Moisture

Anyone use a non MTB (drop bar or flat) on more technical singletrack trails? How do you fare with the shorter reach of a drop bar bike? Is the geometry still suitable, or would you be better off with an XC bike featuring a longer reach?

Any issues with rim durability etc if you are a heavier rider?

How you deal with the different gearing?

wolfchild

I can ride my drop bar gravel bike or my drop bar mountain bike on some very technical singletracks but I just need to be a little more careful about picking lines. It's all about skill and technique.

caloso

It’s doable. It’s not optimal, but it’s a fun challenge to be under-biked sometimes.

glenncz

I think you'd be much better off with a cheapo mtn bike on the singletrack.

big chainring 

I took my Mercier on some crazy trails in southern Wisconsin. I used tubular wheels with tubular cyclocross tires. Inflated very low. Thats what got me thru some rough stuff... great tires. Kinda crazy, but I don't have a mountain bike. Never been on trails as rough as these. It was fun but a mountain bike would have been more fun.

Ironfish653

I think you’re a bit backwards on your geometry. Road bikes tend to have longer reach, and (modern) MTBs are more upright, with closer, wider bars. If you’re talking about NORBA style 26-er MTBs, they tend to be longer and lower; a lot like what you’d find on a modern endurance/ gravel road bike.

That said, I’ve ridden trails on road bikes before, still do, actually. Packed earth or cinder trails are no problem, especially with 28-32mm tires. Now, if it’s a loose or soft surface, you’re going to have to manage your traction carefully, since road slicks don’t have any tread. You need to be very, very smooth with control inputs, and active with balance and weight shifts to keep the bike pointing in the direction you want to go.

As far as being a big guy on a bike off road, you need to take care picking your line, and learn how to ‘ride light’ actively using your arms and legs to suspend your weight.

To answer the question, yeah, you can learn to ride off road on a road bike, but it’s going to be harder on you and your equipment to develop your skills than on a more suitable bike.

Moisture

So far I've only ridden some basic singletrack with my road bike, but felt super impressed with the way the bike handles it - mainly in terms of balance.

Very little tire clearance between the rear dropouts though.

Bigbus

Okay Moisture, what's up? You writing a book? You need to start your posts with surveys. Lots of people will respond to one of them without leaving a comment.

Moisture

Just trying to rouse some moisturizing conversation on here.

(Drip, drip)

Bigbus

Are we that boring? hehe

Moisture

Lol naw, just feel like we gotta spice up the humidity of the present topics on here a little.

c_m_shooter

All my bikes get ridden on trails to some degree. I did a few miles of sandy horse trails on my last bike tour leaving camp the second morning. 32mm tires and bags does not make it ideal, that part was pretty rough actually, but it was a memorable part of the trip. I actually prefer drop bars on rigid mountain bikes. When you are in the drops with your elbows close to your sides it makes for a smoother ride.

Bigbus

I do believe that some people's idea of a mtb trail and a bike riding trail are somewhat skewed. Where I take my mtb you would never take a bike with 32mm tires, unless you wanted to walk it alot. Them pizza cutters ain't going to cut it. Period. And I haven't seen a road bike yet with low enough gearing or enough traction on the rear to get serious. MUPs and hiking trails yeah. MTB trails, just ain't going to happen. My opinion and I'm entitled to it.

wolfchild

My gravel bike has 45mm tires and my rigid forked MTB has 2.35 inch wide tires, both bikes have drop bars and I can ride them through some serious terrain.

DeadGrandpa

My "gravel bike" is a carbon "adventure" bike that accepts up to 700x40 tires. I ride it on pavement, mostly. My rigid mtb is a 29+ bike, and it excells at gravel road riding, but is a slug on pavement. Neither bike has drop bars.

Koyote

Who says that drop bar bikes have shorter reach?

You know, there is a search feature here on bf. Someone started a thread with almost exactly the same title just a couple weeks ago.

Rolla

When choosing a bike for a given terrain, tires and gearing make a much bigger difference than geometry.

