Road modded MTB vs Toughened Roadie?
RutlandGav
Posts: 144
I first began cycling in the 1990s, when MTB were all the rage thus my only experience of cycling as an adult had been with MTBs.
Thus, when i decided to take up cycle commuting again I basically stuck with the devil i knew and bought a MTB, then set about adapting it for the sort of riding i do.
TBH, i virtually never go off-road. I hate having my energy sapped by obstacles, and prefer to zone out on steady state pedalling. I also hate breaking stuff on the bike, and as a commuter machine it needs to be ultra reliable. However, given my weight(15 and a half stone , thanks to the hiatus) , and that of the change of clothes , tools and lock i need to carry, I just look at the skinny tyres on hybrid, road and cyclocross bikes and think there's no way they could survive.
My previous commute was through the city, i'd stick rigidly to my road positiion 6 inches from the kerb and any debris, potholes etc. i'd just crash straight over rather than swerving around. My route took me through some relatively wide urban avenues, provided i stayed close to the kerb, the rush hour traffic could pass me without even changing their normal lane position.
My new route is across 16 miles of countryside, through small unlit rural backroads, travelling in before sunrise and going home well after the evening rush, and the terrain is flat as a billiard table. Surface conditions are shocking - some stretches are cratered and pitted like the surface of the moon. You also get tractors throwing off the compacted clay embedded in their tyres... always fun to encounter a 2 inch high ridge of mud mid-corner, at night, with a layer of wet mud coating the tarmac either side of it, and watch your bike try to swap ends.
Prehaps I should just get better lights, since there's no traffic at such crazy early hours and i suppose i could just go around obstacles if i see them in time.
But anyway, a mountain bike is what i bought. It's a rigid 24 speed (no suspension) with cable operated disk brakes front and back , and 650b wheels, to which i immediately added panniers and mudguards. Problem one, it seems difficult finding stuff like this to fit a MTB properly. Presumably this kit is designed to go on road bikes and MTB are intended to be ridden naked and unadorned?
Despite being only 5'10 I bought the largest 22 inch frame size, reasoning that it's a long ride and i often felt cramped and hunched over my old 18 inch machine. Anyway, upon starting to commute on this thing i immediately got severe carpal tunnel syndrome, took three weeks to stop the pins and needles after just one ride. I am quite prone to this but i do wonder if going for such a large frame had anything to do with it.
Anyway, i was able to remedy this by fitting a pair of clip on triathalon bars to the bike.
This solved the problem with my wrists, since my upper body is now resting on my forearms in the padded cups, my hands only lightly gripping the ends. I end up leaning forward quite sharply, which transfers more to weight to the forearms and takes a bit off the saddle, which is also a good thing. As far as i can tell, proper triathalon bikes have the rider's upper body hunched over the front wheel, wheras on my bike it's mostly over the top tube, with my head over the headset.
The other bit of good news was speed. I used to go through a speed trap at 10mph. With the same heart rate, i'd pass it at 13mph tucked down in my "triathalon bar" position. Got another 1mph out of the bike by swapping the stock nobblies for schawlbe super moto slicks. Punctures being the worst thing that can befall a commuter, i added a layer of Panaracer Flat Away kevlar felt to the inside of the tyre and poured Slime into the inner tubes - we're already extremely heavy so what's another couple of pounds gonna do?
So overall, triathalon bars on my mtb -
Pros :
*Adds way more to flat road cruising speed than any other mod by miles. Obviously, i still get overtaken by folks on road bikes, but never been passed by a MTB yet - invariably find myself overhauling even obviously younger and fitter guys on an off roader.
*Comfort. Apart from easing the pressure on my seat and my wrists, i now have 3 positions i can adopt - flat bars, grab the bar ends, or tuck in on the tri bars.
Neutral
* above 8mph it's actually perfectly stable and controllable on the tri bars. it did take me a few rides to learn to trust the bike thoough, fortunately it's natural stability and grip get you out of trouble anyway. it's best not to tense up.
