Originally Posted by cyccommute

When someone says that they've been into mountain biking for years, we can assume that they know the difference between a "trail" and a railtrail. Just sayin'.



That's why lockouts were invented.



I started on rigid mountain bikes and I can't see the appeal. After I got my first suspension fork, I knew I was never going back. However, I wouldn't say that the greatest advantage of a suspension fork is comfort as most would. The greatest advantage of a suspension fork is control. It allows you to ride over things that would trap a wheel a cause you to crash with a rigid.

I wouldn't necessarily commute on a dualy (sometimes I do) but I commute regularly on a hardtail with a suspension fork. The key is to find one with a good lockout on the suspension. Fox and Manitou have excellent lockouts on forks. They are solid lockouts that don't bob much when out of the saddle. The forks will dive a little under braking but that's not an issue.

Rock Shox, on the other hand, have horrible lockouts. Even if you are a light rider, they don't have a positive lock and for a heavy rider, the lockout might as well not exist.

If you do want to use a mountain bike for commuting, you just need to get used to its eccentricities. With an off-road worthy tire, the bike is going to be slower on pavement. On the plus side, you will work harder which builds strength.

On the other hand, you really embrace the eccentricities of a mountain bike for commuting, you can make a commute a whole lot more interesting. Instead of just riding the same boring roads to work, look for ways to use the mountain bike for what it was designed for...off-road riding! Look for trails along creeks and rivers, cut through fields and forests, take the long way around and hit that single track that's on the way home. Even if the trail is flat, you can push the bike to higher speeds which makes even the flattest trail a lot of fun!

I tell people who want to get into bicycle commuting that they have to look at the world with different "eyes". Most people look at the world with "car eyes" and only see the routes they would take in a car. If you look at the world with "bicycle eyes" you start to see alternative routes which work better for bicycles. The same applies to using a mountain bike for commuting.

Instead of looking at the world with commuter bicyclists' eyes, look at the world with mountain bike commuter eyes. You'll find a whole new world of possibilities.