jambon

Hi ,

I have recently lost my car for financial reasons . There are some nice mountainbike trails 10k from my house . I'm planning on cycling to and from them to ride this summer , 20 k round trip not including the distance on the trails themselves .Turning the negative of losing the car into a positive of getting fitter and less fat . I'm wondering about damaging the bike , would a bike like mine in the picture suffer from having the fork locked out for over 20k of cycling on tarmac ?could this use of the bike damage it in some way ? I know the tyres will soon be worn by such road cycling but I'm willing to put up with that .The bike is an al lmountain commencal meta .

Thanks for reading ,

J

10 Wheels

Ride and have Fun.

gsa103

I routinely ride ~5 mi each way to and from a trail head. And sometimes commute 20mi round-trip on my Yeti 575.

The only issue is that road riding its very hard on soft tires. There's so much traction that you can tear the knobs off, and your tires wear at about twice the normal rate. If you have harder tires with small knobs its less of an issue. With Schwalbe Hans Dampf's (Trailstar) they get shredded pretty bad on the roads.

bruised

I do a 20 mile round trip on my fat bike (4" Dillingers) to the trail head. What's the point of having a bike if you're concerned about riding it? Yeah, it's not the best use of softer tire but I gotta ride and that's all there is to it..

El Cid

I ride about the same distance as you -- 10km through town to get to my local trail system. Sorry to hear about the loss of your car; I lost my job years ago and went through hard times as well. If you can get by without a car, the extra wear on your bike tires will be a drop in the bucket compared to what you save.

LesterOfPuppets

I take a bus about 15 miles and ride 9.5 miles of pavement to the gravel, then about 3 miles of gravel to the singletrack.

JonathanGennick 

Yesterday I did 5.9 miles each way on pavement to ride a three-mile segment that was out and back. That's about the most I'll typically do, but I've once or twice gone longer distances. Really, it's just down to how much time you have to spare, and your mood at the moment, and so forth. It's all good as long you're riding and having fun.

fiatjeepdriver

I'm spoiled, I live 30 seconds from a trailhead that links to over 100 miles of trails and fire roads. That said I have ridden my cross bike 25 miles to a trail, rode the 18 miles of trail around the lake, and then rode the 25 miles back to my house.

Leebo

My local is 100 yds from my driveway, but I do sometimes combine some properties and pedal 5-7 miles of pavement.

Hypno Toad

I ride 10+ miles (one way) with this SS MTB (below) to get to some single-track riding. I can't see any issue to the suspended fork, I just replaced my fork with a rigid fork (the original suspended fork was corroded from winter riding). Like you said, your tires will wear down faster on roads, but it's not too much money to replace tires.

rumrunn6

6 miles to and from? that's not bad

jambon

Hi I went and tried it out yesterday , I was pretty wrecked by the time I got to the trail as I had to climb a lot to get to the top of the forest .The more I do it the easier it will get . Had my tyres pumped to 60 for the road cycling , when I got out there I let air out for the trail riding . The cycle back was tough with the low pressure tyres . I'll remember the pump next time

osco53

I'm now running 23-24 psi front and 26-27 psi in the back tire, tubed by choice and no I never pinch.

I drive about 10 miles to my local Single Track Trail system. I will get a full season out of my front tire by moving it to the rear half way through the year.
Less tread out back equals a faster rolling tire ya know..

My Last Schwalbe Rocket Ron's on the back now, (They Came With The Bike), They cost $90 and I am going to wear out the second one before My perfect handling, predictable, Ooodles of traction in all the conditions I ride Bonty XR-3 even shows any wear It seems...

I Won't ride designer name brand rubber any more because they wear out so fast and cost twice as much as my choice of tires...
(I tried two other brands of expensive tires and IMO they were no better than my Half the cost Bontrager's)

My mountain bike will never see pavement especially with PSI's in the mid twenties.

Tekime

Bikes are made to ride! You won't damage it. Run cheap tires and put in all the miles you can.

My old trailhead was ~5k from my house and I'd run it 4-5 day/week + around town most of the summer on some cheap knobbies. I run my tires lame but hey that's what cheap tires are for.

LesterOfPuppets

If ya need cheap tires that do OK on street and OK on dirt, PricePoint has Maxxis Ikon, 2.2", eXC-3C for only $22 right now.

Maxxis Ikon 26" Tire

I kinda doubt the eXC lasts all that long, but still cheap tires.

hueyhoolihan

across the parking lot.

osco53

At's whut I'm Talk'in bout