*i can still go off-road if i need to. the slicks will have less grip on loose gravel or wet mud, which mitigates against high speed descents and cornering, as do the narrower handlebars. But it's still a MTB, you don't need to worry about actually getting stuck, you've still got your low range gearing, high ground clearance, and low ground pressure.
Against
*Clip on triathalon bars are meant to be fitted to drop bars for road bikes, which are 32mm diameter. MTB bars are 28mm or less and taper away from the riser clamp. i had to change my handlebars to get them to fit, but even so they're not that secure - they rotate on the bar given a solid push. Fortunately most of your weight is on the forearm cups, very close to the pivot point, and a light pressure from your hands gripping the other end, with a much longer movement arm, means they won't move in practice.
*Obviously, you can't cover the brakes when riding like this, so riding around town on the tri bars is a good way to shorten your neck. I must admit though, i'm probably taking a risk too on blind corners out in the country - if an obstacle appears, i won't be able to brake.
Perhaps for these reasons it would have been better to go for drop bars or a drop bar + tri bar combo designed to accomodate levers/shifters while in an aero position? That would mean changing my shifters, and there are compatibility issues between road shifters and mtb mechs, as i understand it? Could be an expensive exercise in trial and error.
Finally, as per the title of the post, i'm wondering if i should have tackled the problem from an opposite direction altogether, and just bought a road bike and tried to get some fat tyres and stronger wheels onto it. I understand a lof of road bikes don't have the frame clearance to take tyres much over 25mm, but a cyclocross machine ought to do it? I've seen some 700c x 35mm on Wiggle.
Thus, when i decided to take up cycle commuting again I basically stuck with the devil i knew and bought a MTB, then set about adapting it for the sort of riding i do.
TBH, i virtually never go off-road. I hate having my energy sapped by obstacles, and prefer to zone out on steady state pedalling. I also hate breaking stuff on the bike, and as a commuter machine it needs to be ultra reliable. However, given my weight(15 and a half stone , thanks to the hiatus) , and that of the change of clothes , tools and lock i need to carry, I just look at the skinny tyres on hybrid, road and cyclocross bikes and think there's no way they could survive.
My previous commute was through the city, i'd stick rigidly to my road positiion 6 inches from the kerb and any debris, potholes etc. i'd just crash straight over rather than swerving around. My route took me through some relatively wide urban avenues, provided i stayed close to the kerb, the rush hour traffic could pass me without even changing their normal lane position.
My new route is across 16 miles of countryside, through small unlit rural backroads, travelling in before sunrise and going home well after the evening rush, and the terrain is flat as a billiard table. Surface conditions are shocking - some stretches are cratered and pitted like the surface of the moon. You also get tractors throwing off the compacted clay embedded in their tyres... always fun to encounter a 2 inch high ridge of mud mid-corner, at night, with a layer of wet mud coating the tarmac either side of it, and watch your bike try to swap ends.
Prehaps I should just get better lights, since there's no traffic at such crazy early hours and i suppose i could just go around obstacles if i see them in time.
But anyway, a mountain bike is what i bought. It's a rigid 24 speed (no suspension) with cable operated disk brakes front and back , and 650b wheels, to which i immediately added panniers and mudguards. Problem one, it seems difficult finding stuff like this to fit a MTB properly. Presumably this kit is designed to go on road bikes and MTB are intended to be ridden naked and unadorned?
Despite being only 5'10 I bought the largest 22 inch frame size, reasoning that it's a long ride and i often felt cramped and hunched over my old 18 inch machine. Anyway, upon starting to commute on this thing i immediately got severe carpal tunnel syndrome, took three weeks to stop the pins and needles after just one ride. I am quite prone to this but i do wonder if going for such a large frame had anything to do with it.
Anyway, i was able to remedy this by fitting a pair of clip on triathalon bars to the bike.
This solved the problem with my wrists, since my upper body is now resting on my forearms in the padded cups, my hands only lightly gripping the ends. I end up leaning forward quite sharply, which transfers more to weight to the forearms and takes a bit off the saddle, which is also a good thing. As far as i can tell, proper triathalon bikes have the rider's upper body hunched over the front wheel, wheras on my bike it's mostly over the top tube, with my head over the headset.