Lots of bikes can "do it all," but none can do it all well.

Maelochs

I recall when "MTB:" bikes were upright rigids with flat bars ...... What we might now call "rigid hybrids." 1.6" tires, canti brakes .... riding off-road was about skill and technique. Speeds were a Lot slower over rough stuff, and a lot of the stuff people ride nowadays on serious MTBs .... those old rigid bikes just wouldn't work.

People claim all kinds of things ... but if people could go just as fast and over just as tough terrain as they ride now on full-squish MTBs, on rigid bikes, they would. They don't. Ergo, they can't.

wolfchild

When I claim something I mean it....I can ride my rigid mountain bike over 95% of the terrain that most people ride on their suspension mountain bikes. The only difference is that I need to go slower and be more careful about picking a good line. I can't just bomb through rock gardens at high speed but I can still ride through them at a lower speed. When I go mountain biking I don't really care about speed, I am not racing against anybody, I am there to have fun and do something challenging.

Ironfish653

I think what the OP is trying to do is to “Columbus” the origins of the MTB.
Those of us who started riding off road decades ago have learned what works, and broken what didn’t; and like HD3andMe and wolfchild we’ve built up the skills on bikes that can make the most of it.

I don’t know what Moisture considers a technical trail, but if he’s decided he’s going to learn on an old beater road bike; he’s either going to get pretty good, crash a lot or break a lot of gear. Maybe all three.

mstateglfr 

who has claimed they can ride just as fast on rigid as suspension? i havent seen it.
what I have seen is many posters say 'I do, but its more difficult' in a multitude of different ways.


Edited to add- looks like I'm piling on as this same observation was made by another poster. Didn't see that before I posted.

mstateglfr 

Moist's first bike was an ill-fitting 90s GT mtb that he had slicks on, and he would ride a couple hours to a trailhead with a knobby wheel strapped to his back. He would then swap rear wheels, dominate in the woods, then swap back to a slick tire for the couple hour ride home.

He mentioned all this in another thread. So when it comes to cycling, he either has some serious skill, or doesn't know any better.

Moisture

I never ended up doing that, lmao.

Last time I went to the trails, I had somewhat bald knobbies on. No tire switching of any kind. Rode an hour and a half on pavement after taking the bus for 35 minutes to get to the trails.

You can go faster with a rigid fork over some types of singletrack than you otherwise would with suspension because A. Not all bikes are designed around the extra ATC length of a suspension fork and B. With the correct techniques, you'll learn how to carry some serious speed over obstacles.

Once we are talking about some seriously bumpy, rocky stuff, rapid elevation changes, etc, obviously a suspension fork will help you go faster.

But with the rigid fork, you don't have the luxury of suspension to help keep that front tire glued to the ground. This requires you to change your technique completely when it comes to lifting up your front axle over obstacles (and hopefully using this to your advantage by gaining momentum) and using different lines to conserve momentum, etc.

so basically, you'd probably have considerable more fun on a gravel bike with slightly wider tires on most types of singletrack. I think under most circumstances, it would be most wise to invest into this sort of bike.

On my "ill fitting" 90's mountain bike, the previous owner installed a 100mm fork with an ATC length about 85mm too long than what the bike was designed for. I didn't realize just how wrongly affected the handling was back then until somebody pointed out how horrifyingly bent that fork was.

while I still had fun on the trails and encountered obstacles with reasonably good control, the jacked up front end was ultimately holding me back. Ultimately, having the right type of fork on your bike will allow you to exploit the most of your capabilites. If you dont want to do singletrack with your gravel bike which was designed around the specific length of whatever fork you got installed on there, you'll be best off with a dedicated singletrack bike.

drop bars can be good on the trails, provided that the frame and stem is a good fit for you, and the bars are sufficiently wide enough. Flat bars tend to offer more steering precision though.

Koyote

Need to stop giving it oxygen.

unterhausen

Closing. There is an identical thread in gravel started by someone that wasn't just trying to dampen conversation.
https://www.bikeforums.net/cyclocros...gle-track.html