Bike Forums - MTB to Road Bike

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Quote:

Originally Posted by MarcusT (Post 21120553)

If you are accustomed to your MTB, then a drop bar, tight geometry road bike may not be comfortable for you.

Or you might be amazed at how amazing it feels. Try it.

A bunch of us ride the local MUP with some frequency. One of the riders has a gravel bike (in addition to some others)-a Scott Addict Gravel 10. He has smooth tires on it, but fairly large, and doesn't have any problem with pace! Now, he is a good and frequent rider, so is in good shape, but he sails along just fine.

I prefer riding off-road but road bikes are amazing, so lightweight, fast, and comfortable. You can achieve really long distance and after a few hours have no desire to stop. Seek out the agricultural districts for lengthy pleasant rides with very little traffic. It takes awhile to figure out aero-fit and comfort. Consider a used bike (something like a CAAD 10 or 12) to get that aspect dialed in inexpensively. Aside from cold, wet, icy conditions and hazardous motorized traffic road bikes are a viable replacement for automobiles. I could ride for days nonstop.

Some agricultural districts have gravel roads in which case a gravel bike with 38mm tubeless Gravel King slicks is probably a better choice, or maybe a 26" drop bar bike with lightweight 2" Compass Tire tubeless slicks. I also prefer rigid drop-bar mtb conversions to normal mtbs because road-like setups are more comfortable to me. I kind of loathe the new geometry of mountain bikes and only learned that from comparing them with vintage square-geometry mtbs. The risk of a good road bike is discovering that you hate your nice modern mtb by comparison. Mtbs have become too differentiated from normal bikes. Drop bar road bikes define the norm, have the most utility, and are the bike all other bikes branch away from. So it's reasonable to expect that if you like your mtb you'll LOVE your road bike.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fen (Post 21120450)

Of course I learned to ride a bike as a kid, but I’m coming back to it in middle age. I bought my first MTB about 2 years ago when the child joined a MTB club. I love, love, love it, but the weather is not so great in my neck of the woods. Spring tends to be icy and muddy in the woods, and trails are sometimes unrideable well into April. The roads are fine long before the woods. I’m considering a road bike. Anyone got a suggestion? I’m currently riding 3-4 times a week. I have a Trek Roscoe 8.

get a gravel or CX bike.

entry level Alloy topstone, alloy Revolt, alloy Salsa Journeyman

if you want to keep the same fun factor of a + tire like your roscoe, look into a gravel bike with 650x47 sized tires, Surly Midnight Special.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clem von Jones (Post 21127330)

I also prefer rigid drop-bar mtb conversions to normal mtbs because road-like setups are more comfortable to me. I kind of loathe the new geometry of mountain bikes and only learned that from comparing them with vintage square-geometry mtbs. The risk of a good road bike is discovering that you hate your nice modern mtb by comparison. Mtbs have become too differentiated from normal bikes.

I assume you are talking about for use on the road. Yes, "vintage" (as in pre-2000) geometry mtbs do make better road bikes and also better drop-bar conversions compared to modern mtbs.... but they also make worse mountain bikes compared to modern geo MTBs.