The other bit of good news was speed. I used to go through a speed trap at 10mph. With the same heart rate, i'd pass it at 13mph tucked down in my "triathalon bar" position. Got another 1mph out of the bike by swapping the stock nobblies for schawlbe super moto slicks. Punctures being the worst thing that can befall a commuter, i added a layer of Panaracer Flat Away kevlar felt to the inside of the tyre and poured Slime into the inner tubes - we're already extremely heavy so what's another couple of pounds gonna do?
So overall, triathalon bars on my mtb -
Pros :
*Adds way more to flat road cruising speed than any other mod by miles. Obviously, i still get overtaken by folks on road bikes, but never been passed by a MTB yet - invariably find myself overhauling even obviously younger and fitter guys on an off roader.
*Comfort. Apart from easing the pressure on my seat and my wrists, i now have 3 positions i can adopt - flat bars, grab the bar ends, or tuck in on the tri bars.
Neutral
* above 8mph it's actually perfectly stable and controllable on the tri bars. it did take me a few rides to learn to trust the bike thoough, fortunately it's natural stability and grip get you out of trouble anyway. it's best not to tense up.
*i can still go off-road if i need to. the slicks will have less grip on loose gravel or wet mud, which mitigates against high speed descents and cornering, as do the narrower handlebars. But it's still a MTB, you don't need to worry about actually getting stuck, you've still got your low range gearing, high ground clearance, and low ground pressure.
Against
*Clip on triathalon bars are meant to be fitted to drop bars for road bikes, which are 32mm diameter. MTB bars are 28mm or less and taper away from the riser clamp. i had to change my handlebars to get them to fit, but even so they're not that secure - they rotate on the bar given a solid push. Fortunately most of your weight is on the forearm cups, very close to the pivot point, and a light pressure from your hands gripping the other end, with a much longer movement arm, means they won't move in practice.
*Obviously, you can't cover the brakes when riding like this, so riding around town on the tri bars is a good way to shorten your neck. I must admit though, i'm probably taking a risk too on blind corners out in the country - if an obstacle appears, i won't be able to brake.
Perhaps for these reasons it would have been better to go for drop bars or a drop bar + tri bar combo designed to accomodate levers/shifters while in an aero position? That would mean changing my shifters, and there are compatibility issues between road shifters and mtb mechs, as i understand it? Could be an expensive exercise in trial and error.
Finally, as per the title of the post, i'm wondering if i should have tackled the problem from an opposite direction altogether, and just bought a road bike and tried to get some fat tyres and stronger wheels onto it. I understand a lof of road bikes don't have the frame clearance to take tyres much over 25mm, but a cyclocross machine ought to do it? I've seen some 700c x 35mm on Wiggle.
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Comments
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oxoman wrote:You may have been better off with a CX bike with decent sized tyres and possibly tribars as you seem to get on with them, as to lights, decent front and rear light's are a must for commuting.
I seem to like tribars, but the resulting body position is not the same as you get fitting them to a proper road/time trial bike. I've heard them described as excruciatingly uncomfortable and a necessary evil to go fast.
On the TT setup, the saddle is way up and the torso horizontal. Even on road bike with drops, the handlebars are well below saddle height, so the body must be at a funny angle. On my hackjob my torso still slopes upwards, maybe 25deg or so, toward the handlebars. I guess i need to see if i can borrow a roadbike and see how i like the position.
As I say on my machine the tribars are actually more comfortable than the normal mtb, "ravage your wrists and crush your gonads" sitting position. You just can't use the brakes :shock:0 -
Looks to me like one of the newish 'commuter' CX bikes like the Planet-X London Road would be ideal, but each to their own.
I use a 700C disc braked hybrid frame with 26" wheels running 1.5" slicks and flat bars, on faster sections I grip the bars just either side of the stem to gain an aero advantage and can usually go up a gear when I do.Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.0 -
I'm going to get a GT grade. I reckon it would tick your boxes.0
