Road Bike or Mountain bike?
 

So been commuting with my road bike for the last 1 1/2 year. Commute is 10 or 5 mile one way. My road bike is being serviced in the shop, so been using my mountain bike. Feels more comfortable and it's only 2 or 1 minute slower. Definitely more sweaty, but not much slower. In fact I hit a few segment PRs on my mountain bike compared to my road bike. Wondering if I should switch to my MTB for the commute. Any insights?

With tires that match the task I vote for commuting with a mountain bike. Wheels are tougher, you can curb hop whenever without a second thought. Riding through traffic is easier upright with the brake levers right there. With some tread but not knobbies not slicks a hard tail MTB is pretty quick.

If nit were me choosing between a Road Bike and a Mountain Bike I would probably get more use out of the Mountain bike even though I don't ride Off Road much. I would probably change the bars and tires on the MB and make a few other adjustments but not a big deal and easily reversible.

Interesting. Why not knobbies? It's be kind of a pain to keeps swapping out the tires when I do go MTBing.

If you're going to go off road with your MTB, then leave the knobbies on. I thought maybe this was a dedicated commuter. Tire wear will suffer on pavement, and the decrease in speed vs a road bike on a 5 mile trip has a lot to do with the tires. A MTB with the right gears and slicks can fly.

Nothing wrong with commuting on knobbies,

You could alternate between the two...Some days ride your road bike and some days ride your MTB.

Yes. This is what I was thinking. Debating whether I should be lazy and get a 2nd pair of lights for the off road vehicle, or just keep swapping.

Sound like you are malingering on the roadie… probably not intentionally. Is there a reason why? Just the change of pace? (So to speak)

go for it. measure your thighs & calves now & again in the Spring

MTBs work great for commuting in most circumstances.

I'd swap out the knobbies because pavement will eat your tires .... in my limited experience it gets expensive to replace tires so why not get some cheap wheels and swap them instead? A couple hundred bucks for cheap wheels is what, three sets of tires? In the long run, probably a good swap ... and when you want to go off-road, you will have good tires, not the remnants of good tires.

If you have a hard-tail, you can probably mount a rack---I used a knapsack, which wasn't so big an issue because I often used a hydration pack off-road anyway.

Having the option is unquestionably the best way--makes the commute even more fun.

I have a MTB-based commuter and I bought a second set of wheels for my MTB...used they were only $20 each!

I have my studded snow tires mounted on them for quick changes.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bad3e16052.jpg

Awesome looking commuter bike. Ballpark how much does that baby weigh?

I did a comparison of my three bikes four years ago: https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting...-weighing.html
Here's the chart:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...025b1efdb6.jpg
You can subtract about 5 pounds since I converted it to drop bars from the large bar arrangement I had then. I could probably save another 5 pounds if I swapped the ancient heavy metal rear rack for a modern aluminum one, but it's got sentimental value to me, as it came from a previous bike I bought in 1987.

Alternate or just ride whichever one doesn’t have a flat. If you ride your mountain bike to work, try to find places where you can actually use it as a mountain bike. I often rode trails along my commuter route all year long before I retired. Even relatively flat trails can be challenging if you ride them fast enough. It also helps break up the monotony of commuting.

For lights, I’ve adapted several lights to fit on handlebars using Marwi type clamps from this guy. The parts are fairly cheap and he has links to how to do the conversion. They are also very rugged and much more stable than most of the clamps I’ve tired on other lights. You can even get a helmet light mount, which I would suggest as I’ve found a helmet light much more useful than a bike mounted light. The picture below shows the clamp being used on a Cygolite USB light but it works on a wide range of lights.

The accessory mount is a Dajia mount. It replaces two of the bolts on a stem faceplate. As with the clamps, it is very stable and nearly vibration free. It’s much more stable than many other accessory mounts I’ve tried.
https://live.staticflickr.com/4776/3...6f147d5b_k.jpgDSCN0308 by Stuart Black, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/4498/2...5d7e1909_k.jpgDSCN0302 by Stuart Black, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...d8f292e2_k.jpgUntitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

I use one of those stem-faceplate mounts .... quite good.

I say MTB or hybrid. I like jumping curbs and having a front suspension. I put road tires on my XF3 and haven't looked back since.

For ten miles round trip, I can't imagine that it matters. Switch every couple of days, just to keep things fresh.

MTB - Better grip, position to observe traffic

Depends on distance and terrain. Up to 10 miles rt an mtb is fine. The best are old hardtail Fishers, Fujis, Specialized, Trek, Marin, etc. Over 10 rt it's hybrids. 700 tires, flat bars, etc. 20-30 mi rt dropbar cx. My old commute was 42 mi rt. I used a cx and fg. Anything will work, truthfully. It's trial and error. You'll get your ideal rig together. Doesn't take long. The main thing is just do it.

Those are your limits. There is nothing that keeps a mountain bike from doing any distance the rider feels like. I’ve done 50 miles rides over two passes that were over 11,000 feet in a day. I’ve done 65 mile rides over the same pass twice in a single day. I’ve done 100 mile rides on a mountain bike. I’ve done hundreds of 20 mile round trip commutes on mountain bikes. All of these have been done on a conventional mountain bike with knobbed tires.

It’s just a bike.

Congrats on all your accomplishments. You're a real hardcore guy.👍

Well what are your priorities? It's a commute, so if you have to arrive a little more dry and less sweaty, go for the lower effort road bike. If you can change at work/ don't care how sweaty you are etc, and like the MTB ride, use that? Another consideration is if your MTB can have a rack, then putting the backpack (if you use one) will also alleviate a bit of the perspiration?
Or dump both and get a gravel bike which is in between the 2? hahaha

I think it's 2021 Polygon Siskiu D7. So probably not going to fit racks on that.

hybrid 29er and case closed. It's my go to bike even though i have road bikes, mountain bikes, fat bikes. Hybrids rule!!!!