thought a hybrid would be fine, just switch the tires when needed, but upon doing a little more reading it seems that no one really likes hybrids. Too upright? More people say to get a MTB with slicks, but I may need to carry the bike and MTBs can be quite heavy.

Was wondering if anyone could name some lightweight, slim [but durable] framed mountain bikes...as well as different sorts of tires to use. Also something beginner-friendly, and not too hard to do repairs/modifications to.

As for other information you may need:
- I have a very small frame [5'5, 105 lbs.]
- Commute will usually be 5 miles off-road or 3 miles on-road
- Tight budget, so something less than $500 would be best
- In the future the bike will probably be less off-road

njee20

Basically you want the moon on a stick there.

Best bet would be a rigid singlespeed if you want to keep the weight down, but that introduces a whole load of other compromises and there aren't many off the shelf for that budget.

No idea what's available in the US (assuming that's where you're based going by the $ budget), over here I'd suggest looking at a second hand On One frame or similar.

The Rookie

I'd certainly be looking at an MTB with rigid forks, you could call this a Hybrid, hybrid is actually meaningless as a definition as it covers such a massively wide range of bikes.

My commuter is a Hybrid but with rigid forks and skinny tyres it weighs just 9.5Kg and I can easily average 20mph on road, my MTB (link in sig) is a little heavier as it has suspension forks, but with skinny tyres would be almost as fast on road.

For your money though you aren't going to get a very light bike as the market dictates what bikes people THINK they want at that price point, that is unless you get a used bike!

ilovedirt

MTB with rigid forks, or a cyclocross bike.

Monty Dog

Cyclocross - I have 2x CX bikes and 2x 29ers - In dry conditions I've ridden my local 10 mile Enduro loop 10 minutes quicker on my CX bike that I can on my MTB

njee20

You'll seriously struggle to get a decent 'cross bike for $500 though.

neiltb

http://konaworld.com/splice-r.cfm

Never seen it but wider tires might fit, a bit over budget but they have the dew that is $499 with v brakes.

Any bike at this price compromises something but there are options out there.

njee20

neiltb wrote:

http://konaworld.com/splice-r.cfm

Never seen it but wider tires might fit, a bit over budget but they have the dew that is $499 with v brakes.

Any bike at this price compromises something but there are options out there.

That will be anything but light. Every manufacturer has a bike of that ilk in their range, depends where you want to compromise.

neiltb

so by your first response my mentioned fully rigid v braked dew would probably fit the bill then?

FishFish

I built a charge duster for < £500 - new frame and ebay for the rest of it - it is a good light bike and certainly strong enough but getting into bike building territory might not interest you. The rigid fork idea is good and a 1x8 or9 or 10 is good too.

ednino

You want this then

cooldad

Does it come with sandals and a clip on beard?

paul.skibum

Buy a second hand road bike and forget off roading or buy a second hand mountain bike and a pair of slicks - forget all that tosh about must be light to carry it - if you shop around the second hand (hardtail) will be about 25 lbs and hikeable enough.

Soggz

manoharalewis wrote:

Need a bike that can handle being on or off road. Obviously all bikes can do that, but I'd like one that's easy to do both versus too fragile for rough terrain/too bulky for the road. Also want something with a little speed, though anything is faster than walking. Originally thought a hybrid would be fine, just switch the tires when needed, but upon doing a little more reading it seems that no one really likes hybrids. Too upright? More people say to get a MTB with slicks, but I may need to carry the bike and MTBs can be quite heavy.

Was wondering if anyone could name some lightweight, slim [but durable] framed mountain bikes...as well as different sorts of tires to use. Also something beginner-friendly, and not too hard to do repairs/modifications to.

As for other information you may need:
- I have a very small frame [5'5, 105 lbs.]
- Commute will usually be 5 miles off-road or 3 miles on-road
- Tight budget, so something less than $500 would be best
- In the future the bike will probably be less off-road

...If it was good enough for your Grandad...

CitizenLee

Light - Strong - Cheap

You can only ever have two of the above in one bike

Angus Young

CitizenLee wrote:

Light - Strong - Cheap

You can only ever have two of the above in one bike

^ Bingo.

njee20

And actually in the context of complete bikes I think light & cheap is a very hard combination to achieve.